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Our Migrant Souls

Our Migrant Souls

A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino”

A new book by the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer about the twenty-first-century Latino experience and identity.

Product Code: 9456
ISBN: 9781250335814
Format: Paperback / softback
Publisher: Picador
Pages: 256
Published Date: 09/24/2024
Availability:In stock
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Price: $18.00
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WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR NONFICTION NAMED ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’ 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2023 ONE OF TIME’S 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2023 | A TOP TEN BOOK OF 2023 AT CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY

In Our Migrant Souls, the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Héctor Tobar delivers a definitive and personal exploration of what it means to be Latino in the United States right now.

“Latino” is the most open-ended and loosely defined of the major race categories in the United States, and also one of the most rapidly growing. Composed as a direct address to the young people who identify or have been classified as “Latino,” Our Migrant Souls is the first account of the historical and social forces that define Latino identity.

Taking on the impacts of colonialism, public policy, immigration, media, and pop culture, Our Migrant Souls decodes the meaning of “Latino” as a racial and ethnic identity in the modern United States, and gives voice to the anger and the hopes of young Latino people who have seen Latinidad transformed into hateful tropes and who have faced insult and division—a story as old as this country itself.

Tobar translates his experience as not only a journalist and novelist but also a mentor, a leader, and an educator. He interweaves his own story, and that of his parents’ migration to the United States from Guatemala, into his account of his journey across the country to uncover something expansive, inspiring, true, and alive about the meaning of “Latino” in the twenty-first century.


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Contents

Prologue: Our Migrant Souls

Part I: Our Country
1. Empires
2. Walls
3. Beginnings
4. Cities
5. Race
6. Intimacies
7. Secrets
8. Ashes
9. Lies

Part II: Our Journeys Home
10. Light
11. Home

Conclusion: Utopias

Acknowledgements

Pulitzer winner Tobar (The Last Great Road Bum) explores in this probing, heartfelt essay collection the promises and contradictions inherent within Latino identity. Aiming to help young Latinos “untangl[e] the roots of the racist ideas about us,” Tobar interweaves autobiographical reflections on growing up in L.A. and visiting his family in Guatemala with profiles of undocumented immigrants; cultural analyses of how Latinos are portrayed in American films, television, and literature; and historical vignettes on the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, the annexing of New Mexico and California, the rise of the Chicano Movement, the “militarization” of the U.S. border with Mexico, and more. Throughout, he highlights the diversity of Latinos (“Latino people are brown, Black, white, and Indigenous, and they are European, Asian, and African. Some of us speak excellent Spanish, but many more of us do not”) and fiercely critiques the “static, one-dimensional images” of suffering immigrants that saturate U.S. journalism. Lyrical and uncompromising, this is a powerful call for all Americans to “dedicat[e] our energy and our intellects to creating new ways of being in the world.” - Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Our Migrant Souls is an important contribution to the growing body of work offering answers to a seemingly simple question: What is a ‘Latino’? In precise yet lyrical prose, Héctor Tobar leads readers on a tour of the United States of America, where to be Latine often means to go unseen.” - Myriam Gurba, author of Mean

The master writer puts on his maestro cap to give us memoir, media criticism, meditation, travelogue, history lesson, and so much more, in a style and pacing with all the brilliant nuances and hues that Latinos exemplify.” - Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican

"Ultimately, Our Migrant Souls is one of the most important pieces of Latino nonfiction in several decades. Tobar’s blend of philosophy, narrative and history puts him on the same level as literary giants such as Eduardo Galeano and James Baldwin. Turning the last page of this book, you will feel the weight of history on your shoulders—yet it is an uplifting experience." - Bookpage, starred review
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WINNER OF THE KIRKUS PRIZE FOR NONFICTION NAMED ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’ 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2023 ONE OF TIME’S 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2023 | A TOP TEN BOOK OF 2023 AT CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY

In Our Migrant Souls, the Pulitzer Prize–winning writer Héctor Tobar delivers a definitive and personal exploration of what it means to be Latino in the United States right now.

“Latino” is the most open-ended and loosely defined of the major race categories in the United States, and also one of the most rapidly growing. Composed as a direct address to the young people who identify or have been classified as “Latino,” Our Migrant Souls is the first account of the historical and social forces that define Latino identity.

Taking on the impacts of colonialism, public policy, immigration, media, and pop culture, Our Migrant Souls decodes the meaning of “Latino” as a racial and ethnic identity in the modern United States, and gives voice to the anger and the hopes of young Latino people who have seen Latinidad transformed into hateful tropes and who have faced insult and division—a story as old as this country itself.

Tobar translates his experience as not only a journalist and novelist but also a mentor, a leader, and an educator. He interweaves his own story, and that of his parents’ migration to the United States from Guatemala, into his account of his journey across the country to uncover something expansive, inspiring, true, and alive about the meaning of “Latino” in the twenty-first century.


Bookmark and Share
Contents

Prologue: Our Migrant Souls

Part I: Our Country
1. Empires
2. Walls
3. Beginnings
4. Cities
5. Race
6. Intimacies
7. Secrets
8. Ashes
9. Lies

Part II: Our Journeys Home
10. Light
11. Home

Conclusion: Utopias

Acknowledgements

Pulitzer winner Tobar (The Last Great Road Bum) explores in this probing, heartfelt essay collection the promises and contradictions inherent within Latino identity. Aiming to help young Latinos “untangl[e] the roots of the racist ideas about us,” Tobar interweaves autobiographical reflections on growing up in L.A. and visiting his family in Guatemala with profiles of undocumented immigrants; cultural analyses of how Latinos are portrayed in American films, television, and literature; and historical vignettes on the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, the annexing of New Mexico and California, the rise of the Chicano Movement, the “militarization” of the U.S. border with Mexico, and more. Throughout, he highlights the diversity of Latinos (“Latino people are brown, Black, white, and Indigenous, and they are European, Asian, and African. Some of us speak excellent Spanish, but many more of us do not”) and fiercely critiques the “static, one-dimensional images” of suffering immigrants that saturate U.S. journalism. Lyrical and uncompromising, this is a powerful call for all Americans to “dedicat[e] our energy and our intellects to creating new ways of being in the world.” - Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Our Migrant Souls is an important contribution to the growing body of work offering answers to a seemingly simple question: What is a ‘Latino’? In precise yet lyrical prose, Héctor Tobar leads readers on a tour of the United States of America, where to be Latine often means to go unseen.” - Myriam Gurba, author of Mean

The master writer puts on his maestro cap to give us memoir, media criticism, meditation, travelogue, history lesson, and so much more, in a style and pacing with all the brilliant nuances and hues that Latinos exemplify.” - Gustavo Arellano, author of Ask a Mexican

"Ultimately, Our Migrant Souls is one of the most important pieces of Latino nonfiction in several decades. Tobar’s blend of philosophy, narrative and history puts him on the same level as literary giants such as Eduardo Galeano and James Baldwin. Turning the last page of this book, you will feel the weight of history on your shoulders—yet it is an uplifting experience." - Bookpage, starred review
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