The Hammon and the Beans and Other Stories

by Paredes, Americo

• ISBN13: 9781558850712
• ISBN10: 1558850716
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1994-04-01
• Publisher: Arte Publico Pr
• More Book Details
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Summary

The culture conflict that dominated the border region during the time of Texas' transition from Mexican political status and culture to that of the United States is the dominant inspiration for these stories. As the title story indicates, there is an ongoing battle within these pages between the Mexican past and the American future in this tale of the everyday folk struggling to survive economically, culturally and spiritually in the face of rapid change. Some of the stories record another type of cultural confrontation, that of Mexican American soldiers at war in Korea and living in Japan. In these stories, all assumptions about race, culture and politics come into sharp focus as Mexican Americans, a U.S. national minority, now have to find their emotional and cultural space in a world that has become a battlefield very much like the one that transformed northern Mexico into the Southwest United States.

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Hammon and the Beans	p. 3
Over the Waves Is Out	p. 10
Macaria's Daughter	p. 23
A Cold Night	p. 33
The Gringo	p. 43
A Small Brown Bird	p. 57
Revenge	p. 69
Brothers	p. 83
Rebeca	p. 90
Little Joe	p. 109
The Gift	p. 118
When It Snowed in Kitabamba	p. 126
Ichiro Kikuchi	p. 151
Sugamo	p. 160
The Terribly High Cost	p. 169
Getting an Oboe for Joe	p. 185
The American Dish	p. 205
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