This vivid study, richly illustrated with forty color photographs, offers a multilayered analysis of retablos--folk images painted on tin that are offered as votives of thanks for a miracle granted or a favor bestowed--created by Mexican migrants to the United States.

Durand and Massey analyze 124 contemporary retablo texts, scrutinizing the shifting subjects and themes that constitute a running record of the migrant's unique experience. The result is a vivid work of synthesis that connects the history of an art form and a people, links two very different cultures, and allows a deeper understanding of a major twentieth-century theme--the drama of transnational migration.