Cajas de carton is the first title in the literary series Nuestra vision: U.S. Latino Literature, which features original works by Latino authors living and working in the United States. This work is the Spanish version of the author's award-winning collection of stories, The Circuit. Jimenez' 12 independent but intertwined short stories chronicle the experiences of a Mexican-American family of migrant farm laborers, as narrated by one of the children, Panchito. Unlike many readers for this level, which anthologize standard works, this book presents authentic, outstanding literature and themes that are highly relevant to native Spanish speakers in the U.S.

First published as a serial in the newspaper El Paso del Norte, in October and November of 1915, then as a book published by the same newspaper, the novel Los de abajo has been translated into all the main languages of the world. Mariano Azuela's masterwork came out one hundred years after Jose Loaquin Fernandez de Lazardi's El Periquillo Sarniento created the genre of the Novel of the Revolution, as it left behind the norms of the European novel and forged new parameters for Hispanic American fiction. The impact of Los de abajo is owed in large part to the sustained dramatic tension of the novel, from the opening scene to the death of the protagonist - in the same geographic location, creating a sense of circularity - but its success is partly the result of the fulfillment of the title's promise to depict the underdogs. Who are the underdogs but those at the bottom of the social and economic ladder, that is, the poorest and most disinherited. And the underdogs in Azuela's story have decided to fight against the injustices perpetrated by those on top. The struggle is bloody, the suffering intolerable. And all for what? All just in order to remain in the same place - as underdogs - after two years of hardships. This attitude of defeat, of failure, is one of the elements that sustain lively interest in the novel and give it permanent value. The descriptions of nature serve to soften the violent revolutionary scenes, and it is this technique of interweaving human actions with descriptions of the landscape that confers an unusual equilibrium upon the novel and has caused it to be considered the best of the many novels about the Mexican Revolution. This edition, annotated and with a prologue by Luis Leal, is a fundamental text for any course in Hispanic literature, and is indispensable for courses focusing on early 20th century Latin America."

Miguel de Quintana was among those arriving in New Mexico with Diego de Vargas in 1694. He was active in his village of Santa Cruz de la Canada, where he was a notary and secretary to the alcalde mayor, functioning as a quasi-attorney. Being unusually literate, he also wrote personal poetry for himself and religious plays for his community. His conflicted life with local authorities began in 1734 when he was accused of being a heretic. What unfolded was a personal drama of intrigue before the colonial Inquisition. In this fascinating volume Lomeli and Colahan reveal Quintana's writings from deep within Inquisition archives and provide a translation of and critical look at Quintana's poetry and religious plays.

Myth and legend have existed in Mexico in prehispanic times as a means to transmit cosmogonical or ethological visions. During the colonial period short stories appear intertwined in the many chronicles, histories and writings of the conquistadores, priests and other men of letters. With the Diario de Mexico (1805), the short story starts its long association with journalism, and appears along novels such as Jose Joaquin Fernandez de Lizardi's. Literary magazines also were a fertile environment, but it was in 1870, when Jose Maria Roa Barcena published "Noche al raso," an integrated recopilation, and Vicente Riva Palacio his "Cuentos del general" (1896), that the mexican short story began to acquire its prestige as a literary genre, to reach its high artistic level with Gutierrez Najera, Amado Nervo and other "modernists." During the twentieth century various tendencies appeared: the vanguardist school, along Alfonso Reyes, Julio Torri and others; the revolutionary period, centered in the civil war and indigenous issues; and the post-revolutionary period, when the mexican short story finally obtained its international literary high reputation. This anthology, compiled and commented by prof. Luis Leal, gathers stories representative of the genre in Mexico that span from the origins up to the years affected by the Revolution, and constitutes a captivating study reading material both for entry and upper levels Spanish courses.

Emilio Rabasa (1856-1930), lawyer, historian, literary critic, essayist and novelist, besides being a journalist and active participant in politics, stands out among the Mexican intellectuals of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Considered to have introduced realism into Mexican fiction, Rabasa's writing reveals the influence of Prez Galds as well as earlier Mexican writers, ranging from Jos Joaqun Fernndez de Lizardi's El periquillo sarniento (1816) to Jos Toms de Cullar's Baile y cochino (1886). A perceptive literary critic, journalist and well-informed historian, he was one of the founders of the newspaper El Universal. Although he wrote influential political analyses like La constitucin y la dictadura.(1912) and La evolucin histrica de Mxico (1920), Rabasa is best remembered for his five novels, which share recurrent characters and political themes, or rather, criticism of politicians who are unethical in their struggle for power. La bola is the first of this series. What is la bola? La bola is not the Revolution; unlike the Revolution, which centers on the idea, develops national passion, modifies an institution and promotes the involvement of citizens, la bola does not demand or represent principles: it is born and it is dissolved in a short natural and moral period, and requires ignorance. Revolution is born out of the world's progress, but la bola is born out of ignorance and the inevitable backwardness of poor nations. This is la bola that Rabasa depicts so perceptively through the young, articulate and earnest character of Juanillo Quiones' experience and observations, combining elements that lead us to suspect it of being an autobiographical story, filled with caciques, shyster lawyers, rogues, turncoats and prevaricators. It is a world in which to get rich, to take unfair advantage. It is a world of ill-considered destructive impulse, which ends with a return to the status quo. Emilio Rabasa in his first novel, is describing not the Revolution, but la bola. It is certainly one of the best novels in all of Mexican literature, and this edition's introduction and notes by Professor Luis Leal elucidate Rabasa's text to make a reading of the novel an unforgettable experience.