Laura Gomez

Inventing Latinos Laura Gomez

Latinos have long influenced everything from electoral politics to popular culture' yet many people instinctively regard them as recent immigrants rather than a longstanding racial group. In Inventing Latinos' Laura Gómez illuminates the fascinating race-making' unmaking' and re-making of Latino identity that has spanned centuries' leaving a permanent imprint on how race operates in the United States today. Pulling back the lens as the country approaches an unprecedented demographic shift (Latinos will comprise a third of the American population in a matter of decades)' Gómez also reveals the nefarious roles the United States has played in Latin America--from military interventions and economic exploitation to political interference--that' taken together' have destabilized national economies to send migrants northward over the course of more than a century. It's no coincidence that the vast majority of Latinos migrate from the places most impacted by this nation's dirty deeds' leading Gómez to a bold call for reparations. In this audacious effort to reframe the often-confused and misrepresented discourse over the Latinx generation' Gómez provides essential context for today's most pressing political and public debates, giving all of us a brilliant framework to engage cultural controversies' elections' current events' and more.