The Ballad of Gato Guerrero

The Ballad of Gato Guerrero
Author: Manuel Ramos
Publisher: Arte Público Press
Total Pages: 192
Release:
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1518507999

Attorney Luis Montez and Felix “Gato” Guerrero, childhood friends who have survived numerous obstacles, are finally prospering. Luis is making more money in his chosen profession than he ever has and is excited about his work. Felix has gotten his life back in order after his time in Vietnam and the tragic deaths of his wife and daughter. He has even found love again. But Felix has always had a knack for getting into trouble—and this time he’s dragging Luis along with him! Felix’s new beloved is a girl from their past who worked her way out of Denver’s Northside barrio by marrying into the city’s most notorious crime family. Her husband runs the business and people who mess with him—or his things—end up with their brains splattered all over the county. As Luis juggles his caseload, including one against the local police for beating up a Mexican-American woman, and helping her hoodlum son, he gets caught up in the lovebirds’ attempt to escape her dangerous husband. But he’s not the only one looking for El Gato, and all too soon bodies start piling up around them! Originally published in 1994 by St. Martin’s Press and reissued by Northwestern University Press in 2004, this riveting second installment in the Luis Montez Mystery series of five novels takes readers on a wild ride through Denver’s mean streets and deadly encounters with young gangbangers, established gangsters and even those tasked with protecting residents—cops who continue to harass brown people with impunity.

Chicano Popular Culture, Second Edition

Chicano Popular Culture, Second Edition
Author: Charles M. Tatum
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2017-09-05
Genre: Art
ISBN: 081653652X

"An updated and expanded edition of Tatum's Chicano Popular Culture (2001), touching upon major developments in popular culture since the book's original publication"--Provided by publisher.

Justice Denoted

Justice Denoted
Author: Terry White
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 588
Release: 2003-09-30
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0313052573

White provides the most comprehensive scholarly compilation of fictional work of legal suspense in existence. Primarily a bibliography of novels, it also annotates plays, scripts for film and television, novelizations, and short-story collections about lawyers and the law. The idea behind the principal of selection is to disdain labels that reduce the variety of the legal thriller to a subgenre of mystery fiction. Novels that range from suspense thrillers through science fiction to the philosophical novel are included if justice is thematically important. It is therefore an eclectic reference source beyond a compilation of books about lawyers as protagonists. Its biographical and scholarly information about authors, major and minor, and their novels or works is traditionally encyclopedic and objective regardless of whether the work has been genre-defined, or worse—deified as a classic or denigrated as a bestseller. Many novels included are long out of print, but historically interesting for their contribution to the lineage of the courtroom drama, showing that the history of the legal thriller is one of the major branches of modern literature since the Age of Reason. The criterion of justice denoted moves beyond the fact of lawyers and courtrooms to select seminal novels like Robert Travers' Anatomy of a Murder as well as the romantic potboiler. Among the more than 2,000 works are the Perry Mason novels of Erle Stanley Gardner, John Mortimer's Rumpole series, along with a staple of fiction by major authors of the genre like John Lescroart, Lisa Scottoline, Margaret Maron, Scott Turow, and John Grisham. There are also individual works by Shakespeare, Goethe, Kafka, Camus, and Twain delineating humanity's obsession with the law as its shining prop of civilization and, alternative, béte-noire of the common individual caught up in its maw. The appendices include comments by lawyer-novelist Michael A. Kahn, a historical introduction to the legal thriller, craft notes by writers and prominent trial lawyers responding to author and lawyer questionnaires, bibliography of critical sources and articles, series characters, and the legal terminology found in courtroom dramas and novels. An essential reference tool for scholars, researchers as well as the occasional reader of legal thrillers.

