His most recent book, Steel Barrio: The Great Mexican Migration to South Chicago (New York University Press, 2013), examines how the fortunes of Mexicans in South Chicago were linked to the built environment. He is currently working on two book projects: Chicago’s Little Mexico: Food, Tourism, and Cultural Identity Between the Wars and The Latino South: A History of Migration and Race in Pursuit of the American Dream. For Sobremesa Festival 2016 he will be talking about Mexican Food, Visitors, and “Authenticity” in Early Mexican Chicago.