New Mexico Books

Most of us have read other stories of Jewish survivors of WWII; yet young Tereska's account stands out. The author has skillfully combined the small details of a child's life - as a child will mercifully still be a child, no matter how horrific the circumstances - with an account of the war's progression in Poland. Definitely worth reading.

I most admire individuals who have gone through great struggles in their lives and convert their pain into compassion and selfless service to humanity. As a specialist in childhood regression I have learned that it is not what happened to us that determines our character -- it is what we do with those experiences. Having close relatives whose experiences in the war hauntingly parallel those of Dr. Cahn-Tober's, I have experienced firsthand how such a harrowing childhood can effect one's ability to cope as an adult. Teresa has made different choices. She deeply understands children and their emotional wounds and has devoted much of her professional life to the path of healing. I felt grateful and validated by her understanding the emotional baggage that comes with being the "child of survivors." This book was not only personally meaningful to me, it was also extremely well-written and an engrossing read. The author has a gift for storytelling and I hope that she will continue to write.

This book begins with one of the best introductions I've seen in a long time. Here, in this short but beautifully written intro, Tober sets the tone for the retelling of her life story which resonates strength, humor, hope and love, all while giving the reader a personal inside view of living through the Holocaust. Educational without being dry or dark, hide and seek gives shining examples of love and humanity which cross over ethnic and religoius bounaries during a time of war and hate. During the book the reader is never burdened with an author's feelings of victimization, but instead inspired by the loving memories of a talented writer. Highly recommended for adults of every age, race or religion.

A compelling account of a child's experience in wartime Poland during World War II told convincingly from a child's pont of view. There is tension and adventure in her story of assuming multiple identities with a Catholic family who protects her as she and her own family hide from Nazis during a bewildering time of anti-semitism. I felt her confusion, her anxiety and her unfailing sense of humor and adventure on every page.

This is a beautiful book that somehow lifted me to a different perspective. The whole time I was reading it, I felt as if the air around me shimmered with diffuse light. It is interesting to read about life in Joseph Rael's culture, fascinating to learn about the perspective of different Native American languages, hopeful to learn of Joseph's dream and continuing work for all of us, and transfixing to experience the effect his writing had upon my heart.

I recommend this book for all who are not afraid to expand their view of life and their world.

Joseph Rael is one of the most interesting people you'll read about. This is basically his life story, and how he acquired the teachings to complement his natural gifts. The discussion of the Tiwa language is brilliant. Be one of the fortunate to read about this amazing man.

The vision of this book is remarkable especially when viewed in the light of string theory. So much of the philosophy of the Pueblo people from whom Joseph Rael sprang seems to be confirmed by modern physics. A must read for the serious seeker.

This book is not a physics text. It is the highest level
work on Native American religion I have ever seen. It would
also be of interest to linguists as it presents words from
the Tiwa language which uses verbs and not nouns.
But the interesting part is the actual experiences of
a man who is a healer and ceremonial dancer and peace
worker. It is well written amd presented in a personal
style.
The book is much better than this review.

I finished reading David Fine's excellent book Imagining Los Angeles: A City In Fiction at just before 2 am this morning. I was reading in bed in my 1923 bungalow in Whittier, California. It was a quiet night. No winds blowing; even the neighborhood dogs were asleep. It was too humid and Fine's wonderful analysis of Los Angeles fiction had my mind going a mile a minute. I thought about going for a drive; maybe listen to a little late-night radio, but I knew my wife would worry if she woke up and found me gone. I finally got to sleep, knowing I'd have to type up this report as soon as I got out of bed this morning.

Fine's book is not encyclopedic; if you are looking for a complete listing of SoCal fiction, you'll need to look elsewhere. Imagining Los Angeles is an overview - an introduction, a history with examples - of fiction set in the Los Angeles metro area. The first chapter gives you a little background on the area. Then Fine takes the reader on a literary journey from booster fiction, through fiction in the 20's, hard-boiled fiction, tough-guy detectives, the Hollywood novel and finishes with more ethnically oriented fiction and Los Angeles as a setting for disaster. The book is serious - probably not a summer beach read - but it also kept me in rapt attention and didn't read like the textbook Professor Fine could have turned it into. In my opinion, this book should appeal to a wide audience - from the serious literary student to the pop culture buff looking for a little backstory.

