Immigration/Mexican-American Culture Books?

[tasksgirl]

Does anyone know any more?

One I read recently and REALLY loved was:
Crossing Over - Ruben Martinez

http://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Over-Mexican-Family-Migrant/dp/0312421230/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199719719&sr=1-1

[Laura]

Oh, I have a few:

One GREAT book is Coyotes (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0394755189/$%7B0%7D), by Ted Conover. (Actually, everything by Ted Conover is good, but when I was working in restaurants and started working with lots of undoc. immigrants I read Coyotes and well, just thought it was an exceptional investigative journalism/culture/great read).

Another book I like is the Mexicans (http://www.amazon.com/Mexicans-Personal-Portrait-People/dp/0060011300/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199721510&sr=1-1) by Patrick Oster.

I really like modern history/memoirs, etc, but not so much history books. But, I decided I really needed to understand more Aztec/Mexicano culture so I'm slooooowly reading Life and Times of Mexico (http://www.amazon.com/Life-Times-Mexico-Earl-Shorris/dp/0393327671/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199721758&sr=1-2) by Earl Shorris. It's good, but he jumps around a lot, and it's a little disjointed at times. Like he's telling ancient stories, and then the next chapter there will be some very thin transition to a modern person. I don't know, it's better than a dry history read for sure, but not exactly a page turner.

Another book I'm reading right now is Translation Nation (http://www.amazon.com/Translation-Nation-Hector-Tobar/dp/B000EXYZO0/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199722018&sr=1-1) by Hector Tobar - who is actually an L.A.-based journalist. I think I'm going to like this book a lot as well, but I just started it.

[angela256z]

I just requested the Coyotes one from Paperback swap. It looks interesting. I can't wait to read it.

[tasksgirl]

thanks for the reccomendations..!
If you want to really know about immigrant culture and how it affects all Mexicans.. the one I mentioned is really good..

[losguerra]

One cool book I read once was Growing Up Chicana/o (http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Chicana-Tiffany-Lopez/dp/0380724197) by Tiffany Lopez. It's just a collection of stories and vignettes from various Mexican-American authors, along the lines of Sandra Cisneros (in fact, she has a story in that book). Most focus on the experience of kids trying to adjust to being Mexican and American at the same time. The stories are not the most recent, though.

Although this isn't exactly what you were looking for, I have to recommend a great read that makes Latin American history very interesting: Born in Blood and Fire (http://www.amazon.com/Born-Blood-Fire-Concise-History/dp/0393976130) by John Charles Chasteen. It's a very thorough and concise summary of the major movements in Latin America and helps to explain why things are the way they are now. It kind of takes you straight through the corruption and wealth disparity and shows you the root causes of these things all the way back into the colonial days. I think it was a fascinating book and recommend it to anyone who has any connection to Latin America.

[losguerra]

Oh yeah, I just remembered another cool book I left in Chicago:

Americanos/ Latino Life in the United States (http://www.amazon.com/Americanos-Latino-Life-United-States/dp/0316649147/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product) by Edward James Olmos.

It's more of a photo/essay book, but a very engaging read.

[angela256z]

I just requested the Coyotes one from Paperback swap. It looks interesting. I can't wait to read it.

I started reading this one. It is good.

[jsierra1982]

ooh you should try thirteen senses by victor villasenor. it's a memoir of his mexican-american parents beginning in 1929. it's fascinating and a great story too. it kind of delves into mexican indigenous mysticism a little, which is super interesting. victor's dad salvador was a bootlegger during the end of prohibition and his mom lupe kind of wandered into the whole mess...it's a story of their relationship and life in general as they left prohibition and went into the great depression. he's got 2 other memoirs out, one telling the story of his mom's family before they left mexico during the war and the other of his dad's family.

[tasksgirl]

I just started reading Translatation Nation.. I forgot I owned it ! lol