Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Nonfiction Books on Display

Heartbreaking, poetic, and intensely personal, Butterfly Boy is a unique coming out and coming-of-age story of a first-generation Chicano who trades one life for another, only to discover that history and memory are not exchangeable or forgettable.  Growing up among poor migrant Mexican farmworkers, Rigoberto Gonz#65533;lez also faces the pressure of coming-of-age as a gay man in a culture that prizes machismo. Losing his mother when he is twelve, Gonz#65533;lez must then confront his father's abandonment and an abiding sense of cultural estrangement, both from his adopted home in the United States and from a Mexican birthright. His only sense of connection gets forged in a violent relationship with an older man. By finding his calling as a writer, and by revisiting the relationship with his father during a trip to Mexico, Gonz#65533;lez finally claims his identity at the intersection of race, class, and sexuality. The result is a leap of faith that every reader who ever felt like an outsider will immediately recognize. 2007 Finalist, Randy Shilts Awards for Gay Nonfiction, Publishing Triangle   Winner, American Book Awards, Before Columbus Foundation

Cheech Marin, well known for his three decades of work as a comedian, actor, director, and musician, has long championed Chicano artists and been a collector of their work. This breakthrough publication will be available in both hardcover and paperback formats. The exhibition features Marin's collection of over 30 artists' work, and their paintings that depict Hispanic culture, religion, and politics with brilliant color and emotion. Incisive essays by leading scholars describe the origins of Chicano art. In the same way that Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo redefined our understanding and appreciation of Mexican art, Chicano artists such as Gronk, Patssi Valdez, and Carlos Almaraz are putting Chicano art on the cutting edge of contemporary art.

This is an anthology of compelling new work by more than forty Latino and Latina poets, including Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo, Julia Alvarez, Luis Rodriguez, Rosario Ferre, Victor Hernandez Cruz, Gary Soto, and Clemente Soto Velez. El Coro offers proof that Latino/a poetry today is more complex and diverse, more beautiful and powerful, than had been previously acknowledged. Here we find the open expression of anger and grief, self-mocking humor, the music of protest, the quiet assertion of dignity, and the raucous celebration of survival. There are poems about stoop labor and welfare offices and housing projects, but also poems about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and the Minotaur. Among the poets are former farm workers and gang members, a practicing physician, an ex-tenant lawyer, two professional chefs, and a Vietnam veteran. One poet was a political prisoner for six years; another staged a famous hunger strike; still another was indicted for her work with Central American refugees. In many ways this collection of poets comprises a chorus. Their song humanizes in the face of dehumanization.

This photographic book tells the story of the incredible rise of Latino baseball players in the American baseball system - from the first game in Cuba in 1898 and the subsequent history of baseball in the Caribbean all the way through the decades of player development up to the present day prominence of Latino players in American leagues.

Issued in conjunction with an exhibition held at Houston's Museum of Fine Arts in 1987, and in other museums, this volume presents some 200 paintings and sculptures by 30 contemporary Hispanic artists living and working in the United States. Beginning with a piece on what it means to be Hispanic and what in particular it means to be a Hispanic artist, the volume includes interpretive essays defining and illuminating the challenging variety of contemporary Hispanic art, ranging from folk-inspired religious carvings to politically-motivated satirical work, modernist abstraction, ethnically-infected Neo-Surrealism, and impassioned New Imagism. The authors also discuss the origins of Hispanic art and the influences that have shaped it, and provide biographical sketches of the artists.

From the author of The House on Mango Street, a richly illustrated compilation of true stories and nonfiction pieces that, taken together, form a jigsaw autobiography--an intimate album of a beloved literary legend. From the Chicago neighborhoods where she grew up and set her groundbreaking The House on Mango Street to her abode in Mexico in a region where "my ancestors lived for centuries," the places Sandra Cisneros has lived have provided inspiration for her now-classic works of fiction and poetry. But a house of her own, where she could truly take root, has eluded her. With this collection--spanning three decades, and including never-before-published work--Cisneros has come home at last. Ranging from the private (her parents' loving and tempestuous marriage) to the political (a rallying cry for one woman's liberty in Sarajevo) to the literary (a tribute to Marguerite Duras), and written with her trademark lyricism, these signature pieces recall transformative memories as well as reveal her defining artistic and intellectual influences. Poignant, honest, deeply moving, this is an exuberant celebration of a life in writing lived to the fullest.

In this eye-opening and poignant true story about the experiences of four young Mexican women coming of age in Denver--two who have legal documentation, two who don't--Helen Thorpe "puts a human face on a frequently obtuse conversation" (O, The Oprah Magazine), exploring themes of identity and friendship and exposing the reality of life for many undocumented immigrants seeking the American dream. Just Like Us tells the story of four high school students whose parents entered this country illegally from Mexico. We meet the girls on the eve of their senior prom in Denver, Colorado. All four of the girls have grown up in the United States, and all four want to live the American dream, but only two have documents. As the girls attempt to make it into college, they discover that only the legal pair sees a clear path forward. Their friendships start to divide along lines of immigration status. Then the political firestorm begins. A Mexican immigrant shoots and kills a police officer. The author happens to be married to the Mayor of Denver, a businessman who made his fortune in the restaurant business. In a bizarre twist, the murderer works at one of the Mayor's restaurants--under a fake Social Security number. A local Congressman seizes upon the murder as proof of all that is wrong with American society and Colorado becomes the place where national arguments over immigration rage most fiercely. The rest of the girls' lives play out against this backdrop of intense debate over whether they have any right to live here. Just Like Us is a coming-of-age story about girlhood and friendship, as well as the resilience required to transcend poverty. It is also a book about identity--what it means to steal an identity, what it means to have a public identity, what it means to inherit an identity from parents. The girls, their families, and the critics who object to their presence allow the reader to watch one of the most complicated social issues of our times unfurl in a major American city. And the perspective of the author gives the reader insight into both the most powerful and the most vulnerable members of American society as they grapple with the same dilemma: Who gets to live in America? And what happens when we don't agree?

