Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser

Schlosser, Eric (2002). Fast Food Nation: the dark side of the all-American meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.  
0395977894

Summary: Eric Schlosser's 2002 New York Times bestseller, Fast Food Nation reveals that a seemingly trivial decision to buy a quick hamburger has hidden costs that are uncovered during Schlosser's disturbing investigation. Schlosser chronicles the rapid spread of fast food chains and the corresponding rise of agribusinesses as the food industry has had to accommodate the massive demand for beef and chicken as more and more franchises open across America and abroad.

Additional Comments:  Be forewarned that you may never again set foot in a McDonald's or Taco Bell after reading this provocative investigation of the fast food industry.  Read this book, and you will forever remember factory workers with missing fingers, factory workers who are forced to work overtime in dangerous conditions, and the gory butchering of cattle and chicken as they are slaughtered.  A moving example of "investigative journalism" that reveals the ways in which chain, fast food restaurants are destructive to employees, to public health, and to animal welfare.

Drink Cultura, by Jose Antonio Burciaga

Burciago, Jose Antonio (1993). Drink Cultura. Santa Barbara: Joshua Odell Editions.
ISBN 1877741078

Summary:  Burciago writes, “I’m Mexican by nature and American by nurture.” (p. 63). A Chicano cultural activist, Burciago presents a series of essays in Drink Cultura that explore elements of American and Mexican cultures and Mexican-American culture. By discussing language, food, and holidays, Burciago explores his identity as a Chicano Texan—neither Mexicano nor gringo, but caught between cultures —with wit and insightful commentary informed by personal experience and history. 

Additional Comments:  Despite his levity, Burciago also addresses serious social injustices against Latinos, such as the past prohibition of Spanish language and Mexican culture in schools, the struggles of the campesino farmworkers and the labor movement, and the evolution of the Chicano Movement. Students of Latin American studies will especially benefit from Burciago’s critique of American culture and history.

Revenge of the "Illegal Alien", by Cesar A. Preciado-Cruz

Preciado-Cruz, Cesar A. (2008). Revenge of the “illegal alien: A Mexican takes on the Empire. Oakland: Making Changes Press.

ISBN 9780615152998

Summary:  Human rights activist Cesar Preciado-Cruz (teolol) releases revolutionary rage in his Revenge of the “illegal alien: A Mexican takes on the Empire, a collection of poems and short stories that condemn the United States for the repression of people of color, for the wealthy corporate elite, for the political lies about Iraq, for the general contempt of undocumented workers by Americans who benefit from their services, and for historical atrocities. Cruz’s radical poems in English and Spanish lend themselves to spoken word to fully realize the emotional intensity of his writing. 

Additional Comments: Some readers will undoubtedly squirm with discomfort from his calls for insurgency in poems like “license this” and “the terrorist” and from his vilification of the American government in poems like “on the 4th u lie (4th of july)” and “things taken”. However, his voice represents the vital perspective of the underrepresented and marginalized.

What is the What, by Dave Eggers (Audio)

Graham, Dion (Speaker) (2007).  What is the what (Audio recording).  Eggers, Dave.  Muze, Inc.

Summary: Valentino Achak Deng, a Sudanese refugee, is assaulted when he allows a stranger to enter his apartment to use the phone.  As he is tied up, he has flashbacks to his escape as a "Lost Boy", walking from Sudan to Ethiopia and eventually to Kenya before resettling in America 

Additional Comments:  Dion Graham's deep voice and various impersonations for the different characters breathe life into Eggers' deeply moving story that is loosely based on the true-life experiences of Valentino Achak Deng.  Eggers presents a graphic rendering of the violence of the Sudanese Civil War and also presents a realistic portrayal of challenges that refugees as they adjust to a new life in America. What is the What is a shocking, eye-opening story about the first genocide of the 21st-century.

 

The Circuit, by Francisco Jimenez

Jimenez, Francisco (1997). The circuit. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

ISBN:9780826317971

Summary:  Jimenez's childhood memories as a child migrant farm-workers inspired The Circuit, a heart-wrenching tale of a Mexican family who crossed the border illegally to increase their opportunities in the U.S. only to attain a life of seasonal migrations.  Just as a new camp begins to feel like home and just as he makes friends at school where he can't speak the language, his hard-working parents load up the jalopy to move along "the circuit" for the next harvest.  Living in extreme privation and poverty, his parents and older brother, who often sacrifices school to help pick crops, break their backs to work in the fields all day while living in constant fear of "la migra". 

Additional comments:  Recounted with deep love and tenderness, The Circuit is a must-read to develop compassion for and an understanding of the harsh realities faced by undocumented agricultural laborers.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

Alvarez, Julia (1992).  How the Garcia girls lost their accents.  New York: Plume. 

Summary:  How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents tells the story of four Dominican sisters whose family moves to New York City when their father is suspected as being part of the underground opposition to the dictatorship, Trujillo.  The young women find themselves navigating an ambiguous path of cultural assimilation, caught between Dominican traditions enforced by their father and a new American lifestyle introduced to them at school. 

Additional comments:  How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is told in sentimental vignettes that reveal the hardships and mistreatment they faced as immigrants learning to speak English and struggling financial. Their relationship with their home country also evolves.  Female readers will enjoy the dynamic relationships between the contrasting personalities of the sisters.