Latino Literacy

Now twenty-five million strong, Hispanic Americans have lived on this land for five hundred years, longer than any other people except Native Americans. Bringing cultural identity and heritage from Mexico, South and Central America, and the Caribbean, Latinos have helped shape and enrich the Anglo-American mainstream. *Latino Literacy* is the most comprehensive popular reference yet published on the subject, offering all the key facts, dates, people and events of the last half century. Opening with a narrative history section, the book recaptures the age of Spanish exploration, discovery, and settlement and leads us to modern turning points such as the "zoot suit" riots and Cesar Chavez's groundbreaking leadership among Latino farmworkers.

The Culture section celebrates Latino contributions to literature, art, theater, music, dance, language, food and more. The People section features colorful mini-biographies of noted Hispanics, from the sixteenth-century explorer Hernando de Soto to twentieth-century figures like statesman Luis Munoz Marin and tragic singing phenomenon Selena.