El Norte

For a long time, the United States has prized its Anglo-Saxon heritage above all others. However, as Carrie Gibson explains in El Norte with great depth and clarity, the nation has much older Hispanic roots, which have long remained ignored and marginalized. Its Hispanic past predates the arrival of the Mayflower by more than a century, and is just as important in shaping the nation as it exists today. El Norte is a chronicle of the long and dramatic history of Hispanic North America, from the initial landing of Ponce de León in Florida in 1513, through the takeover of the vast territory of Louisiana by Spain in 1762 or the war Mexican-American of 1846, up to the recent tragedy in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, or the persistent border tension with Mexico. Woven into this moving narrative are cultural dilemmas that have been present from the beginning and remain unresolved: language, belonging, race, and nationality. Watching these issues evolve over the centuries provides vital perspective at a time when it is sorely needed.