The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography

Cesar Chavez founded a labor union, launched a movement, and inspired a generation. He rose from migrant worker to national icon, becoming one of the great charismatic leaders of the twentieth century. Two decades after his death, Chavez remains the most significant Latino leader in US history. In the first comprehensive biography of Chavez, Miriam Pawel offers a searching yet empathetic portrayal. Chavez emerges as a visionary figure with tragic flaws; a brilliant strategist who sometimes stumbled. He was an experimental thinker with eclectic passions—an avid, self-educated historian and a disciple of Gandhian non-violent protest. Pawel’s biography deepens our understanding of one of Chavez’s most salient qualities: his profound humanity.

Miriam Pawel is the author of The Union of Their Dreams, widely acclaimed as the most nuanced history of Cesar Chavez’s movement. She is a Pulitzer-winning editor who spent twenty-five years working for Newsday and the Los Angeles Times.