LatinoLand

A Portrait of America's Largest and Least Understood Minority

By: Marie Arana

Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell

“A perfect representation of Latino diversity” (The Washington Post), LatinoLand draws from hundreds of interviews and prodigious research to give us both a vibrant portrait and the little-known history of our largest and fastest-growing minority, in “a work of prophecy, sympathy, and courage” (Junot Díaz, Pulitzer Prize–winning author).

LatinoLand is an exceptional, all-encompassing overview of Hispanic America based on personal interviews, deep research, and Marie Arana’s life experience as a Latina. At present, Latinos comprise twenty percent of the US population, a number that is growing. By 2050, census reports project that one in every three Americans will claim Latino heritage.

But Latinos are not a monolith. They do not represent a single group. The largest groups are Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, and Cubans. Each has a different cultural and political background. Puerto Ricans, for example, are US citizens, whereas some Mexican Americans never immigrated because the US-Mexico border shifted after the US invasion of 1848, incorporating what is now the entire southwest of the United States. Cubans came in two great waves: those escaping communism in the early years of Castro, many of whom were professionals and wealthy, and those permitted to leave in the Mariel boat lift twenty years later, representing some of the poorest Cubans, including prisoners.

As LatinoLand shows, Latinos were some of the earliest immigrants to what is now the US—some of them arriving in the 1500s. They are racially diverse—a random infusion of white, Black, indigenous, and Asian. Once overwhelmingly Catholic, they are becoming increasingly Protestant and Evangelical. They range from domestic workers and day laborers to successful artists, corporate CEOs, and US senators. Formerly solidly Democratic, they now vote Republican in growing numbers. They are as culturally varied as any immigrants from Europe or Asia.

Marie Arana draws on her own experience as the daughter of an American mother and Peruvian father who came to the US at age nine, straddling two worlds, as many Latinos do. “Thorough, accessible, and necessary” (Ms. magazine), LatinoLand unabashedly celebrates Latino resilience and character and shows us why we must understand the fastest-growing minority in America.

Essential Reading!

This will now be listened to or read by every family member, family friend, and colleague. Deeply grateful & left energized to further our collective legacy!

Hispanic is not my name

No name is descriptive of us all, certainly not Hispanic. Hispanics are Spaniards. We are our ancestral nationalities, We are the remnants of colonization, indigenous roots linked to our tribes, now infused with the DNA of all the nationalities from the rest of the world that came to our lands to find their dreams. In Los Estados Unidos de America, somos los otros, the needed yet unwelcome. Even when we assimilate, our names, our complexion, our accents alinate us as perpetual foreigner. We have been here before the USA became the U SA, yet never belonging here.

The accuracy of the present and bright future: the Hispanic-American story here to stay!

Loving this book so much. It is such an accurate account of facts in history brought forward to the present with optimism. It encourages all Americans to learn more about how Hispanic culture and its origins are All American values we cherish today.

I really needed a book like this

I always have had many questions about Latinos, Hispanics, Chicanos. Latino, Latinx or all the names people call us. Marie Arana was the best way to understand and to feel proud of where we came from. Well researched, interesting, deep. and beautifully read. I have interviewed many of the names mentioned here, I will go for more, to put under the spotlight more talent from the Latinoland.

Fantastic Book

I was glued to this book. As a proud Latina who thought I knew a lot about Latinos in this country, the countries we came from & our significant contributions, this book showed me how much I didn’t know. Should actually be a textbook in high school. So much history we are never told about in school. Definitely, a high recommend for anyone wanting to truly learn about this group of people referred to as LatinX, Latinos or Hispanics.