A lady just walked into my office (actually, my three legged female mutt just hopped into the 1980 guesthouse behind the bungalow) looking for my attention, so I better end this report now.

Sincerely Submitted, agnostictrickster 13 August 2001

"Fine's research is extensive and thorough, his observations shrewd and penetrating, and his command of the political, social, and cultural matrix profound. A major contribution."--D. W. Madden, California State University, Sacramento--CHOICE, January 2001

This is a terrific book, that rare academic work that is both entertaining and instructive. Having grown up in L.A., but no longer living there now, I truly enjoyed revisiting the city of my childhood and young adulthood via all the stories and authors Fine discusses. Fine's writing style is clear and blessedly free of academic jargon. His treatment of a wide variety of books and ideas is nothing short of a tour-de-force. "Imagining Los Angeles" does exactly what good literary scholarship should do: shine fresh light on books and their authors and make readers eager to discover the books for themselves! (I've just placed a mega-order for several of the titles Fine discusses... )

"A short course in the essential literature of Los Angeles. . . . so full of punch and energy, so mercifully free of the impenetrable jargon that afflicts much scholarly and critical writing. Best of all, Fine sent me back to my old favorites with a fresh perspective, and he added a dozen titles to my own reading list."-Jonathan Kirsch, The Los Angeles Times

This novel is a must read for Americans during this time of the Iraq war. Parsons illuminates a facet of WWII, the so-called "good" war, that reveals just how devastating it really was, both for the losers and the "winners." We see how a humble New Mexican ranching family, patriotic to the core, is betrayed by our government, which takes their land and then their son. The lessons are haunting when applied to our age, and this new war. Read this novel, and you will not only better understand our country's history, but our present as well.

Executive Order 9029. This one order from the Federal Government displaces ranching leaseholders from their land in New Mexico, establishing the government's wartime authority to establish a test site on the land. With a war going on, there is no one to gainsay the right of the government to use the land in a manner that will aid the war effort. For those who must move from the land it is a wrenching, irrevocable order.

The Strickland brothers are hard, proud men who have worked the land, making their living from it and raising generations of family and both Baylis and Ross fight against embitterment when their livelihood is taken away. Baylis's wife has long wanted to live in town, although her husband refuses to acknowledge her; Ross is the older, more stubborn of the two, still nursing a grudge after the accidental death of their father. Just before the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Ross' son Jack enlists, but he refuses to say goodbye or wish him well. Not knowing the fate of his son since Pearl Harbor, Ross is smothered under his rage and general sense of injustice, while Baylis tries to make peace with the future.

Meanwhile, Jack endures the agony of the Bataan Death March, living corpses plodding through an eternity of days to reach the end of their journey. As Jack's friends fall away by the roadside, the young soldier keeps moving, his youthful enthusiasm as a soldier pounded into painful monotony under the weight of unrelenting horrors. But Jack carries the blood of his family, determined to survive his ordeal.

This unsparing novel of the high mountain desert of New Mexico and the jungles of the Philippines is as plain-spoken as the rugged country that requires all a man has to survive. While a young man wills himself to live and return home, his journey is made more poignant by the desperate straits of the Strickland's left behind. It would appear that there is little love in this family, what there is damaged by illicit romance and bitter regret, pitting brother against brother. But the love in this novels runs far below the surface; it is the deep-rooted affection of generations nurtured on their own land, the essence and endurance of family.

In sparse prose reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy, Parsons paints a compelling portrait of a harsh land and the men it breeds, their loyalties and resentments, those who are the heart of this country. With images as powerful as the harrowing dust-bowl years of the Great Depression, the author's characters stand alone, proud and immutable, citizens of a world they have built with their own hands. Bleak and plaintive, the novel resonates with its own spare beauty. In a country devastated by a world war, two brothers are stripped and bared, their personal demons exposed. A son struggles far from home, his parents beset with inexplicable grief over his fate. Then finally, the great leveler is released, the awesome glare of incomprehensible destruction as the world watches, illuminated by the transcendent glare of the atomic bomb. Luan Gaines/2005.

