A first-rate, unique gathering of key texts and images from throughout Spanish America, ranging from pre-Hispanic myths and stories through some astounding Colonial personalities and speculations and to developments and fresh evaluations from our twenty-first century. Gene H. Bell-Villada, coauthor of "Writing Out of Limbo: International Childhoods, Global Nomads and Third Culture Kids"
The texts stitch past and present in a tapestry that in its warp and weft maps out the vastness of continental cultures. Ileana Rodriguez, author of "Liberalism at Its Limits: Crime and Terror in the Latin American Cultural Text"
This anthology brings together more than sixty primary texts to offer an ambitious introduction to Spanish American thought and culture. Myths, poetry, memoirs, manifestos, and fiction are translated from Spanish to English, some for the first time. From disciplines including history, politics, anthropology, religion, literature, art, and architecture and written by famous historical figures such as Simon Bolivar, Jose Marti, and Che Guevara alongside lesser-known individuals, the texts are united by a shared quest for cultural identity. Representing many different moments in the complex history of an extraordinary region, the key question the texts in this volume confront is Who are we? The answers are often surprising.
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