Bright Dead Things by
Finalist for the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award A Best Poetry Book of 2015: New York Times and Buzzfeed Bright Dead Things examines the chaos that is life, the dangerous thrill of living in a world you know you have to leave one day, and the search to find something that is ultimately "disorderly, and marvelous, and ours." A book of bravado and introspection, of 21st century feminist swagger and harrowing terror and loss, this fourth collection considers how we build our identities out of place and human contact--tracing in intimate detail the various ways the speaker's sense of self both shifts and perseveres as she moves from New York City to rural Kentucky, loses a dear parent, ages past the capriciousness of youth, and falls in love. Limón has often been a poet who wears her heart on her sleeve, but in these extraordinary poems that heart becomes a "huge beating genius machine" striving to embrace and understand the fullness of the present moment. "I am beautiful. I am full of love. I am dying," the poet writes. Building on the legacies of forebears such as Frank O'Hara, Sharon Olds, and Mark Doty, Limón's work is consistently generous and accessible--though every observed moment feels complexly thought, felt, and lived.
Mexican Muralism by
In this comprehensive collection of essays, three generations of international scholars examine Mexican muralism in its broad artistic and historical contexts, from its iconic figures--Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siquieros--to their successors in Mexico, the United States, and across Latin America. These muralists conceived of their art as a political weapon in popular struggles over revolution and resistance, state modernization and civic participation, artistic freedom and cultural imperialism. The contributors to this volume show how these artists' murals transcended borders to engage major issues raised by the many different forms of modernity that emerged throughout the Americas during the twentieth century.
Sounds of the Modern Nation by
The author considers how the relationships between avant-garde music and ideas of modernity in post-revolutionary Mexico shaped discourses of nationality.
Listening in Detail: Performances of Cuban Music by
Listening in Detail is an original and impassioned take on the intellectual and sensory bounty of Cuban music as it circulates between the island, the United States, and other locations. It is also a powerful critique of efforts to define "Cuban music" for ethnographic examination or market consumption. Contending that the music is not a knowable entity but a spectrum of dynamic practices that elude definition, Alexandra T. Vazquez models a new way of writing about music and the meanings assigned to it. "Listening in detail" is a method invested in opening up, rather than pinning down, experiences of Cuban music. Critiques of imperialism, nationalism, race, and gender emerge in fragments and moments, and in gestures and sounds through Vazquez's engagement with Alfredo Rodríguez's album Cuba Linda (1996), the seventy-year career of the vocalist Graciela Pérez, the signature grunt of the "Mambo King" Dámaso Pérez Prado, Cuban music documentaries of the 1960s, and late-twentieth-century concert ephemera.
Painting on the Left by
The boldly political mural projects of Diego Rivera and other leftist artists in San Francisco during the 1930s and early 1940s are the focus of Anthony W. Lee's fascinating book. Led by Rivera, these painters used murals as a vehicle to reject the economic and political status quo and to give visible form to labor and radical ideologies, including Communism. Several murals, and details of others, are reproduced here for the first time. Of special interest are works by Rivera that chart a progress from mural paintings commissioned for private spaces to those produced as a public act in a public space: Allegory of California, painted in 1930-31 at the Stock Exchange Lunch Club; Making a Fresco, Showing the Building of a City, done a few months later at the California School of Fine Arts; and Pan American Unity, painted in 1940 for the Golden Gate International Exposition. Labor itself became a focus of the new murals: Rivera painted a massive representation of a construction worker just as San Francisco's workers were themselves organizing; Victor Arnautoff, Bernard Zakheim, John Langley Howard , and Clifford Wight painted panels in Coit Tower that acknowledged the resolve of the dockworkers striking on the streets below. Radical in technique as well, these muralists used new compositional strategies of congestion, misdirection, and fragmentation, subverting the legible narratives and coherent allegories of traditional murals. Lee relates the development of wall painting to San Francisco's international expositions of 1915 and 1939, the new museums and art schools, corporate patronage, and the concerns of immigrants and ethnic groups. And he examines how mural painters struggled against those forces that threatened their practice: the growing acceptance of modernist easel painting, the vagaries of New Deal patronage, and a wartime nationalism hostile to radical politics.
