Our America
Felipe Fernández-Armesto
This absorbing narrative begins with the explorers and conquistadores who planted Spain’s first colonies in Puerto Rico, Florida, and the Southwest. Missionaries and rancheros carry Spain’s expansive impulse into the late eighteenth century, settling California, mapping the American interior to the Rockies, and charting the Pacific coast. During the nineteenth century Anglo-America expands west under the banner of “Manifest Destiny” and consolidates control through war with Mexico. In the Hispanic resurgence that follows, it is the peoples of Latin America who overspread the continent, from the Hispanic heartland in the West to major cities such as Chicago, Miami, New York, and Boston. The United States clearly has a Hispanic present and future.
And here is its Hispanic past, presented with characteristic insight and wit by one of our greatest historians.
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About Felipe Fernández-Armesto
Reviews for Our America
Ilan Stavans, general editor of The Norton Anthology of Latino History "In enviably lyrical prose, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto has written a bold and compelling synthesis of our nation's Hispanic past, from the Spanish arrival in the late fifteenth century to the current and contentious debate over immigration reform. Marshaling famous and forgotten individuals and events, he reminds us that there is much more to America's story than simply Massachusetts Pilgrims and Virginia Cavaliers."
Andrew R. Graybill, director, Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University "A rich and moving chronicle ... Perhaps the first history to make the case for this nation's becoming a bright Latin American country."
Julio Ortega "Exceedingly well-written and engaging."
Hector Tobar "Triumphantly rescues Hispanic America from obscurity." "A valuable contribution to those seeking a broader understanding of U.S. history."
Janet Napolitano