This is a rare gem: a page-turner that is beautifully crafted. It's the best book about the Southwest I've read.

Poignant and poetic, In The Shadows of The Sun is as enjoyable as it is significant. A well-researched and beautiful character study full of description and metaphor. Timeless. I was torn between wanting to find out what happens next and wanting to savor every word.

!~Josefina learns A Lesson~!
I am writing a book called Josefina Learns a Lesson. Its about a girl who likes to read. She likes to write about her family. She has two sisters and two nephews and a dad. She gos to school to learn how to read and write better. She likes to run outside and play with her nephews. She lives in Mexico. I recommend this book to people who like to read and write. The author is Valerie Tripp .The book is from American Girl Collection. Someother characters in the collection are Kirsten, Samantha, Addy, Molly, and Felicity. There are more characters.

This is another one of the American Girls series about Josefina Montoya, a nine-year-old girl (almost ten!) living in the New Mexico of 1824. When a flashflood brings disaster to her father's rancho, Josefina's aunt Dolores suggests that they begin weaving blankets that they can trade. Josefina throws herself into the work, eager to help the family, but one of her sisters is holding back, and Josefina needs to find out why.

The final chapter of this wonderful book is a highly informative look at schooling in New Mexico in 1824. Jean-Paul Tibbles' illustrations are nothing short of excellent, and add so much to this wonderful story.

This is another of the excellent stories that American Girls presents. This one also has a fine lesson, while the story is highly entertaining. Also, I do enjoy the way the author has realistically woven Josefina's religion into her daily life; religion is something lacking in most American Girls stories. My eleven-year-old daughter and I read this book together; we both enjoyed it, and we both recommend it to you.

I like that there is a glossary of Spanish words at the end of the book, because I know that if I ever go to Mexico, I will know how to say thank-you and stuff like that (gracias). The idea of a maid teaching Josephina and Josephina being so eager to learn makes me stunned. I think that you will very much enjoy the pictures, as I did. I did not recognize the dyes that the girls used to dye the wool, but from the pictures I understood that they were very beautiful. (Carmelle, Age 8)

Nine year old Josefina Montoya is growing up on a rancho in New Mexico in 1824. When Josefina's Tia Dolores comes to visit to Montoyas, Josefina learns about a world beyond the rancho-a world of elegance. But Josefina and her sisters begin to worry that Tia Dolores will replace Mama, who died last year. And then disaster strikes. The Montoyas lose most of their sheep in a terrible flood. Tia Dolores comes to the rescue with the suggestion that the Montoyas weave blankets to sell so that they can get new sheep. But more and more, Josefina and her sisters begin to believe that all the new ideas their aunt has brought will make them forget all that Mama taught them. Then, Tia Dolores begins to teach the girls to read and write. Mama couldn't read and write, and Josefina and her sisters aren't sure she'd approve. More and more, Josefina must face many changes-both good and bad.

I came across some of the still photos from this book in a video on Youtube -- of a song called "Who's Gonna Build Your Wall?" Mr. Burckhalter is a magician with a camera. He has captured truly incredible portraits of Mexicans/Sonorans -- some of the most proficient, touching photos I've ever seen. These are photos of TRUTH and BEAUTY. I am highly recommending the book based on my viewing of the Youtube video.

Beautiful tribute to ordinary people of Sonora. I came across it while doing research on my family at the time of the Mexican Revolution and it didn't help for that paper, but it was a great viewing nonetheless. The photographs are incredible.

Superb black and white photographs, with accompanying essays, concentrate on ordinary people. The result transcends its geographic region; this is about people who just happen to live in Sonora. Winner, Border Regional Library Association's 1998 Southwest Book Award.

