Amazon.com
Readers familiar with immigration history as told in books like Roger Daniels's Coming to America will experience a sense of déjà vu with Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez. The immigrant experience is a constant in American life; although the tides ebb and flow, it seems that there always has been an immigrant presence in the United States. What's different today, of course, is where the immigrants are coming from: half are Latin American.
Gonzalez, a columnist for the New York Daily News, studies these latest arrivals in a book that combines history and journalism. He has a keen understanding of Hispanic diversity, focusing not just on "Hispanics" as a monolithic category but as a variety of people from many nations. The politics in Harvest of Empire are often tendentious: Gonzalez unfavorably compares U.S. border control efforts to building the Great Wall in China, demands an end to Puerto Rico's "colonial status," insists that Spanish become an official language actively encouraged in the public schools, and so on. His agenda will no doubt appeal to a certain kind of reader, but at the cost of alienating many others, including, probably, a majority of Hispanics living in the United States. For those looking for a left-leaning account of Hispanic immigration, however, this book succeeds as an ambitious survey. --John J. Miller
The New York Times Book Review
A serious, significant contribution to understanding who the Hispanics of the United States are and where they came from.
From Booklist
Gonzalez, a Puerto Rican journalist, brings passion and research to this recounting of the fascinating history of Latins in America. He notes the Latinization of the U.S. with rising immigration from Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America to projections that Latinos will constitute the largest minority in the nation by 2010. Gonzalez explores why Spanish and British colonization experiences were so different, particularly the divergence in attitudes on slavery and race. The book is organized to explore what Gonzalez calls "Roots," the historical relationship between Latin America and the U.S., "Branches," the six major Latino groups in the nation, and "Harvest," issues facing Latinos in the U.S. today. He dissects the U.S. exploitation and occupation of Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, and Cuba and examines the U.S. policy of supporting dictators friendly to U.S. interest that has destabilized Latin America and provoked massive immigration to the U.S. This is an important book for understanding a major American ethnic group. Vanessa Bush
Kansas City Star
Required reading, not simply for Latinos but for everyone.
Book Description
Within the next decade, Hispanics will become the largest minority group in the United States. The new immigrants have ignited a vibrant Latin explosion in popular culture and deeply affected American society.
Spanning 500 years-from the first New World colonies to our nation's nineteenth-century westward expansion, from the days of gunboat diplomacy to the turn of the millennium-Harvest of Empire features family portraits of real-life immigrants along with sketches of the political events and social conditions that compelled them to leave their homeland. In addition, it gives a fascinating look at how these Latino pioneers have transformed the cultural landscape of the United States.
About the Author
Juan Gonzalez, a columnist with New York's Daily News, is a winner of the George Polk journalism award and has received a lifetime achievement award from the Hispanic Academy of Media Arts and Sciences. Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, he grew up in a New York City housing project, graduated from Columbia, and was a cofounder of the Young Lords.
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