No comments about The Desert Remembers My Name: On Family and Writing (Camino Del Sol).

1 comments about The Hispanic World and American Intellectual Life, 1820-1880 (Studies of the Americas).

1. This is a wonderful book-in some ways definitive--about the great circle of 19th century scholars, mainly Bostonians, who inaugurated the study of Spanish history and literature in the United States: George Ticknor, who wrote an epochal history of Spanish literature (and was the first American to travel to Spain --in 1818-- for purposes of scholarship; William Hickling Prescott, author of a great history of the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella; Washington Irving, whose biography of Columbus was a landmark in American historiography (for political as well as scholarly reasons); Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, not known to the general public as a Spanish scholar, but a great one and arguably still the best translator of Spanish poetry into English. The only fault I see is that the objective of this group transcended the academic boundaries of Hispanic studies. These men belonged to a wider circle, mainly of historians, that founded the discipline of history in the United States: George Bancroft, in particular, Jared Sparks (bioghrapher of Washington), and Francis Parkman. Secondly, they established the first great research libraries in this country: Harvard College Library, the Boston Athenaeum, and the Astor Library which, later on, became the New York Public Library. They also were the prime movers in the transmission of European books and of European literary and academic culture to America, a massive movement which was, without any doubt, one of the two or three most significant cultural achievments of modernity.

3 comments about Home Is Everything: The Latino Baseball Story: From the Barrio to the Major Leagues.

1. This is the best book I ever read! Marcos Breton is an amazing writer and historian. Usually, all you ever hear about is Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, but now we get to hear about Roberto Clemente, Fernando Valenzuela, and Jorge Posada too! Viva Baseball! This book is a valuable addition to any library.



2. In Home Is Everything, Marcos Breton presents story vignettes of Latinos involved in American Baseball, told in both English and Spanish, and enhanced with full-color photographs by Jose Luis Villegas. Slices of daily life training and competing in this great sport, as well as the names and brief profiles of remarkable and dedicated people, comprise this celebration of baseball which is enthusiastically recommended for the fans of Latino players.



3. This book is very well photographed and written. The photos are stunning and colorful as well as informative and narrative. Not your stanard picture book, this is much better and will have a longer shelf life as the players are legendary. A must have book for the photographer, the sports fan and the Latino communities around America.

1 comments about Isabel Allende: Life and Spirits.

1. The simplest description of this book is that it is a short biography of renowned hispanic writer Isabel Allende, translated from the Spanish by Margaret Sayers Peden. It is based on a series of taped interviews between Zapata and Allende made at Zapata's instigation after many years of cajoling, following the beginning of their friendship in the 1980s. It was Zapata, a professor of Latin American literature at San Jose State University, who convinced Isabel, then a new best-selling author living in Venezuela and also newly divorced, to include California in a lecture tour promoting her popular novels in the USA for the first time. In their first meeting at San Jose it was Celia who introduced Isabel to the man who would later become Isabel's second husband, William Gordon. This in turn led to Isabel moving her home from Venezuela to California. The interviews that became this book occurred at regular intervals over a whole year in a rented hotel room near San Francisco Airport, half way between San Jose and Isabel's new home in San Rafael. In one interview Isabel says, "Why do I write? Because I am filled with stories that demand to be told, because the words are choking me, because I like and need to write, because if I don't write my soul dries up and I die." I like Allende's books, and I like her personally even more after reading this compelling biography. It's an easy read, and also includes a helpful chronology of Isabel's complicated life from 1942 to 2002.

1 comments about Lalo: My Life and Music.

1. Lalo's memoir tells of the musical genius who changed the face of Latin music, documenting a sixty-year period in which Latin music styles and creation saw unparalleled changes. The first-person account tells of his life and his involvement in the changing world of Latin music.

No comments about George Lopez: Latino King of Comedy (Latino Biography Library).

5 comments about Albert the Great: The Albert Pujols Story.

1. I found this book to be interesting, and would recommend it to any baseball fan.



2. Easy and quick read. Professional athletes can still be great people and players. True to his beliefs Albert is a great role model for all people young and old.



3. this book is great it is an awesome book if you like albert pujols if i could rate this book higher i defenetly would have. i recommend this book to anyone who is an albert pujols fan or loves a great story about baseball.



4. My son is an Albert Pujols fan of the first order. I bought this book for his birthday. He keeps it in a special place in his room, and likes to talk about it all the time. A wonderful book about a modern day baseball player of incomperable skill and character.



5. This was a great book. I really enjoyed it very much, however I wish they would talk about Albert. Overall I gave this book 4 stars because it is so hard to put down. Great story of a baseball player acheiving his goal.

2 comments about Remnants of Crypto-Jews Among Hispanic Americans.

1. The interview and photographs of the people in Gloria Golden's book Remnants of Crypto-Jews Among Hispanic Americans show a special dedication to the story these unique people have to tell. Careful attention to detail make their stories very enlightening. The photographs help the reader make the human connections to each story.
   I am of Sephardic ancestry on my father's side with his ancestors leaving Spain during the Inquisition and settling in Turkey. Our family was fortunate and never had to question our Jewish background as the Crypto-Jews do.
   After reading Gloria Golden's book I was able to get an insight into an unusual and often difficult transition these people of Jewish ancestry had to face when they found out about their Jewish heritage.
   Gloria Golden's book not only informs but also shows in a very dramatic way, how these Hispanic Americans are coping with their identity crisis.
   
   Nadine Behar Ellman



2. For many years I have followed the career of prize-winning photographer Gloria Golden, and I consider her a great artist. In her new book, Golden has transcended the world of the visual arts and become an important scholar, photojournalist, and chronicler of Jewish history. Despite the many chronicles that fill CRYPTO-JEWS with human interest, both the book's opening essay and its compelling accounts of Golden's interviews with southwestern American Crypto-Jews embrace an impressive range of intellectual disciplines, Jewish history, world history, sociology and anthropology among them.
   
   Though this landmark study will appeal to scholars, Golden's absorbing page-turner reads like fiction. Anyone fascinated by the human condition should purchase this gem of a book. I look forward to reading more of Golden's writing.

No comments about A Chicano in China.

No comments about Robert Rodriguez (Real-Life Reader Biography).