Customer Reviews

The Hispanic Condition: Reflections on Culture and Identity in America

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I must say I find very suspicious all of those brief, five-star anonymous reader reviews below, all supposedly from different parts of the country but all praising the book with the exact same language: "a classic", "insightful" and even comparing it to the classic by Octavio Paz 'A Labyrinth of Solitude.' The 'Labyrinth of Solitude' this book is NOT. I approached this book--and the work of Stavans in general--based on the blurbs by writers and authors of such high reputation as Henry Louis Gates, Gregory Barrasa and others but I am sorely dissapointed. I'm happy if Stavans can exist as a 'Hispanic' (rather than a Latino) in the 'hyphens' Americans tend to create to label non-whites, but language is not the only force shaping cultures. This books seems to shine only if you forget the historic forces that have forced millions of Latinos to be labeled with the hyphens of compound identities. His posturing on a number of important issues--bilingual education, Latino sexuality, affirmative action--is more often than not biased and superficial, and worse of all, feels like the posturing of an academic unconcerned with the fate and the condition of Latinos in general. This makes you realize that there is no such thing as a 'Hispanic condition.' A thought-provoking but ultimately confused and superficial book. Strictly to please white 'Hispanic' academics. Read or reread 'The Labyrinth of Solitude' by Octavio Paz and 'Massacre of the Dreamers' by Ana Castillo for more compelling reading on the 'Latino Condition.'

The attention--and place--this book has already earned in mainstream AND Hispanic America is well deserved. Try this book alongside earlier classics like Octavio Paz's LABYRINTH OF SOLITUDE and more personal, recent autobiographies and essay collections like Jack Lopez's CHOLOS AND SURFERS and Mary Helen Ponce's HOYT STREET/CALLE HOYT. Read together the experience is even richer.

I loved this book. It is insighful, open-minded, intelligent, and unorthodox. A great read!

I think this book is a fine introduction to Latinos. It is easy to read and provocative. I learned a lot. I want to read other books by the same author.

I was assigned this book in Latino class. I was really surprised by the freshness of the comments. It's very insightful.

I discovered a paperback copy of this book in a used book store a week or so ago, and in that time I've read as much of it as I can stand.

There are two great and glaring lies wrapped up in this book, and here they are:

1) There is no "melting pot" in America -- not now, and not ever. The real truth about America is that it's a covert cold race war in progress, where the only way to survive as a person of non-Anglo-Germanic ethnicity is to find your particular ethnic niche -- black, hispanic, asian, etc. -- and do whatever you can to empower your ethnicity in a reciprocal relationship with empowering yourself. Why? Because, beneath all the soft smiles and wiles, ethnic tribalism rules everything in America -- and if you ever become ignorant of that fact, you will suffer for it.

Hispanics in America are now and forevermore -- so long as Anglo-Germanics continue to rule America -- a racially-designated permanent underclass, with the rare exception being where they are particularly militant and educated and thus hold much power, such as in the greater Miami area. But everywhere else in America? No way -- not by a long shot. Throughout America, the entire now-corporate system utilizes so-called "human resources" departments to racially screen applicants by way of the apparent ethnicity on the top of their resumes, and "Equal Employment Opportunity" officers to then back up the racist discriminations that go on in those "human resources" front lines of the race war. It's all a flawlessly tight system, quite neat and tidy.

Hispanics -- with REAL Spanish surnames (which I'll get to in just a moment) -- are free in our Anglo-Germanic America to apply to any job they like, for which they may or may not be qualified. However, the instant a "human resources" race gestapo sees a patently hispanic name on the top of a resume, such as, say -- oh, I don't know -- "Gonzalez", then they immediately dismiss that applicant as a desired candidate for any and all positions which might bear real influence or critical input, or employ real intelligence and creativity. Those jobs, instead, are near-exclusively reserved for the more "adept" and "naturally intelligent" applicants whose names bear the ethnic mark of Europe's Hanseatic north.

In America, ethnicity is A-okay, but only so long as it's in restaurant form, dodging bullets in social work, cleaning toilets, or doing other manual labor. Because, as we all know, "darkies work best below the neckline".

2) "Ilan Stavans" -- what a name. You don't get much more tactically perfect than that, in terms of ethnic opacity. Just to hear and see that name, one would most obviously ask, "Is it Scandinavian? Romanian? Where the hell is it from?" And that's the power of such a name, because it absolutely and slyly conceals all traces of the bearer's ethnicity -- which, in this case, we are told is (drum roll, please) Spanish. Well, how convenient.

(continued in part two)

Very challenging read, Exposes the inner workings of a misunderstood Culture and defines not only highlights of the Hispanic Culture but defines as well the diferences between the races existing within. Opens your eyes to your own personal state even if you are not Hispanic, not only does this book address the Hispanic Condition but the human condition as well. Excellent, inspiring and heart rending all in one book.

Ilan Stavans' THE HISPANIC CONDITION is a probing study of the Latino and Latin American people. It should be read for generations.

Ilan Stavans' THE HISPANIC CONDITION is a probing study of the Latino and Latin American people. It should be read for generations.

Ilan Stavans finally breaks the mold and tell is how it is. He breaks the myth that all "latinos" are short brown people and shows how it is to grow up in a culture dominated by Spanish. He showed me the identity crisis when I came to the US and was told I wasn't white, but "latino", a word that I had not heard before. His book opens up worlds.