Atravesando fronteras: Un periodista en busca de su lugar en el mundo (No Borders: A Journalist's Search for Home) FROM THE PUBLISHER
Por primera vez, Jorge Ramos, el mas prestigioso presentador de noticias en espanol comparte su vida personal con sus lectores, televidentes y radioescuchas. Habla de los amores de su vida, de su pasion por el periodismo de sus viajes y entrevistas y de su propio concepto de realizacion espiritual. En este libro, conocemos al hombre de la television al que millones de latinos e hispanoparlantes le han dado su confianza durante anos. Ramos cuenta de sus luchas como estudiante en Los Angeles a principios de los ochentas, de su primera incursion en el periodismo norteamericano y de las advertencias de las grandes cadenas de television en ingles de que jamas llegaria a un puesto importante si no perdia su acento. Se equivocaron. De esta manera Ramos nos abre las puertas al mundo de los medios de comunicacion en espanol, un mundo que muchos criticos veian como innecesario e irrelevante y que ahora se ha convertido en uno de los sectores mas poderosos de la cultura estadounidense. Con las historias de las muchas guerras que ha cubierto, los lugares que ha visitado y los poderosos y temidos lideres mundiales que ha entrevistado, Ramos cautiva a sus lectores ofreciendoles la historia de un periodista que llego a convertirse en "uno de los presentadores de television de mas alto rango en este pais" (Nightline).
FROM THE CRITICS
The New York Times
No Borders blends personal memoir, political commentary and greatest-hits selections from Ramos�s war coverage — El Salvador, Persian Gulf, Kosovo — and his interviews with Latin American leaders like the Colombian president, Ernesto Samper, Venezuela�s Hugo Ch�vez and Nicaragua�s Daniel Ortega. The most successful portions of the book, well translated from the Spanish by Patricia J. Duncan, are the personal narrative and reportorial reminiscences. — Shannon Brady Marin
Publishers Weekly
Ramos (The Other Face of America), seven-time Emmy Award-winning news anchor of Noticiero Univision, moved to the U.S. from Mexico when he was 25 and has lived here for 20 years. "What am I," he pointedly asks, "a Latino, a Hispanic, a Latin American immigrant, or a Mexican?" This question resonates throughout his affable memoir, and it turns out to be unanswerable. By the book's end, Ramos is still searching for a place where he does not "feel like a foreigner" or someone who's "just arrived." These efforts to define himself, however, did not distract Ramos from pursuing an enormously successful career. In easygoing prose, he describes his rise to become, at 28, "one of the youngest national anchormen in the history of American television." Claiming not to believe in luck, but rather in preparedness, he tells readers he was chosen for one of his first big assignments (covering the 1981 Reagan assassination attempt) simply because he was the only reporter in the room with English language skills and a ready passport. Speaking from extensive experience, Ramos points out the curious position of Spanish-language journalists in this country: "Most of the United States, of course, does not understand us [Spanish-language journalists]," and "many people do not even know we exist." Yet Univision is America's fifth largest station, and when Ramos and his co-anchor Maria Elena Salinas host the evening news, they attract 10 times the viewing audience of CNN at that time slot. Readers from this large viewing audience will devour Ramos's inspiring immigrant story. Photos not seen by PW. Agent, Bill Adler. (Oct. 15) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Criticas
As the most famous and respected face in Spanish-language broadcast journalism, Ramos also has the rare ability to write best-selling books about his investigations and political views. His most recent title about Latino immigration in the United States, La otra cara de América (The Other Face of America, Grijalbo, 2000), was further proof of this talent. While his four previous books were convincing and well investigated, thousands of his readers were still curious about what it was like for him to sit down with George W. Bush, to be caught in a life-threatening crossfire in El Salvador, or to experience death threats in Colombia. In his latest book, Ramos delivers on that wish and offers intimate accounts of his family, career, two marriages, and two children to boot. This smart and easy-to-read memoir recounts his childhood in Mexico, his early years as a struggling "immigrant journalist" on the accent-phobic U.S. broadcast news scene, his 16-year-long career at Univision, and, ultimately, his international journalistic adventures. Unlike his persona on television, which seems, as he puts it, "always in control," Ramos has the ability to be frank, while also being suave and poetic. Unafraid to lower his guard when he's talking about confronting death, the links between love and war, or even his self-described character flaws, Ramos will enthrall readers with his earnestness and passion for journalism. Recommended for all bookstores and libraries. Adriana Lopez, "Criticas" Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.