This book is incredible -- an honest and sensitive portrait of life in the changing Sonoran desert. I picked it up yesterday and haven't been able to stop looking at it since. Apart from the photography, there are two wonderful essays. In the second, "Another Country", Thomas E. Sheridan tells of falling in love with a place in a way that speaks intimately to my own experience of and passion for Mexico. But I'd better stop before I give a whole dissertation... Buy this book! You won't regret it.

If you like Nora Roberts, then you will love this short novel that reads like a fast paced movie. Her charachters are well formed and at one point, I was shedding some tears. It's pure entertainment and easy on the mind. There are forty seven more books in the collection "Language of Love", and I thought I had read all her books, but boy was I wrong.

Another of Nora Roberts' early romance tales involves the characters of Victoria Ashton, affectionately known as Tory and Phil Kincaid. Tory is acting sheriff in Friendly, New Mexico, a small town that hasn't changed in years. Phil Kincaid is a big time movie director from Hollywood trying to find the perfect town to use as a backdrop for his next film. When he flies into town, he's stopped for speeding and then arrested when he refuses to sign the ticket. The typical romance plot takes over from there.

The characters in this saga are not typical romance characters!

Tory Ashton is only filling in as sheriff until the next election a few months down the line. It seems her father was the sheriff and died unexpectedly and she felt responsible to take over until the elections. Tory is actually an attorney from Albuquerque and also acts as judge for the small town of Friendly.

Phil Kincaid seems like the typical director type - always wanting to be in charge and has difficulty taking orders from someone else in authority. A bit on the spoiled side, and used to getting his way, as he is depicted when he refuses to sign the speeding ticket.

Merle T. is the deputy in Friendly and this character is fantastic. Merle T. should have been born in the 1800's and longs for gunfights, barroom brawls, etc. He even walks with a swagger! Merle T. is innocent, naïve and since he and Tory grew up together, she's always been the one to look out for him.

Tod is a local teenager who gets into trouble with a storeowner by hanging out with twins a few years older who always seem to be in trouble. Tod is caught by Tory and sentenced to community service when she senses Tod comes from an abusive home.

And Roberts throws in appearances from a wide variety of townspeople who are colorful enough to make the reader chuckle and wonder if a visit to Friendly, New Mexico wouldn't be a great vacation spot!

A few of the subplots seemed to be lacking. For instance, Phil convinces Tory to let him film her while riding her Palomino. You expect something else to happen with that "home movie", like showing up in the film or something. But it's just left dangling.

Another subplot that didn't go anywhere involved the twins that were always in trouble. I thought that something would culminate when the movie was being filmed but nothing happened with them either.

Other than these minor complaints, The Law is a Lady is a good book. It's a fast read and can be finished in one sitting. If you're looking for an escape from reality, then I'd recommend adding it to your reading list. If you're looking for something that makes your brain work, you should steer clear!

Victoria Ashton (Tory) is the sheriff and justice of the peace in a small town and arrests Phillip Kincaid, a movie director. It is a very entertaining and comical book. Reminds you of Mayberry, NC but you love the characters. A "feel good" book. Totally enjoyable

Very cute book about the woman sheriff of a small town and the big city movie director who comes speeding into town, scouting locations for his next film. After a brief stint in jail for a speeding ticket, he returns to shoot the movie there and falls in love with the beautiful sheriff. Really enjoyed it!
Excerpt from the back of the book:
"Director Phillip Kincaid could have sworn Victoria Ashton was smiling when she tossed him in the slammer for speeding. But as sheriff of Friendly, New Mexico, Tory had a job to do and falling for an out of towner was out of the question. If only she'd known how dangerous Phillip would be to her heart, she would have kept him behind bars for good!"

The world of photography criticism is a confused one. Serious photographers often divide the process of image capture into two parts: technique and vision, or what most critics might call form and content. When a photographer thinks about criticism, he thinks about whether he had a worth-while vision and how and whether the techniques that he used, like framing, depth of field and shutter speed contributed toward conveying that vision to a viewer.

At the other end of the continuum is critical theory which is mainly concerned with the social and historical significance of photographs in general and usually is approached from one or more philosophical points of view, like semiotics, feminism or formalism. Critical theory for the most part seldom addresses photographic technique, and rarely, except by example, deals with the individual picture.