Chicano and Chicana Literature

Chicano and Chicana Literature
Author: Charles M. Tatum
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 233
Release: 2022-07-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816549982

The literary culture of the Spanish-speaking Southwest has its origins in a harsh frontier environment marked by episodes of intense cultural conflict, and much of the literature seeks to capture the epic experiences of conquest and settlement. The Chicano literary canon has evolved rapidly over four centuries to become one of the most dynamic, growing, and vital parts of what we know as contemporary U.S. literature. In this comprehensive examination of Chicano and Chicana literature, Charles M. Tatum brings a new and refreshing perspective to the ethnic identity of Mexican Americans. From the earliest sixteenth-century chronicles of the Spanish Period, to the poetry and narrative fiction of the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, and then to the flowering of all literary genres in the post–Chicano Movement years, Chicano/a literature amply reflects the hopes and aspirations as well as the frustrations and disillusionments of an often marginalized population. Exploring the work of Rudolfo Anaya, Sandra Cisneros, Luis Alberto Urrea, and many more, Tatum examines the important social, historical, and cultural contexts in which the writing evolved, paying special attention to the Chicano Movement and the flourishing of literary texts during the 1960s and early 1970s. Chapters provide an overview of the most important theoretical and critical approaches employed by scholars over the past forty years and survey the major trends and themes in contemporary autobiography, memoir, fiction, and poetry. The most complete and up-to-date introduction to Chicana/o literature available, this book will be an ideal reference for scholars of Hispanic and American literature. Discussion questions and suggested reading included at the end of each chapter are especially suited for classroom use.

The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz

The Ballad of Rocky Ruiz
Author: Manuel Ramos
Publisher: Arte Publico Press
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2023-09-30
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1518507956

Luis Montez is nursing a drink and licking his wounds in the Dark Knight Lounge after a bruising case. The jury took less than an hour to decide his efforts defending a client were worthless. He’s on the verge of a mid-life crisis and ready to give up his law business. But the night brightens when an old friend from the Chicano student civil rights movement turns up with a beautiful woman on his arm. Teresa Fuentes, a new attorney about to start at a prestigious Denver firm, is much younger, but that doesn’t keep Luis’ imagination from running wild. As the weary attorney dreams about the mysterious woman and deals with his faltering law firm and an ethics investigation, he’s shocked to learn another friend from the activist days is getting threats about “the old business,” the murder of their friend Rocky Ruiz twenty years ago by men in white robes. And when compadres get beaten up, murdered or go into hiding, Luis can’t ignore that history may be repeating itself. Are the crazy racists back to finish what they started so long ago? Is it just bad luck that Teresa’s arrival in town coincides with the violence? Or is there a deeper connection? Originally published in 1993 by St. Martin’s Press and reissued by Northwestern University Press in 2004, this gripping first installment in the Luis Montez Mystery series introduces readers to the Denver attorney and activist who appears in four subsequent novels.

Encyclopedia of Latino Culture [3 volumes]

Encyclopedia of Latino Culture [3 volumes]
Author: Charles M. Tatum
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 1465
Release: 2013-11-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN:

This three-volume encyclopedia describes and explains the variety and commonalities in Latina/o culture, providing comprehensive coverage of a variety of Latina/o cultural forms—popular culture, folk culture, rites of passages, and many other forms of shared expression. In the last decade, the Latina/o population has established itself as the fastest growing ethnic group within the United States, and constitutes one of the largest minority groups in the nation. While the different Latina/o groups do have cultural commonalities, there are also many differences among them. This important work examines the historical, regional, and ethnic/racial diversity within specific traditions in rich detail, providing an accurate and comprehensive treatment of what constitutes "the Latino experience" in America. The entries in this three-volume set provide accessible, in-depth information on a wide range of topics, covering cultural traditions including food; art, film, music, and literature; secular and religious celebrations; and religious beliefs and practices. Readers will gain an appreciation for the historical, regional, and ethnic/racial diversity within specific Latina/o traditions. Accompanying sidebars and "spotlight" biographies serve to highlight specific cultural differences and key individuals.