Her Body and Other Parties by
Finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction "[These stories] vibrate with originality, queerness, sensuality and the strange."--Roxane Gay "In these formally brilliant and emotionally charged tales, Machado gives literal shape to women's memories and hunger and desire. I couldn't put it down."--Karen Russell In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women's lives and the violence visited upon their bodies. A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella "Especially Heinous," Machado reimagines every episode ofLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naïvely assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgängers, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes. Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious,Her Body and Other Partiesswings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.
Dreaming in Cuban by
"Impressive . . . [Cristina García's] story is about three generations of Cuban women and their separate responses to the revolution. Her special feat is to tell it in a style as warm and gentle as the 'sustaining aromas of vanilla and almond,' as rhythmic as the music of Beny Moré."--Time Cristina García's acclaimed book is the haunting, bittersweet story of a family experiencing a country's revolution and the revelations that follow. The lives of Celia del Pino and her husband, daughters, and grandchildren mirror the magical realism of Cuba itself, a landscape of beauty and poverty, idealism and corruption. Dreaming in Cuban is "a work that possesses both the intimacy of a Chekov story and the hallucinatory magic of a novel by Gabriel García Márquez" (The New York Times). In celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the novel's original publication, this edition features a new introduction by the author. Praise for Dreaming in Cuban "Remarkable . . . an intricate weaving of dramatic events with the supernatural and the cosmic . . . evocative and lush."--San Francisco Chronicle "Captures the pain, the distance, the frustrations and the dreams of these family dramas with a vivid, poetic prose."--The Washington Post "Brilliant . . . With tremendous skill, passion and humor, García just may have written the definitive story of Cuban exiles and some of those they left behind."--The Denver Post
Soñar en Cubano by
EL BESTSELLER NACIONAL * "Impresionante . . . Su historia se trata de tres generaciones de mujeres cubanas y sus reacciones por separado a la revolución. Su hazaña particular es la de contaria en un estilo tan caluroso y dulce como los 'aromas continuos de la vainilla y la almendra,' tan rítmico como la música de Beny Moré."--Amelia Weiss, Time El celebrado libro de Cristina García cuenta la sobrecogedora y agridulce historia de una familia que experimenta la revolución de un país y las revelaciones que ello conlleva. La vidas de Celia del Pino y de su esposo, sus hijas y nietas reflejan el realismo mágico de Cuba, un paisaje de belleza y miseria, idealismo y corrupción. Soñar en cubano es "una obra que posee tanto la intimidad de un relato de Chejov como la magia alucinatoria de una novela de García Márquez" (The New York Times).
Oye Como Va! by
Listen Up When the New York-born Tito Puente composed "Oye Como Va " in the 1960s, his popular song was called Latin even though it was a fusion of Afro-Cuban and New York Latino musical influences. A decade later, Carlos Santana, a Mexican immigrant, blended PuenteOCOs tune with rock and roll, which brought it to the attention of national audiences. Like Puente and Santana, Latino/a musicians have always blended musics from their homelands with other sounds in our multicultural society, challenging ideas of what Latin music is or ought to be. Waves of immigrants further complicate the picture as they continue to bring their distinctive musical styles to the U.S.OCofrom merengue and bachata to cumbia and reggaeton. Ina"Oye Como Va ," Deborah Pacini Hernandez traces the trajectories of various U.S. Latino musical forms in a globalizing world, examining how the blending of Latin music reflects Latino/a American lives connecting across nations. Exploring the simultaneously powerful, vexing, and stimulating relationship between hybridity, music, and identity, a"Oye Como Va "aasserts that this potent combination is a signature of the U.S. Latino/a experience.
Borderlands / la Frontera by
Literary Nonfiction. Poetry. Latino/Latina Studies. LGBT Studies. Fourth Edition. Rooted in Gloria Anzaldúa's experience as a Chicana, a lesbian, an activist, and a writer, the essays and poems in this volume profoundly challenged, and continue to challenge, how we think about identity. BORDERLANDS/LA FRONTERA remaps our understanding of what a "border" is, presenting it not as a simple divide between here and there, us and them, but as a psychic, social, and cultural terrain that we inhabit, and that inhabits all of us. This twenty-fifth anniversary edition features a new introduction by scholars Norma Cantú (University of Texas at San Antonio) and Aída Hurtado (University of California at Santa Cruz) as well as a revised critical bibliography. "The emotional and intellectual impact of the book is disorienting and powerful...all languages are spoken, and survival depends on understanding all modes of thought. In the borderlands new creatures come into being. Anzaldúa celebrates this 'new mestiza' in bold, experimental writing."--The Village Voice "Anzaldúa's pulsating weaving of innovative poetry with sparse informative prose brings us deep into the insider/outsider consciousness of the borderlands; that ancient and contemporary, crashing and blending world that divides and unites America."--Women's Review of Books
Archipelagos of Sound by
This book speaks to the remarkable global reach and influence of Caribbean musics and investigates Caribbean women, music and identity.
