Customer Reviews

With Her Machete in Her Hand: Reading Chicana Lesbians (Chicana Matters)

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Catriona Rueda Esquibel's book is a superb exploration of Chicana (and more broadly defined, Latina) lesbian literature and culture. She has an engaging style, and even incorporates some personal (autobiographical) anecdotes, giving us a good sense of who she is and why she cares so deeply about this topic. Readers will find in this book invaluable information and analysis. The author is to be commended for her important contribution to this field.

I can only say great things about this book. Rueda Esquivel's thorough research and critical analysis of Chicana Lesbian literature from the 1970's to the year 2000 is breathtaking. Chapter after chapter, you will not only be fascinated, but you will be left with a wave of optimism for the future of Chicana and Chicano scholarship. If you are taking a course in Chicana feminisms, Chicana Lesbian literature, or want to read an analysis that posits gender and sexuality in relation to race and class, then you must pick up a copy of this book. This book requires you to either have some background in Chicana lesbian literature or can introduce you to the fabulous works being produced by Chicana lesbians.
I hope that this is only the first step in critically engaging with Chicana lesbian literature. If, as Rueda Esquivel comments, you want to venture out of the traditional Moraga/Anzaldua Chicana lesbian canon then I recommend that you read tatiana de la tierra's, For the Hard Ones: A Lesbian Phenomenology, and or Myriam Gurba's, Dahlia Season.