The Ballad of Gato Guerrero

The Ballad of Gato Guerrero
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-03-31
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781558859920

"Attorney Luis Montez and Felix "Gato" Guerrero, childhood friends who have survived numerous obstacles, are finally prospering. Luis is making more money in his chosen profession than he ever has and is excited about his work. Felix has gotten his life back in order after his time in Vietnam and the tragic deaths of his wife and daughter. He has even found love again. But Felix has always had a knack for getting into trouble--and this time he's dragging Luis along with him! Felix's new beloved is a girl from their past who worked her way out of Denver's Northside barrio by marrying into the city's most notorious crime family. Her husband runs the business and people who mess with him--or his things--end up with their brains splattered all over the county. As Luis juggles his caseload, including one against the local police for beating up a Mexican-American woman, and helping her hoodlum son, he gets caught up in the lovebirds' attempt to escape her dangerous husband. But he's not the only one looking for El Gato, and all too soon bodies start piling up around them! Originally published in 1994 by St. Martin's Press and reissued by Northwestern University Press in 2004, this riveting second installment in the Luis Montez Mystery series of five novels takes readers on a wild ride through Denver's mean streets and deadly encounters with young gangbangers, established gangsters and even those tasked with protecting residents--cops who continue to harass brown people with impunity."

Brown Gumshoes

Brown Gumshoes
Author: Ralph E. Rodriguez
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2009-03-06
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0292774559

Winner, Modern Language Association Prize in United States Latina and Latino and Chicana and Chicano Literary and Cultural Studies, 2006 Popular fiction, with its capacity for diversion, can mask important cultural observations within a framework that is often overlooked in the academic world. Works thought to be merely "escapist" can often be more seriously mined for revelations regarding the worlds they portray, especially those of the disenfranchised. As detective fiction has slowly earned critical respect, more authors from minority groups have chosen it as their medium. Chicana/o authors, previously reluctant to write in an underestimated genre that might further marginalize them, have only entered the world of detective fiction in the past two decades. In this book, the first comprehensive study of Chicano/a detective fiction, Ralph E. Rodriguez examines the recent contributions to the genre by writers such as Rudolfo Anaya, Lucha Corpi, Rolando Hinojosa, Michael Nava, and Manuel Ramos. Their works reveal the struggles of Chicanas/os with feminism, homosexuality, familia, masculinity, mysticism, the nationalist subject, and U.S.-Mexico border relations. He maintains that their novels register crucial new discourses of identity, politics, and cultural citizenship that cannot be understood apart from the historical instability following the demise of the nationalist politics of the Chicana/o movement of the 1960s and 1970s. In contrast to that time, when Chicanas/os sought a unified Chicano identity in order to effect social change, the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s have seen a disengagement from these nationalist politics and a new trend toward a heterogeneous sense of self. The detective novel and its traditional focus on questions of knowledge and identity turned out to be the perfect medium in which to examine this new self.

Chicano Detective Fiction

Chicano Detective Fiction
Author: Susan Baker Sotelo
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2015-03-10
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0786482370

In his 1985 novel Partners in Crime, writer Rolando Hinojosa introduced homicide investigator Rafe Buenrostro, the first Chicano protagonist in one of the most enduring genres of modern literature. Since that time, Chicano writers have embraced the detective novel, successfully diversifying and refining a traditional Anglo American and British genre. The 21 whodunits of Hinojosa, Rudolfo Anaya, Lucha Corpi, Michael Nava and Manuel Ramos are closely studied in this groundbreaking work. The models, both contemporary and Romantic, of this relatively new Chicano genre are first discussed. Next come detailed analysis and reviews of such novels as Shaman Winter, Partners in Crime, Cactus Blood and 18 others, focusing on how each writer departs from contemporary detective genre formula, uniquely rendering a particular regional or cultural variation of what it means to be Chicano. It is this departure from the norm that defines these writings and distinguishes them from the Anglo American and British whodunit. Interviews with the writers conclude the work.

Crime Fiction and Film in the Southwest

Crime Fiction and Film in the Southwest
Author: Steve Glassman
Publisher: Popular Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2001
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9780879728465

When Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Tony Hillerman's oddly matched tribal police officers, patrol the mesas and canyons of their Navajo reservation, they join a rich traditon of Southwestern detectives. In Crime Fiction and Film in the Southwest, a group of literary critics tracks the mystery and crime novel from the Painted Desert to Death Valley and Salt Lake City. In addition, the book includes the first comprehensive bibliography of mysteries set in the Southwest and a chapter on Southwest film noir from Humphrey Bogart's tough hood in The Petrified Forest to Russell Crowe's hard-nosed cop in L.A. Confidential.