Chilean New Song by
Chilean New Song (la Nueva Canción chilena) entranced and uplifted a country that struggled for social change during the turbulent 1960s and early 1970s, until the 1973 coup that overthrew democratic socialist president Salvador Allende. This powerful musical style--with its poetic lyrics and haunting blend of traditional indigenous wind and stringed instruments--was born of and expressed the aspirations of rising classes. It promised a socially just future as it forged social bonding. In Chilean New Song, J. Patrice McSherry deftly combines a political-historical view of Chile with a narrative of its cultural development. She examines the democratizing power of this music and, through interviews with key protagonists, the social roles of politically committed artists who participated in a movement for change. McSherry explores the impact of Chilean New Song and the way this artistic/cultural phenomenon related to contemporary politics to capture the passion, pain, and hope of millions of Chileans.
Yo! by
"Charming and funny . . . Mesmerizing . . . Wonderful." --USA Today Yolanda García--Yo, for short--is the literary one in the family. Her first published novel, in which uses as characters practically everyone she knows, was a big success. Now she's basking in the spotlight while those "characters" find their very recognizable selves dangling in that same blinding light. But turnabout is fair play, and so here, Yolanda García's family and friends tell the truth about Yo. Her three sisters, her Mami and Papi, her grandparents, tías, tíos, cousins, housemaids, her third husband: they take turns telling their side of the story, ripping into Yo and in the process creating their own endearing self-portraits. At once funny and poignant, intellectual and gossipy, lighthearted and layered, ¡Yo! is above all a portrait of the artist. And with its bright colors, passion, and penchant for controversy, it's a portrait that could come only from the palette of Julia Alvarez.
The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by
Dramatic Comedy CHaracters: 5 male (1 non-speaking) Single Set Finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Winner 2011 Obie Award for Best New American Play Winner 2011 New York Times Outstanding Playwright Awards Winner 2008 National Latino Playwriting Award Mace is a professional wrestler. He's a really good professional wrestler. He's not the champion though - that's the impossibly charismatic Chad Deity. When Mace discovers a young India
Imagine the Angels of Bread by
Combining the personal with the political in his fifth collection, Martín Espada celebrates the bread of the imagination, the bread of the table, and the bread of justice. The heart of the collection is a series of autobiographical poems recalling family, school, neighborhood, and work experiences-from bouncer to tenant lawyer. There are moments of revelation and political transcendence here, which culminate in an elegy for the Puerto Rican poet Clemente Soto Velez, imprisoned for his advocacy of independence for Puerto Rico.
Transportes González e Hija by
Libertad González, puesta en prisión por un crimen que no revelará inaugura el club de lectura semanal de la biblioteca, leyendo a sus compañeras de prisión de cualquier libro a su alcance, desde Los tres mosqueteros hasta Gu'a Fodor's de puertos del Caribe. La historia que surge, no tiene nada que ver con las palabras impresas en esas p++ginas. En su lugar, ella relata la historia de un ex profesor de literatura, prófugo del gobierno mexicano, que se reinventa como troquero de larga distancia en los Estados Unidos donde se enamora de la mujer que dará a luz a su oenica hija. Cuando repentinamente, Joaqu'n Gonz++lez, se encuentra solo en la ruta con una bebita, nace la compañía Transportes González e Hija. Padre e hija hacen su hogar en la cabina del camión de 18 ruedas y comparten todo--aventuras, libros, comidas en los paraderos de camioneros y recuerdos de la mujer que fuera la madre de la chica -- hasta que un día la niña se convierte en mujer y un encuentro fortuito con un hombre la provocan a rebelarse contra otro.
