Ethnicity in the Sunbelt: A History of Mexican Americans in Houston is a 1989 book written by Arnoldo De León and published by the Mexican American Studies Program, University of Houston. The author discusses the development of Mexican-American culture in Houston, covering the entire history but with a focus on the 20th Century. The book also discusses the change of the Mexican-American ethnic identity in the history of the population. The author stated that LULAC and the middle class of the 1930s and 1940s argued for preserving the Mexican ethnicity but also becoming Mexican Americans. Joseph A. Rodriguez of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee wrote that the book, along with several others by other authors, was made to illustrate that Mexican-Americans were bicultural and to counter the