Postwar U.S.–Mexico Borderlands

After 1945, the borderlands of Texas, New Mexico and northern Mexico changed under the pressure of military land acquisition, mechanised agriculture, road building and expanding towns. Ranching and horse cultures continued, but land sales and new forms of employment reduced the economic independence of many traditional rural communities.

Cross-border labour, family connections and commerce remained central to the region even as federal institutions exercised greater control over land and movement. Ciudad Juárez and other border cities grew rapidly, creating new opportunities while also intensifying inequalities between rural workers, landowners, migrants and urban businesses.

This context supports fiction set in the American Southwest and northern Mexico during the late 1940s and 1950s, especially stories about the decline of open-range ranching, military encroachment, cross-border relationships and young people searching for older ways of life.