Synopses & Reviews
All too often, groups who do not effectively define themselves find that others assume the power to explain them. Until recently, this has certainly been the case with American Latinos/as, as evidenced by demeaning media stereotypes and the groups's near-invisibility in U.S. history texts.
Indeed, as the demise of the Soviet empire shifted America's national anxieties to domestic irritants, images of Latinos/as changed for the worse. Immigration reform acts in 1965 and 1986 brought millions of new immigrants from Latin American countries. By the end of the 1980s, their presence had become vexing to many. English-only movements sprang up. Bilingual education came under attack. Movements to close the border gained momentum.
Now, Latinos/as are speaking back. The Latino Condition brings together some of these new voices, and some of the pioneers, in law, sociology, history, politics, and literature. This pathbreaking volume addresses such questions as:
- Who exactly is a Latino/a? Who is Hispanic? Who is Chicano/a?
- How did Spanish-speaking people come to the United States?
- Should the United States try to control Latino/a immigration and is this even possible?
- How has "the silent minority" been stereotyped by popular culture?
- Why don't traditional civil rights remedies work for Latinos/as?
- Is assimilation possible, or even desirable, for all Latinos/as?
- What makes for conflict between Latinos/as and other racial groups?
- Are Latinos/as a race or an ethnicity?
- Should Latino/a children be taught in Spanish?
- What can border theory tell us about culture, language, and power?
Review
"A useful and engaging book, one in which real voices are allowed to speak and to describe experience as being as squalid, muddled, painful and interesting as it generally is." -Sunday Times,
Review
"On individual examples Perkin is superb, not just on the great reformers but on the individual free-wheelers like Isabella Bird-Bishop, who set off at 40 to see the whole world and managed it." -The Independent,
Review
"A useful and engaging book, one in which real voices are allowed to speak and to describe experience as being as squalid, muddled, painful and interesting as it generally is."
"On individual examples Perkin is superb, not just on the great reformers but on the individual free-wheelers like Isabella Bird-Bishop, who set off at 40 to see the whole world and managed it."
Review
"The authors of these essays explore the theme of Latino/a identity by presenting popular media images of Latino/as and by examining the issues of representation that these images raise...instructive and useful." - Choice,
Review
"A valuable and highly informative discussion of the theoretical questions that underlie the production of popular culture in the twenty-first century." -Latin American Research Review,
Synopsis
While the aristocratic women of the Victorian age have long preoccupied the popular imagination, seldom have women of other classes been granted a voice. Victorian Women is the first book to allow women of all classes to render their own lives, in their own words, from birth to old age, in the long nineteenth century between the French Revolution and the First World War.
In letters, memoirs, and other contemporary sources these women describe their childhood and education; courtship, marriage and homemaking; sex and motherhood; marital breakdown; widowhood; and their pastimes and entertainments. Their voices, heretofore drowned by the cacophony of louder, often male versions of history, speak to us with clarity and poignancy, revealing strength of feeling, courage, and humor. We find in this book the unmarried woman worker, the single mother, the prostitute, as well as those who fought for professional recognition against the regiments of the church, government, and law.
Synopsis
While the aristocratic women of the Victorian age have long preoccupied the popular imagination, seldom have women of other classes been granted a voice. Victorian Women is the first book to allow women of all classes to render their own lives, in their own words, from birth to old age, in the long nineteenth century between the French Revolution and the First World War.
In letters, memoirs, and other contemporary sources these women describe their childhood and education; courtship, marriage and homemaking; sex and motherhood; marital breakdown; widowhood; and their pastimes and entertainments. Their voices, heretofore drowned by the cacophony of louder, often male versions of history, speak to us with clarity and poignancy, revealing strength of feeling, courage, and humor. We find in this book the unmarried woman worker, the single mother, the prostitute, as well as those who fought for professional recognition against the regiments of the church, government, and law.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [249]-253) and index.
About the Author
Richard Delgado is University Professor at Seattle University Law School. Author of numerous articles and books on Latinos and civil rights, including
The Rodrigo Chronicles, he is also one of the founders of critical race theory.
Jean Stefancic, research professor of law at Seattle University, is the author of many articles and books on civil rights, law reform, social change, including No Mercy: How Conservative Think Tanks and Foundations Changed America's Social Agenda.