This book and the life story it tells are a welcome antidote to the anti-Mexican immigrant sentiment that infects so much of our politics currently. It begins in central Mexico in the 1850s, where Ernest Garcia’s great-grandfather Pedro and his family lived on a hacienda in near-slave conditions, and recounts their struggles to avoid the violence of the Mexican Revolution and seek a better life in the United States. Grueling manual labor on the railroads and in the beet fields (el betabel) led Pedro’s descendants to settle eventually in Garden City, a small town in southwest Kansas, where they gained a foothold in the American dream.  

By the time Ernest Garcia was born in 1946, his family and other Garcia families were living in small houses in the Mexican barrio, which had no lights or sewer lines but was adjacent to a park, a small zoo, ball fields, and an enormous, free swimming pool. The shriek of the peacocks and the roar of the lions were his lullabies at night. Ernie was a lively, mischievous child enjoying baseball and basketball and dancing at the annual Mexican fiesta. But he struggled in school, first with the strict nuns and later with a coach and an administrator who didn’t approve of him mixing with white girls. He met with more success in the world of work, starting his first job at age 9 and heeding his bedridden father’s advice to "always do more than is asked."  

When he leaves Garden City, Ernie has the values and qualities that will help him succeed in the wider world: a supportive extended family, a faith that steadies him through disappointments and losses, a work ethic and drive to better himself, and an eagerness to embrace new experiences. When he is drafted in the mid-1960s, he opts for a 6-year stint in the Marine Corps Reserves. The self-discipline he learns there enables him, after several failed attempts, to earn a bachelor’s degree and two master’s degrees from the University of Kansas. 

Education and self-discipline open new doors for him: as an aide to Senator Bob Dole in Washington, D.C., an assistant to Elizabeth Dole in the White House, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon, and sergeant at arms for the Senate during the Reagan administration. His dual career track in public service and the Marine Corps Reserves takes him to all seven continents, where he meets with foreign dignitaries and converses with Pope John Paul II in Spanish.  

Dennis Garcia, the author and a cousin of Ernie, provides abundant anecdotes, photographs (including one of Pedro Garcia and his dog Othello from around 1915), a family tree, and relevant historical background to bring Ernie’s remarkable story to life. An eloquent and touching prologue and epilogue bookend the narrative and pay homage to the sacrifices of their ancestors. This book should be recommended reading for all Americans—and required reading for all politicians. 

— Holly Hope, Author