The Latino Generation: Voices of the New America

Garc%C3%ADa, professor of Chicano Studies at UC Santa Barbara and co-author of Blowout! Sal Castro and the Chicano Struggle for Educational Justice, gathers the oral histories of 13 Latino college graduates. The book introduces, among others, Nayeli Reyes, who "lost [her] Spanish" after insisting on speaking only English in pre-school; Tania Picasso, who discusses the pressures surrounding dating and marriage; and David Guerra, who plunged into theater in college and only learned he had an accent when it was pointed out by professors. Most featured graduates were born in the U.S. in the 1980s and raised in strict religious homes by parents who entered the country "without documents." In his edifying introduction, Garcia describes how "the Latino Generation"%E2%80%94children of individuals who arrived after the 1965 immigration law reform%E2%80%94has struggled against a pervasive "neo-nativism," yet has achieved "educational mobility," and has "been influenced by the...unprecedented growth in Latino political power." Garcia's framework for interpreting Latino immigration will undoubtedly shape scholarly and journalistic discussions of Latino communities, and his collected interviews will be useful in college classrooms. 13 illus. (May)