"Offers an extremely ambitious book that covers the artistic creativity of the peoples of Latin America from the earliest Paleo-Indians in 20,000 BCE to modern times, and from the southern tip of Argentina in the south to the Rio Grande in the north. . . . Very useful for undergraduate and graduate students of Latin American art.""--Choice "An important text for arts and humanities courses, as it relates the arts to the life and politics of each age. One of few recent books with this kind of broad coverage." -- Library Journal "An ambitious treatment of Latin American art throughout time and space. . . . This kind of comprehensive treatment is sorely needed in the field of art history and cultural studies. . . . I would certainly purchase this book, both for my own personal reading and for use as a required text."--Eloise Quiñones Keber, City University of New York In this history of the art of Latin America, John F. Scott traces the development of art in the region from pre-Columbian times to the present. Illustrated with 192 color and black-and-white photographs, Latin American Art spans all geographical areas and time periods. Unique in its linking of pre-Columbian and Hispanic cultures, the book encompasses art forms ranging from sculpture, pottery, and painting to architecture, and cultures from the Ice Age to Classic civilizations, Native empires, and the colonial period of American viceroyalties, to independence and the 20th century. Relating the arts to the life and politics of each age, Scott addresses the major media, styles, and artists that defined each period, placing special emphasis on the areas that were the centers of high cultures and analyzing a few distinctive works from each, such as the Inca architecture at Cuzco and the great murals of Mexico. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, Latin American Art will be an important text in arts and humanities courses. It will also be of value to art historians and to those interested in cultural studies, ethnic studies, and Latin America in general. John F. Scott is professor of art history at the University of Florida. He has published several books on Latin American art, including Ancient Mesoamerica (UPF, 1987); Mexican, Central and South American Art; Art of the Taino of the Dominican Republic; and The Danzantes of Monte Albán, as well as numerous articles in English, Spanish, and German.

Although largely ignored by historians of both baseball in general and the Negro leagues in particular, Latinos have been a significant presence in organized baseball from the beginning. In this benchmark study on Latinos and professional baseball from the 1880s to the present, Adrian Burgos tells a compelling story of the men who negotiated the color line at every turn-passing as "Spanish" in the major leagues or seeking respect and acceptance in the Negro leagues. Burgos draws on archival materials from the U.S., Cuba, and Puerto Rico, as well as Spanish- and English-language publications and interviews with Negro league and major league players. He demonstrates how the manipulation of racial distinctions that allowed management to recruit and sign Latino players provided a template for Brooklyn Dodgers' general manager Branch Rickey when he initiated the dismantling of the color line by signing Jackie Robinson in 1947. Burgos's extensive examination of Latino participation before and after Robinson's debut documents the ways in which inclusion did not signify equality and shows how notions of racialized difference have persisted for darker-skinned Latinos like Orestes ("Minnie") Miñoso, Roberto Clemente, and Sammy Sosa.

Readers of Rudolfo Anaya's fiction know the lyricism of his prose, but most do not know him as a poet. In this, his first collection of poetry, Anaya presents twenty-eight of his best poems, most of which have never before been published. Featuring works written in English and Spanish over the course of three decades, Poems from the Río Grande offers readers a full body of work showcasing Anaya's literary and poetic imagination. Although the poems gathered here take a variety of forms--haiku, elegy, epic--all are imbued with the same lyrical and satirical styles that underlie Anaya's fiction. Together they make a fascinating complement to the novels, stories, and plays for which he is well known. In verse, Anaya explores every aspect of Chicano identity, beginning with memories of his childhood in a small New Mexico village and ending with mature reflections on being a Chicano who considers himself connected to all peoples. The collection articulates the themes at the heart of all Anaya's work: nostalgia for the landscape and customs of his boyhood in rural New Mexico, a deep connection to the Río Grande, the politics of Chicanismo and satire aimed at it, and the use of myth and history as metaphor. Anaya also illustrates his familiarity with world traditions of poetry, invoking Walt Whitman, Homer, and the Bible. The poem to Isis that concludes the collection honors Anaya's wife, Patricia, and reflects his increasing identification with spiritual traditions across the globe. Both profeta and vato, seer and homeboy, Anaya as author is a citizen of the world. Poems from the Río Grande offers readers a glimpse into his development as a poet and as one of the most celebrated Chicano authors of our time.

As we approach the new century, Latino poetry is in the midst of its most vital and productive period. Poetry by Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cuban Americans has changed the course of contemporary American writing forever.And it has done this by emphasizing poetry as the sound of everyday life--showing readers and other writers that the most effective manner of preserving the traditions of a culture comes from the colorful language of daily experience. Touching the Fire recognizes the excitement of this movement by focusing on a few of its major poets, presenting a substantial portion of each poet's work.Some of these poets--Martin Espada, Lorna Dee Cervantes, and Victor Hernandez Vruz, for example--have been writing and publishing a long time.Some are only starting their careers.But they were all chosen because they best represent the strongest elements of modern Latino poetry--a confidence of language in its many forms, a gift for shattering emotional honesty, and an ear for the rhythms of a vibrant culture. Featuring the poetry of- Sandra M. Castillo Lorna Dee Cervantes Judith Ortiz Cofer Victor Hernandez Cruz Silvia Curbelo Juan Delgado Martin Espada Diana Garcia Richard Garcia Ray Gonzalez Maurice Kilwein Guevara Juan Felipe Herrera Dionisio D. Martinez Valerie Martinez Gloria Vando