Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807-90) grew up in Spanish California, became a leading military and political figure in Mexican California, and participated in some of the founding events of U.S. California. In 1874-75, Vallejo, working with historian and publisher Hubert Howe Bancroft, composed a five-volume history of Alta California-a monumental work that would be the most complete eyewitness account of California before the gold rush. But Bancroft shelved the work, and it has lain in the archives until its recent publication as Recuerdos: Historical and Personal Remembrances Relating to Alta California, 1769-1849, translated and edited by Rose Marie Beebe and Robert M. Senkewicz. In Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo: Life in Spanish, Mexican, and American California, Beebe and Senkewicz not only illuminate Vallejo's life and history but also examine the broader experience of the nineteenth-century Californio community. In eight essays, the authors consider Spanish and Mexican rule in California, mission secularization, the rise of rancho culture, and the conflicts between settlers and Indigenous Californians, especially in the post-mission era. Vallejo was uniquely positioned to provide insight into early California's foundation, and as a defender of culture and education among Mexican Californians, he also offered a rare perspective on the cultural life of the Mexican American community. In their final chapter, Beebe and Senkewicz include a significant portion of the correspondence between Vallejo and his wife, Francisca Benicia, for what it reveals about the effects of the American conquest on family and gender roles. A long-overdue in-depth look at one of the preeminent Mexican Americans in nineteenth-century California, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo also provides an unprecedented view of the Mexican American experience during that transformative era.

Contributions by Cecile Accilien, Maria Rice Bellamy, Gwen Bergner, Olga Blomgren, Maia L. Butler, Isabel Caldeira, Nadege T. Clitandre, Thadious Davis, Joanna Davis-McElligatt, Laura Dawkins, Megan Feifer, Delphine Gras, Akia Jackson, Tammie Jenkins, Shewonda Leger, Jennifer Lozano, Marion Rohrleitner, Thomas Rothe, Erika Serrato, Lucia Stecher, and Joyce White Narrating History, Home, and Dyaspora: Critical Essays on Edwidge Danticat contains fifteen essays addressing how Edwidge Danticat's writing, anthologizing, and storytelling trace, (re)construct, and develop alternate histories, narratives of nation building, and conceptions of home and belonging. The prolific Danticat is renowned for novels, collections of short fiction, nonfiction, and editorial writing. As her experimentation in form expands, so does her force as a public intellectual. Danticat's literary representations, political commentary, and personal activism have proven vital to classroom and community work imagining radical futures. Among increasing anti-immigrant sentiment and containment and rampant ecological volatility, Danticat's contributions to public discourse, art, and culture deserve sustained critical attention. These essays offer essential perspectives to scholars, public intellectuals, and students interested in African diasporic, Haitian, Caribbean, and transnational American literary studies. This collection frames Danticat's work as an indictment of statelessness, racialized and gendered state violence, the persistence of political and economic margins, and the essential vitality of life in and as dyaspora. The first section of this volume, "The Other Side of the Water," engages with Danticat's construction and negotiation of nation, both in Haiti and the United States; the broader dyaspora; and her own, her family's, and her fictional characters' places within them. The second section, "Welcoming Ghosts," delves into the ever-present specter of history and memory, prominent themes found throughout Danticat's work. From origin stories to broader Haitian histories, this section addresses the underlying traumas involved when remembering the past and its relationship to the present. The third section, "I Speak Out," explores the imperative to speak, paying particular attention to the narrative form with which such telling occurs. The fourth and final section, "Create Dangerously," contends with Haitians' activism, community building, and the political and ecological climate of Haiti and its dyaspora.

Introduction to Latinx Studies: A Social Science and Cultural Studies Reader provides students with a collection of carefully curated primary sources and textbook style introductions that explore contemporary Latinx issues and experiences. In Unit I, Negotiating Identities, readings examine the various ways in which Latinx communities think about belonging and classification in the context of the U.S. Unit II, Resistance and Mobilizations, features scholarly primary sources that discuss issues related to race relations and social and political mobilizations. The third unit, Migration and Immigration, introduces readers to the broader context of U.S.-Latin American relations, globalization, and the effects of immigration policy and enforcement. In the final section, Critical Intersectionalities, readers engage with articles that examine intersections within the Latinx community. Dedicated readings explore the nuances of race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and social stratification. Throughout, engaging introductions provide readers with necessary context for the selected articles and discussion questions that guide them in their understanding of the material. Research-based and timely, Introduction to Latinx Studies is an excellent main text for courses in the social sciences such as sociology, anthropology, political science and cultural studies courses with focus on contemporary Latinx issues and culture.

The Kora: A Contextual Reclamation of the African Perspective is a collection of readings curated to facilitate a dynamic interest in African American studies and African American history. The anthology emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of the discipline, impressing upon readers that the discipline of African American studies is fluid, portable, and practical. The text begins with a reading that provides readers with a contextual foundation in African American history. Additional units address Black religion and institutions, sociology and psychology, economics, creative production, and education. Individual articles explore traditional belief systems, the social construction of race, themes in African American literature, the experiences of African American studies in public elementary schools, and more. Each unit ends with critical reflection, which can serve as guideposts for in-person or virtual discussions or as writing prompts for personal reflections on the subject matter. Providing students with practical examples of Afrocentric approaches to Afrocentric research, The Kora is an excellent supplementary resource for courses in African American studies.