Medrano (history, U. of Texas at Brownsville) offers a biography of folklorist, scholar, and professor Américo Paredes (1915-1999), one of the founding scholars of Chicano studies. Drawing on interviews he conducted with Paredes before his death, and interviews with family and colleagues, Medrano recounts his childhood in Brownsville, Texas, along the US-Mexico border; his work for the International American Red Cross and the Stars and Stripes army newspaper in the Far East during World War II; and his teaching and scholarship at the U. of Texas at Austin and co-founding of the Center for Mexican American Studies there. A transcript of one of the interviews is included. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)