The Devil in Silicon Valley: Northern California, Race, and Mexican Americans. By Stephen J. Pitti. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003. xiv + 320 pp. Maps, illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography, and index. $29.95.

Silicon Valley, Women, and the California Dream: Gender, Class, and Opportunity in the Twentieth Century. By Glenna Matthews. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003. xvii + 313 pp. Maps, photographs, tables, notes, and index. $55.00 (cloth); $22.95 (paper).

Beginning with the clash of cultures between the Spanish and Native Americans and continuing through to the present, Silicon Valley has experienced more than its share of high hopes and shattered dreams. Issues of race, class, and gender have divided and united valley residents over the past two hundred years. The Devil in Silicon Valley: Northern California, Race, and Mexican Americans by Stephen J. Pitti and Silicon Valley, Women, and the California Dream: Gender, Class, and Opportunity in the Twentieth Century by Glenna Matthews both illuminate aspects of past and present Silicon Valley. Together they provide an interesting and insightful lens through which to view not only Silicon Valley but also the history of race, class, and gender in the recent United States.