In between is what I call "public" photographic criticism which is usually written not from the point of view of the photographer but of the viewer. One might hope that such criticism, like the criticism of paintings or literature, would be aimed at helping other viewers to understand what a picture is about. (I suspect some people may already find me out on a limb by suggesting that a photograph is "about" anything.) Since technique often reveals what an image is about, or as literary critic Mark Shorer stated, "technique is discovery", I always hope that the public critic will explain the role of technique in the work of the photographer. Critics of painting will not only talk about the overall feeling of a painting and whether they cared for it or not, but also the way the light was used, and perhaps even the effect or use of brush strokes and other techniques. For photography, where many artists feel that viewers are not literate, the photography critic could serve a really important teaching role.

That's a long introduction for a small book, but it may prove helpful in understanding how I regard this book. A.D. Coleman considered himself a photography critic and many of his articles appeared regularly in the Village Voice, Popular Photography, the New York Times and Camera 35. I primarily wanted to read this book, not to see if I could learn anything about the works he reviewed, but to see what I could learn about criticism.

The short essays and occasional speeches and lectures of the author appeared between 1968 and 1978. (A book of subsequent writings, called "Depth of Field: Essays on Photographs, Lens Culture and Mass Media" has also been published.) Most of the works that appear in this book do not focus on particular photographs and their interpretation. When he does focus on a picture, as he does with Manuel Alvarez Bravo's "Striking Worker, Assassinated", it is to examine the content, and to speculate what the picture is about. He does note that the framing helped to convey what the picture was about, but there are few other references to Bravo's technique. Indeed, with the exception of references to the use of the range of light, focus and framing, there is practically no reference to technique anywhere in the book.

Instead most of the essays and speeches are concerned with the state of the art, examining, for example, the role of curators and photography education in modern photography. Coleman devotes more criticism to John Szarkowski's role as the chairman of the Photography Department at the Museum of Modern Art then to the work of any particular photographer. Of course, this may be the result of the selection process for the essays in the book, which may have eliminated the reviews of the work of particular photographers on the grounds that such essays were transient. But given that Coleman himself frequently despairs of the lack of photographic literacy, this seems unlikely to me.

Most of Coleman's work is closer to critical theory than to my ideal photography criticism.

Coleman's essays are short and capable of being read in less than ten minutes, although a few of the speeches that he made to groups concerned with photography are longer. His style is simple and easy to understand. Often one feels he has a brief against the older schools of photography as embodied by Ansel Adams. His attack on Minor White is deliciously nasty.

I found this book worth reading because of the insight that it provides into the nature of photographic criticism. For those interested in photography and its role in society, it suggests that photographic literacy is not just lacking in viewers, but to some degree, in photography critics.

LIGHT READINGS is 307 pages long and contains 25 separate essays, each from one to five pages. There are 34 reproductions in black and white. They are newsprint quality reproductions. The reproductions are large--full page--and include works by Wright Morris, Charles Gatewood, Duane Michaels, Geoff Winningham, Julio Mitchel, Jerry Uelsmann, and others. Thus, we have a nice selection of photographers familiar and unfamiliar to the interested public.

The essays include these titles: Paul Strand, Jerry Uelsmann, Roy DeCarava, Roger Minick, Photography and Conceptual Art, Diane Arbus, Minor White, New Japanese Photography, and others.

Regarding Paul Strand, A.D. Coleman writes, "There as been no change and little growth in Strand's image-making since the publication of The Mexican Portfolio in 1933, and his continued romanticization of the noble peasant seems increasingly mawkish and patronizing." (page 189).

Regarding Yousuf Karsh, "his much-vaunted style appears to be a trap from which he is incapable of escaping even momentarily." (page 213).

Regarding Lucas Samaras and Leslie Krims, "The subversion of expectations is central to all the contemporary arts, photography among them." (page 239).

