Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzalez ISBN: 0-14-025539-7 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 02 January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (8 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A different perspective
Comment: I am the Americanized Puerto Rican born in Brooklyn whose parents traded cultural awareness by restricting use of the Spanish language at home for assimilation and greater opportunity educationally. The trade off worked, I earned my BS in Management from Pepperdine University. The trade off didn't work, it is difficult for me to associate in any meaningful manner with fellow Puerto Ricans or Latin Americans in general. My African-American friends consider me white, my Anglo-American friends consider me black, and I am quickly shunned at times by Puerto Ricans just because I don't speak Spanish. Juan Gonzalez with great research and detail identified my subtle undefined (at the time) schizophrenic social engagements. Therapeutically, through historical narrative of US policy towards Puerto Rico, cause and affect of PR vs NYC migratory action from the 1940's through today, viewing the current environment of Puerto Ricans in the South Bronx or East Harlem, I've come to know myself better, appreciate those of my race with greater gravity, and understand that none of these actions are by chance. Macroeconomically, the environmental and immigration impact of US policy regarding the Caribean Basin Initiative or NAFTA that are extensively noted and bibliographed, quite simply created a different perspective on my training in business and foreign investment. Mr. Gonzalez does not stop there. He tackles bilingualism, revisits and reexamines American History in a manner not expressed to me in any classroom...ever...then through citings of other works, backs it up. It is the most refreshing book I've read since the Autobiography of Malcolm X with Alex Haley, due to it's clarity and insight for the human quest for internal and external truths.
Rating: 1
Summary: ONE-SIDED BOOK
Comment: Although I'll admit I didn't read the entire book, I did read much (or, better put, enough) of it to get the jist. I think Juan Gonzalez's views are very prejudiced and inconsiderate towards non-Hispanic whites. Like all too many Hispanic leaders in this country, he urges Hispanics to adopt a chip-on-the- shoulder attitude and wants to make them think that being Hispanic in the United States is a crutch. Mr. Gonzalez fails to realize, though, that one-hundred years ago there was an influx of millions of immigrants from southern Italy. Just like todays Mexican-Americans, they tended to be short, dark-skinned, with dark hair and dark eyes. In other words, they looked different from the previous immigrants from central, eastern, and norhtern Europe. People complained that the Italians didn't want to speak English. Sound familiar, Mr. Gonzalez? People called them ethnic slurs such as "guinea", "dago", "wop", and "greaseball" just to name a few. Sound familiar, Mr. Gonzalez? People said that they all carried knives and were in gangs. Sound familiar, Mr. Gonzalez? In the South, between 1891 and 1911, over 30 people of southern Italian descent were lynched for crimes they did not committ. They weren't even allowed in white schools for quite some time in many areas of the South. In the North, they took dangerous factory and construction jobs, while being grossly underpaid and working in horrible death and injury prone conditions. In California, they worked in the fields, again while being underpaid and working in bad conditions. Sound familiar, Juan? And yet today, the Little Italys (or Italian-American ghettoes, if you will) that once abounded this country are all gone but a few, such as New York's and Boston's, which are disappearing as well. What happened to them? They've become successful. Their community leaders know that just because you don't speak Italian or Sicilian doesn't mean that you've lost your cultural backgound. Their community leaders know that it is absolutely stupid and ignorant to hold a grudge against Anglo-Americans living today that had absolutely nothing to do with whatever went on 100 years or even 50 years ago between Italian-Americans and Anglo-Americans. If Mr. Gonzalez is going to say that it is all the Anglos' fault for whatever problems Hispanic communities have today, then how does he explain the success of Italian,Japanese,Chinese,Asian Indian,Pakisitani,and Arab-Americans? Mr. Gonzalez could definitely take a few lessons from Linda Chavez, whom I admire very much. She wrote a book called "Out of the Barrio" which I recommend if anyone wants to get both sides of the view of the Mexican-American, Puerto Rican American and Cuban American experiences. Its too bad that these great communities don't have more leaders like Linda Chavez instead of corrupt ones like Mr. Gonzalez who hold them down.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great Book
Comment: What I loved about this book is that the author gives a narrative of history that wasn't apparent to me before. We're taught hitory from east to West, but for millions of Latinos the story is from South to North.
Gonzalez spends time on each Latino group and he demonstrates how each sending country's relationship with the United States impacts how each group is treated. I didn't know that Puerto Ricans were US citizens by birth. Moreover, I had no idea how much immigrant labor from Mexico contributes to America's prosperity--particulary that of California and Texas. (CA is the fifth largest economy in the world.) What I also didn't know is that the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 made Cuban exiles immediately eligible for public assistance, Medicaid, food stamps, free English courses, scholarships and low interest college loans. They could also secure immediate business and start up loans. Dade county even opened up its civil service list to non-citizens. Some banks even pioneered what is called a "character loan"--an exile who didn't have collateral or credit could get a business loan based on his background or standing in Cuba. Obviously, these programs have had an effect on that group's prosperity.
This book is full of information that has given me new insight about our country's fastest growing group.
 |
Title: La casa en Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros ISBN: 0679755268 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 18 October, 1994 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
 |
Title: Soñar en cubano by Cristina Garcia ISBN: 034539139X Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 06 September, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: Strangers Among Us : Latino Lives in a Changing America by Roberto Suro ISBN: 0679744568 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 18 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Cuando era puertorriqueña by Esmeralda Santiago ISBN: 0679756779 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 18 October, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: Latinos, Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People by Arlene M. Davila ISBN: 0520227247 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 03 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
