From Publishers Weekly
Latinos in the U.S., as Shorris defines them, are a complex of people of varied ancestry--Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Salvadoreans, for example--"in danger of becoming the largest insignificant minority in American history." Moving from the barrios of New York City's Spanish Harlem and East Los Angeles to Miami's Cuban community to Southern farms on which migrant workers endure abominable, Third World conditions to El Paso where Hispanics have launched an assault on the bastions of Anglo economic power, Shorris gives eloquent voice and texture to Latino dreams, history, culture and aspirations . His montage of social analysis, reportage, folkways and oral history is a magnificent portrait of diverse people struggling against stereotyping, racism, exploitation and the racismo which causes one Latino group to demean another. A contributing editor of Harper's , himself married to a Latina, Shorris ( Power Sits at Another Table ) gauges the relentless pressure on Latinos to conform and their resistance to the melting pot. He looks at upwardly mobile professionals, entrepreneurs, exploiters and civil servants; activists and politicians attempting to "draw their people out of the refuge of metaphysics and family"; gang members in revolt and workers earning 18 cents per hour. He assesses innovative bilingual education programs, traces the Latino influence on American English, cuisine, films and music, and charts the brutal daily war between immigration agents and illegal border-crossers, a war that leaves hundreds of nameless corpses each year. Exploring the widening rift between the Roman Catholic Church and the Latino community, Shorris visits a curandero (healer) and delves into Mexican American Santeria, a spiritistic folk religion. He incisively critiques contemporary Latino writers and painters, and profiles such figures as Cesar Chavez, Paul Rodriguez, Roberto Clemente, exiled Cuban poet Jorge Valls and Jaime Inclan, director of a family therapy clinic on Manhattan's Lower East Side. A definitive, energizing, brilliantly searching group portrait. QPB main selection; BOMC selection; $75,000 paperback floor; author tour. (Oct.) .Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Using an oral storytelling style and chapter vignettes, Shorris attempts to cover the history and the current condition of all the North American Latinos, who are identified as descendants of the Spanish conquest of the New World. Beginning with Columbus's subjugation of the native populations in the West Indies, Shorris, a contributing editor of Harper's magazine, recounts the struggle of the Latino people (Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cuban Americans, etc.) against Anglo racism, language barriers, and economic and political discrimination. He also offers an unflinching look at the condition of Latinos in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York. Shorris's meandering style makes his book a difficult tool to use academically, however, and the abundance of detail at times overwhelms his message. Still, this is a worthy purchase for urban libraries or any library serving any size Latino population.- Sharon Roman, Carroll Cty. P.L., Westminster, Md.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.


J. Jorge Klor de Alva, New York Times Book Review
[A] powerful, beautifully-written and thoughtful book...likely to remain unequaled in its sweep and profundity for some time to come.


Gerald Volgenau, Boston Globe
A smart, perceptive and wonderfully readable book.... Should be required reading for anyone who would hope to understand America.


Laurence Gonzales, Chicago Tribune
Brilliant.... A loving and detailed celebration of a diverse, beautiful and often astounding people.


Book Description
They are sometimes called the people who died twice, once at the hands of the Spaniards and their brutal process of civilization, then at the hands of Anglos, practicing a subtler exploitation. They are Latinos, the fastest-growing minority in the United States. Earl Shorris's deeply moving narrative—enlivened by biographical sketches of Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, Puerto Ricans, and many others struggling with the burden of a rich and terrible history—illuminates every aspect of the Latino experience in America, from language to education to social and political organization.


About the Author
Earl Shorris's many books include In the Yucatán: A Novel and Riches for the Poor. A contributing editor at Harper's, he lives in New York City.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

They are sometimes called the people who died twice, once at the hands of the Spaniards and their brutal process of civilization, more recently at the hands of Anglos, practicing a subtler exploitation. They are Latinos, the fastest growing minority in the United States; this book explores their lives and their history as descendants of the Spanish conquest of the native populations of the New World. When he was looking for the proper collective designation for the Spanish-speaking peoples of America, Earl Shorris was admonished: "You must tell them we are not all alike!" He took the advice to heart, and as his book makes wonderfully clear through biographical sketches of Mexican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, Puerto Ricans, and others - rich and poor, strivers and fatalists - this fiercely guarded diversity is at once the glory and the undoing of the Latinos. On one hand is the exuberant vitality of Latino culture as expressed in music, literature, and art. On the other, the rivalry and prejudice between these groups have abetted the forces of Anglo society in preventing Latinos, collectively, from assuming a significant role in the politics and economy of the United States. Shorris's deeply moving narrative, enlivened by many portraits of people struggling with the burden of a rich and terrible history, illuminates every aspect of the Latino experience, from language to education, to social and political organization. It is an account that inspires sympathy, understanding, coraje (righteous anger), and hope.

FROM THE CRITICS

Laurence Gonzales

Brilliant.... A loving and detailed celebration of a diverse, beautiful and often astounding people. —Chicago Tribune

J. Jorge Klor de Alva

[A] powerful, beautifully-written and thoughtful book...likely to remain unequaled in its sweep and profundity for some time to come. —New York Times Book Review

Gerald Volgenau

A smart, perceptive and wonderfully readable book.... Should be required reading for anyone who would hope to understand America. —Boston Globe

Publishers Weekly

Latinos in the U.S., as Shorris defines them, are a complex of people of varied ancestry--Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Salvadoreans, for example--``in danger of becoming the largest insignificant minority in American history.'' Moving from the barrios of New York City's Spanish Harlem and East Los Angeles to Miami's Cuban community to Southern farms on which migrant workers endure abominable, Third World conditions to El Paso where Hispanics have launched an assault on the bastions of Anglo economic power, Shorris gives eloquent voice and texture to Latino dreams, history, culture and aspirations . His montage of social analysis, reportage, folkways and oral history is a magnificent portrait of diverse people struggling against stereotyping, racism, exploitation and the racismo which causes one Latino group to demean another. A contributing editor of Harper's , himself married to a Latina, Shorris ( Power Sits at Another Table ) gauges the relentless pressure on Latinos to conform and their resistance to the melting pot. He looks at upwardly mobile professionals, entrepreneurs, exploiters and civil servants; activists and politicians attempting to ``draw their people out of the refuge of metaphysics and family''; gang members in revolt and workers earning 18 cents per hour. He assesses innovative bilingual education programs, traces the Latino influence on American English, cuisine, films and music, and charts the brutal daily war between immigration agents and illegal border-crossers, a war that leaves hundreds of nameless corpses each year. Exploring the widening rift between the Roman Catholic Church and the Latino community, Shorris visits a curandero (healer) and delves into Mexican American Santeria, a spiritistic folk religion. He incisively critiques contemporary Latino writers and painters, and profiles such figures as Cesar Chavez, Paul Rodriguez, Roberto Clemente, exiled Cuban poet Jorge Valls and Jaime Inclan, director of a family therapy clinic on Manhattan's Lower East Side. A definitive, energizing, brilliantly searching group portrait. QPB main selection; BOMC selection; $75,000 paperback floor; author tour. (Oct.) .

Library Journal