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Presents essays dealing with literature written by Hispanic Americans from the sixteenth century through 1960, evaluates individual authors, and examines the contributions of Latino authors in a multicultural, multilingual society.
ÒNo one looked at her. Papa, Mama, and Maria Elena were busy with their food, but an invisible cord linked them, forming a triangle that left Delia out.Ó In this endearing novel, Olga Berrocal Essex tells the story of young Delia PinedaÕs need to uncover a family secret. She tries to piece together whispered hints from overheard family conversations, like pieces in a puzzle, in an attempt to find Òsome meaning in her own life.Ó Growing up in Panama City in the 1950s, Delia is aware that the strain between her and her domineering older sister, Maria Elena, has something to do with her motherÕs past. As her sixteenth birthday approaches, she begins to understand that her motherÕs secret is inextricably woven with her sisterÕs feelings of unworthiness. DeliaÕs growth is marked by a blossoming compassion for her tormented family and a firm conviction to lead a different life, free from the unspeakable bonds of deception that keep the family together.
Uli’s first flight, a late-night joy ride with his brother, changes their lives forever when the engine stops and the boys crash land, with “Texas to the right and Mexico to the left.” Before the accident, Uli juggled his status as both an undocumented immigrant and a high school track star in Harlingen, Texas, desperately hoping to avoid being deported like his father. His mother Araceli spent her time waiting for her husband. His older brother Cuauhtémoc, a former high-school track star turned drop-out, learned to fly a crop duster, spraying pesticide over their home in the citrus grove. After the crash, Cuauhtémoc wakes up bound and gagged, wondering where he is. Uli comes to in a...
María Ruiz de Burton's novel 'Who Would Have Thought It?' is a groundbreaking work that delves into issues of race, identity, and social class in post-Civil War America. Written in the unique style of a roman à clef, the book challenges traditional literary conventions through its critique of American society and its exploration of the complexities of cultural hybridity. Set against the backdrop of a changing nation, the novel offers a powerful commentary on the experiences of Mexican Americans during a time of upheaval and transformation. With its intricate narrative structure and thought-provoking themes, 'Who Would Have Thought It?' stands as a testament to Ruiz de Burton's innovative a...
A soldier at the age of eleven; an honorably discharged veteran at age of thirteen; a miner, a cotton-picker, a shepherd, and a graduate of Hollywood High, Luis Perez lived an incredible life, which has shaped his story into a vividly-realized autobiographical account. Originally published in 1947, El Coyote , the Rebel tells how the toddler Luis, son of an Aztec mother and a French diplomat father, ended up in the care of an uncle, who soon drank away most of the boys inheritance. Having run away from cruel treatment, Luis by chance came to fight with the rebel armies in the 1910 Mexican Revolution, received the nickname of "El Coyote" for his cunning, and was wounded in combat. Upon being given a discharge and a twenty-dollar bill, he walked across the border to become an American. His story concludes, after an episode of amorous misadventures in a missionary school, with the young hero preparing to marry his true love and solemnly taking the oath of U.S. citizenship, at "the beginning of a new tomorrow."
In the 1930s, Américo Paredes, the renowned folklorist, wrote a novel set to the background of the struggles of Texas Mexicans to preserve their property, culture and identity in the face of Anglo-American migration to and growing dominance over the Rio Grande Valley. Episodes of guerilla warfare, land grabs, racism, jingoism, and abuses by the Texas Rangers make this an adventure novel as well as one of reflection on the making of modern day Texas. George Washington GÑmez is a true precursor of the modern Chicano novel.
El Paso, the pass to the north, lies between vast stretches of desert. This is a geographic accident. Yet like everywhere, people live, love, marry, grow old and die. They also rejoice and despair. These poems relate all these experiences ? but in the magical presence, the telluric force, of the desert. Two women poets sing here, one in the guise of the desert, the other in the figure of Pat Mora. Together they intone Chants. The desertÍs beauty is perceived in subtle gradations of color and texture, in stark contrasts between light and darkness. It speaks as a magical force, as a lonely woman and, for our patience, offers flowers. Like the desert, Pat Mora speaks with muted tones, weaves incantations; she invests her poetic space with magical figures, yet from her loneliness come as well fear, resentment and despair. But she learns the peaceful solitude of the desert. From their dialogue, words become blossoms, fragile in desert rhythms..
The Rebel is the memoir of a revolutionary woman, Leonor Villegas de Magnon (1876-1955), who was a fiery critic of dictator Porfirio Diaz and a conspirator and participant in the Mexican Revolution. Villegas de Magnon rebelled against the ideals of her aristocratic class and against the traditional role of women in her society. In 1910 Villegas moved from Mexico to Laredo, Texas, where she continued supporting the revolution as a member of the Junta Revolucionaria (Revolutionary Council) and as a fiery editorialist in Laredo newspapers. In 1913, she founded La Cruz Blanca (The White Cross) to serve as a corps of nurses for the revolutionary forces active from the border region to Mexico City...
In Tato LavieraÍs third collection, poems celebrate the array of stripes and colors making up the American people. In the beginning section, ñEthnic Tributes,î Laviera crafts poems with titles like, ñarab,î ñblack,î ñchinese,î ñgreek,î ñjamaican,î ñspanish,î and ñmundo-world.î In ñboricua,î he fashions a timely plea for an end to prejudice, saying that for Puerto Ricans ñ. . . color is generally color-blind/with us, thatÍs our contribution, all/ the colors are tied/to our one.î The latter two sections of the collection, ñValuesî and ñPoliticsî build on the themes of ethnic exchange and the place of the boriqueÐo in that greater scheme. In ñcommonwealth,î Laviera ...
The eighth volume in the Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage series, which focuses on the literary heritage of Hispanics in the geographic area that has become the U.S. from the colonial period to 1960.