Regarding Wright Morris, A.D. Coleman writes, "Coming to terms with one's past is hardly an original theme . . . all is vanished [in the locations photographed by Wright Morris] the people moved or dead . . . only the photographs endure to prove that any was more than a dream, thus they take on an awesome significance, like a handful of scattered potsherds at an archaelogical site." (page 245).

Regading the difference between black and white photography and color photography, "You can shoot a Buddhist monk burning to death in color and it's almost a pretty picture. In black and white, it's horrifying. Here lies the difference, you can hide in color but not in black and white." (page 87). (Here, A.D. Coleman refers to protests by the monks in the 1960s against the Vietnam war.)

Regarding Ansel Adams, A.D. Coleman writes, "His prints are supreme examples in photography of the result of one-track technical perfectionism . . . emotionally and intellectually they fall into the same plane as the works of Rockwell Kent and Andrew Wyeth, they are almost aggressively accessible." (page 123).

As one can see, A.D. Coleman has a certain axe to grind. For reasons unknown, he automatically likes to criticize his subjects for discovering a successful technique, and not wavering from it. Hasn't Mr. Coleman heard the expression, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it."

Also, contrast A.D. Coleman's knee-jerk method of photo-criticism with an opinion from Richard Estes. In an interview, Mr. Estes was asked, "Have you felt pressured to stay within the rather limited parameters of your subject matter and painting method?" Mr. Estes answered, "What's wrong with doing the same thing over and over again? I think the most--the silliest thing to try to come up with some new gimmick each year. It's better to really develop and expand on one idea." page 22 in RICHARD ESTES:THE URBAN LANDSCAPE (1978) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Please note that Richard Estes is one of the most successful artists in America.

To conclude, the book contains an abundance of short sections. If you don't like one, you can always move to the next. Any photographer will be able to find one or more inspirational comments within LIGHT READINGS.

" . . . When [W. Eugene] Smith turned his activist attention to the mercury poisoning of the waters of Minamata, Japan, in the early `70s, then-New York Times photography critic A. D. Coleman wrote, `It seeks to be, and succeeds in becoming, not a product but a process, a tool for change.' While some may take issue with aspects of Mr. Coleman's oeuvre of humanist criticism, none would deny that as this country's first and foremost photo critic he has made a singular contribution to the field, broadening both the definition and discussion of photography. " A collection of his writings from 1968-1978 called Light Readings has long been a must-read for anyone serious about photography, and has now been reissued in an expanded second edition."

--Taylor Holliday, The Wall Street Journal, December 4, 1998

I wish I had read A. D. Coleman's "Light Readings" years ago when I was studying photography. I have no doubt I would have become a much better photographer than I am now, taking to heart his profound commentaries on photography when it became accepted finally as one of the fine arts. Not only was A. D. Coleman the first major photo critic in photography's history, his early essays set a literary and intellectual standard which few have attained. In this newly revised, updated edition of "Light Readings", Coleman offers us some fascinating remarks on the Museum of Modern Art and its pivotal role in shaping the direction of fine art photography, most notably through the personal tastes of John Szarkowski, its autocratic director of the photography department. In one of the unpublished essays now appearing in the current edition, Coleman offers a harsh criticism of a book regarded by some as an important collection of photographic criticism, written by a well known novelist and essayist. Those interested in reading some of the most important themes and issues confronting photography in the late 1960's to mid 1970's will find Coleman's book an invaluable resource. And yet, it is more than just an important first-hand history of photography, but a thoughtful, penetrating look at the medium by one of its most astute critics.

A great story told in a simple and colorful tone. Mark Sundeen is a great American writer who melds the classics with the modern. A tale of travel that envelopes the reader in characters and color.

Sundeen has done it again. This is another deep, multi-layered composition much like "Car Camping". It's very humorous book, but the best parts are when the narrator breaks through his veneer of self-delusion and discusses his true feelings. Whenever I read a book like this, I hope for one or two passages that will resonate within me and justify (in my head) my own experiences. This book is filled with them.

Cleverly plotted and well-executed, packed with dancing, ironic prose and endearing characters, Mark Sundeen's The Making of Toro was an excellent read. Fun, light and true, this short excursion across the border into Mexico's bullfighting culture had me bent over and sniveling with laughter. I smile to think of it.