La Verdad: An International Dialogue on Hip Hop Latinidades by
From its earliest days, hip hop was more than just music, encapsulating the ideas of community and exchange. Artists like Mellow Man Ace and Kid Frost opened doors by infusing Spanish into their lyrics, calling for racial and social equality; others employed hip hop to comment on the effects of neo-liberalization and global capital. In recent decades, the cultural exchange has expanded--the music traveling from the United States to Latin America and back as visual artists, music producers, MCs, vocalists, and dancers combine their Latin cultures with influences from north of the U.S. border to create new artistic experiences. And while there is an extensive body of work on U.S. hip hop, it continues to evolve in an increasingly multilingual, multiethnic, intergenerational, and global collection of cultural expressions. A truly international effort, La Verdad: An International Dialogue on Hip Hop Latinidades brings together exciting new work about Latino/a hip hop across more than a dozen countries, from scholars and practitioners in the United States and in Latin America, highlighting in new ways the participation of women, indigenous peoples, and Afro-descendants in a reimagined global, hip hop nation. From graffitera crews in Costa Rica and Nicaragua to Mexican hip hop in New York, from Aymara rap in Bolivia to Chicano rap in Taiwan, this volume explodes stereotypes of who and how hip hop is consumed, lived, and performed. Examining hip hop movements in Spanish, English, Portuguese, Aymara, and Creole, La Verdad demonstrates that Latino hip hop is a multilingual expression of gender, indigeneity, activism, and social justice.
Playing at Stillness by
For years I have been telling everyone I know about Rhina Espaillat's work, giving her books to friends as gifts, teaching her poems in my writing workshops, rereading them to renew my faith in the written word. She has been and continues to be one of my favourite American poets. This book displays her range -- from exquisitely executed formal verse to wonderfully fluid and appealing free verse poems. Humorous and playful, astute and poignant, she never gets in her way -- her craft does all the work and we delight in the results. The poems keep surprising me. Again and again as I read them, I feel deeply grateful to this wonderfully generous and skilled writer -- by Julie Alvarez. Rhina Espaillat's immaculate verse is characterised by a bemused melancholy and serenity which are hard to find in American letters. A greater contrast to her contemporaries (and I believe her inferiors), Plath and Sexton, would be similarly hard to find. This a wonderful collection in which every parent, will find the best poem for a son's wedding that I have ever read (yes, even better than Wilbur's!) But readers long familiar with Espaillat might be surprised by the wit with which she rebukes. -- by Tim Murphy.
Alli Donde Recuerda el Mar by
Allí Donde el Mar Recuerda es un relato obsesionante de amor, ira, esperanza, y tragedia cuyos personajes subsisten mucho después de haber leído la última página. En el corazón del relato está Chayo, la vendedora de flores, y su esposo, Candelario, el ensaladero, quienes esperan que al fin Dios los bendiga con el hijo que pensaron nunca tendrían. Sin embargo, el motivo de su felicidad provoca una cadena de sucesos que marca las vidas de todos los habitantes de Santiago, una aldea mexicana. Sus esperanzas, triunfos, defectos, y fracasos hacen una impresión imborrable de un mundo en cual el destino puede depender del más mínimo hecho. Allí Donde el Mar Recuerda, un asombroso debut por una nueva voz en el género novelístico de América, es un libro que nunca olvidará.
Red Beans by
Selected as one of the best books of 1991 byPublishers Weekly. A blend of cultures and races, with inspirations ranging from Caribbean musical rhythms to Castillan and Moorish influences. "Quirky and utterly lovely."--VLS¶"This vigorous bilingual Latino troubador's poems and essays are 'a dance on the edges'."--Library Journal
White Mule by
Besides being a practicing physician,William Carlos Williams (1883-1963) was a poet, short-story writer, novelist, translator, playwright, and essayist whose contribution to the development of modern American poetry grew out of his commitment to recording the local" experience of Rutherford, New Jersey, and its environs."
Ballet Hispánico is featured in a Google Arts & Culture Exhibit : Ballet Hispánico: Over 45 Years of Celebrating Latino Dance & Culture
Google Arts & Culture has created a series of online exhibitions about Latino Arts & Culture. Check out these ones
De Muchos, Uno / E Plluribus Unum | Art Works for Change celebrates eight Latino artists whose works provoke dialogue and inspire change
Gloria Estefan on Bringing Latin Music to the World | The pop legend tkals about her music, role models, and the future of Latin music
La historia en el arte | The story in art, Museuo Eduardo Carrillo
Caution: Some songs may contain offensive lyrics.