From award-winning actress and political activist America Ferrera comes a vibrant and varied collection of first person accounts from prominent figures about the experience of growing up between cultures. America Ferrera has always felt wholly American, and yet, her identity is inextricably linked to her parents' homeland and Honduran culture. Speaking Spanish at home, having Saturday-morning-salsa-dance-parties in the kitchen, and eating tamales alongside apple pie at Christmas never seemed at odds with her American identity. Still, she yearned to see that identity reflected in the larger American narrative. Now, in American Like Me, America invites thirty-one of her friends, peers, and heroes to share their stories about life between cultures. We know them as actors, comedians, athletes, politicians, artists, and writers.

The "American Dream" means many things to many people, but in general it can be said that it connects the idea of freedom to the opportunity for prosperity and upward social mobility. Sandra L. Hanson and John K. White have joined together with a group of social scientists to explore the attitudes, experiences, and expectations of Latinos in their quest for the American Dream. The Latino/a American Dream asks many timely questions, including: how do Latino/as view the American Dream? Has the recent economic downturn affected their hopes of achieving the Dream? What about recent immigrants? What about Latina women?

The Latinx revolution in US culture, society, and politics "Latinx" (pronounced "La-teen-ex") is the gender-neutral term that covers one of the largest and fastest growing minorities in the United States, accounting for 17 percent of the country. Over 58 million Americans belong to the category, including a sizable part of the country's working class, both foreign and native-born. Their political empowerment is altering the balance of forces in a growing number of states. And yet Latinx barely figure in America's ongoing conversation about race and ethnicity. Remarkably, the US census does not even have a racial category for "Latino."

How did Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, and Cubans become known as "Hispanics" and "Latinos" in the United States? How did several distinct cultures and nationalities become portrayed as one? Cristina Mora answers both these questions and details the scope of this phenomenon innbsp;Making Hispanics. She uses an organizational lens and traces how activists, bureaucrats, and media executives in the 1970s and '80s created a new identity category--and by doing so, permanently changed the racial and political landscape of the nation.

The culture, history, and spirit of the Hispanic Southwest are brought to readers through this fascinating collection of 45 cuentos (stories and legends) from the region. From ancient creation myths of the Aztecs and traditional tales of Spanish colonialists to an eclectic sampling of the work of modern Latino storytellers, this book provides a rich tapestry of both obscure and well-loved stories-religious stories; animal tales; stories of magic, transformation, and wisdom; and chistes (short comic tales). Fifteen tales are also presented in Spanish. The origin and historical development of the stories are examined in an introductory chapter. A discussion of dichos (proverbs) and adivinanzas (riddles) illuminates the larger context of the oral tradition in which the tales have flourished. Lavishly illustrated with pictures of original paintings and sculpture by contemporary Latino artists, this fascinating collection will appeal to children and adults alike and is a must for the multicultural class

As the topic of immigration continues to dominate headlines, it becomes more important to educate young readers on the history of other cultures, specifically the incredible contributions made by Latinos in America. The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History will open a permanent exhibit on influential Latinos in 2021. Charged with the task of telling the long, complicated relationship of Latinos in the U.S.--a relationship so long, it predates the country--the gallery offers an opportunity to reflect on the stories and experiences of Latinas and Latinos throughout the U.S. today. Nuestra America highlights the incredible contributions of the following: Sylvia Acevedo Luis Alvarez Pura Belpre Martha E. Bernal Julia de Burgos Cesar Chavez Sandra Cisneros Roberto Clemente Celia Cruz Olga E. Custodio Oscar de la Renta Jaima Escalante Marcario Garcia Emma Gonzalez Laurie Hernandez Juan Felipe Herrera Dolores Huerta Jennifer Lopez Xiuhtezcatl Martinez Sylvia Mendez Lin-Manuel Miranda C. David Molina Rita Moreno Ellen Ochoa Jorge Ramos Sylvia Rivera Maria Elena Salinas Sonia Sotomayor Dara Torres Roberto Unanue

Inspired by the pre-Hispanic codices that escaped immolation during colonial invasions, this artists' book opens out in accordion folds expanding to a length of over 21 feet. Rice has created a series of beautiful and jarring montages in which the mixture of languages, slang, poetry, and prose of Gómez-Peña's performance texts are woven through and around Chagoya's collages filled with pre-Hispanic drawings, colonial-era representations of New World natives, and comic book superheroes. Irreverent to the last, Gómez-Peña and Chagoya employ iconic figures and persistent stereotypes to overturn the fantasies of nationalism, ethnocentrism, and historical amnesia that cloud international relations. Rice's masterful typographic compositions orchestrate the text's many voices and views, offering a history of the Americas which must be read forward and backward, in fragments and in recurring episodes--in short, as history itself tends to unfold.