This book is an easy-going, comedic exploration into the sad impotence of modern American masculinity. Set against the backdrop of the bloody bullring and the grit of Mexico City, the reader sees what the protagonist himself is not able to recognize - that he is not his alter-ego Travis La France, the great bullfighter and irresistable romantic - that he is in fact simply an author and a man, accident-prone and lovable, trying to set the record straight about his misunderstood first novel, and doing his best to amend himself for being the man that he is, and not the man he would like to be.

"The Making of Toro" is one of those books (like, say, "A Confederacy of Dunces") that may not make much of a splash when it first appears, but that is destined to be passed from hand to hand and reader to reader until a small cult builds around it and its author.

For starters, this book is flat-out hilarious. But it also marks the arrival of a writer who is bound to make a huge impact. Comparisons with Eggers and Sedaris aren't out of line: Sundeen blurs the line between memoir and fiction with the requisite postmodern relish. "Toro" is a tale told by a narrator so charmingly unreliable and self-deluded that we actually can't help rooting for him.

But the writer Sundeen most resembles is probably Mark Twain (seriously!). In "Toro" (and in his earlier book "Car Camping"), Sundeen shows the same dry wit, the same trust that the reader will actually get the joke, and the same faith that sometimes the naive, deluded bumbler might see truths that more worldly types do not. And, like Twain, Sundeen conceals genuine depth beneath light humor. "Toro" begins as a comedy, but by the end it deepens into a surpringly poignant coming of age story.

So buy this book--it's funny and original and thoroughly enjoyable--then pass it on.

Massacre of the Dreamers is Ana Castillo's transdisciplinary book about the deconstruction of Mexic pallocentric "pyramids," as she herself puts it. By re(w)riting history, Castillo reconfigures the role of the Amerindian/Xicana/Mexican woman, allowing her to draw strength from Mesoamerican female goddesses. In this remarkable text, furthermore, Castillo employs her "own raw materials" (104) as an antidote to male-centered cosmic consciousness that operates in binary frames of dualisms, dichotomies, and schisms. In resurecting her spiritual mother goddesses, Castillo, like Anzaldua and Cisneros, reinserts "the forsaken feminine into our consciousness" (12). By exposing the manner in which the xicana has been "gagged" for hundreds of years, Castillo rejects colonization and mapps a xicana history with a difference that allows the Amerindian woman's various selves to coexist simultaneously, reinforcing her identity

Ana Castillo is an inspiration/orguyo to all Latin women. A role model for the latin women, who still fined them selves confined to their social imprisionment and traditional impairment. In this book, Ana Castillo through a collection of essays touches on a wide range of controversial issues, which many Latinas-surprisingly-will fined they relate.Castillo writes on topics; such as, Machismo, a women's sexuality and lesbianism. Castillo also writes about her experiences and struggles with society's exceptances in the oppression of the Latin women. Trough her struggles, she stays true to her values and never conforms to social pressures.Castillo a true woman in every senses of the word, resilient, bountiful, and amorous. There is no doubt in my mind the Castillo intended this book to give voice, strength, and hope through her words of inspiration and examples of triumph. To those women not yet free, because of their social and religious imprissonment to submission.I recommend this book to any women who wishes to be enlightened, inspired and empowered by Ana Castillo's ideology.

It would be impossible to tell what this book did for me, especially during my days in law school. As a Chicana I felt isolated. I was often made to feel intellectually inferior. Castillo's brilliance soared like a flame to rescue my quickly freezing soul. If it weren't for this book I think I would have not survived that alienating environment bound to make me fail. She is not rhetorical but driven with reasoning. When women of color explain themselves we are dismissed as simply bitter. This book explained why I would have the right to be bitter and anger but why I must push forward. It saved my life.

Castillo has obviously tapped into her power for this one. Her fiction is moving, thought-provoking, angering, sometimes even humorous... but this essay collection is even more impressive. I'm sure some will consider her xicanista views extreme, but Castillo calls it as she sees it.