Herencia (meaning "inheritance" or "heritage") is the first anthology to bring together literature from the entire history of Hispanic writing in the United States, from the age of exploration to the present. The product of a ten-year project involving hundreds of scholars nationwide, Herencia is the most comprehensive literary collection available, spanning over three centuries and including writers from all the major Hispanic ethnic communities, and writing from diverse genres. Here is the voice of the conqueror and the conquered, the revolutionary and the reactionary, the native and the uprooted or landless. Of course, readers will find pieces by such leading writers as Piri Thomas, Luis Valdez, Isabel Allende, Oscar Hijuelos, and Reinaldo Arenas. But what really distinguishes this anthology is its historical depth and its rich, complex portrait of Hispanic literature in the United States. Beginning with Cabeza de Vaca's account of his explorations in the New World, the anthology includes a passage from La Florida , a narrative historical poem of 22,000 verses, written by Franciscan friar Alonso de Escobedo; an attack on Mexican stereotypes in the nascent movie industry, written by Nicasio Idar, editor of Laredo's La Cronica; and an essay about Coney Island written by revolutionary Jose Marti. Embracing Chicano, Nuyorican, Cuban American, and Latino writings, the voices of immigrants and the voices of exiles, Herencia makes a vital contribution to our understanding not only of Hispanic writing in the United States, but also of the great contribution Hispanics have made to the United States.

Nicolas Kanellos is the Brown Foundation Professor of Hispanic Literature at the University of Houston and the Director of Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage, a major national research program. He is also founding publisher of the noted Hispanic literary journal The Americas Review and founder of the nation's oldest and most esteemed Hispanic publishing house, Arte Publico Press.

An Overview of Hispanic Literature of the United States	p. 1
The Literature of Exploration and Colonization	p. 33
The Account (excerpt)	p. 35
Discovery of the Seven Cities of Cibola (excerpt)	p. 39
La Florida (excerpt)	p. 46
History of New Mexico (excerpt)	p. 47
The Account (excerpt)	p. 56
Lord, if the shepherd does not hear the sheep's complaint ...	p. 58
Native Literature	p. 65
Toward a Mestizo Culture	p. 67
By This Divine Light ...	p. 67
The Comanches	p. 69
Little Indian Ballad of Placida Romero	p. 86
The Contest of Coffee and Corn Gruel	p. 89
Memories of Things Past	p. 92
Testimony Recounted by Jose Francisco Palomares	p. 92
A Glimpse of Domestic Life in 1827	p. 94
Occurrences in Hispanic California	p. 95
Letter to William Heath Davis	p. 100
"The Old Guide": Surveyor, Scout, Hunter, Indian Fighter, Ranchman, Preacher: His Life in His Own Words	p. 102
Roots of Resistance	p. 106
Personal Memoirs of John N. Seguin, from the Year 1834 to the Retreat of General Woll from the City of San Antonio 1842	p. 106
Editorials	p. 109
The Californios	p. 111
Proclamation	p. 112
Joaquin Murieta; The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez	p. 115
The Real Billy the Kid (excerpt)	p. 120
The Squatter and the Don	p. 123
Defending Cultural and Civil Rights	p. 130
A Protest Rally, 1901	p. 130
Plea for the Spanish Language	p. 135
The Spanish Language: A Plea to the Hispanic Legislators	p. 139
For Our Race: Preservation of Nationalism; We Should Work	p. 142
Greetings and Aims (editorial)	p. 144
Open Letter to a Libelist	p. 145
Ignorance: The Cause of Racial Discrimination; The Evolution of Mexican-Americans	p. 152
The Mexican Question in the Southwest	p. 156
Step-Children of a Nation	p. 162
The Mexico-Texan; The Hammon and the Beans	p. 170
Preserving Cultural Traditions	p. 176
The Courteous and Kindly Child and the "Good People" on the Underground Passageway	p. 176
The Phantoms at San Luis Rey	p. 178
Samuel's Christmas Eve	p. 183
The First Cactus Blossom	p. 184
Midwife	p. 186
The Clown of San Cristobal	p. 188
The Fiddler and the Angelito	p. 191
Militant Aesthetics	p. 195
I Am Joaquin	p. 195
Pilgrims in Aztlan (excerpt)	p. 199
Must be the season of the witch; mis ojos hinchados	p. 205
Dear Rafe	p. 207
Puerto Rican Obituary	p. 212
Saliendo; Light after Blackout	p. 220
Los Vendidos	p. 222
Contemporary Reflections on Identity	p. 231
The Truth about Them (excerpt)	p. 231
Down These Mean Streets (excerpt)	p. 234
A Lower East Side Poem	p. 238
Uncle Claudio	p. 241
My graduation speech; the africa in pedro morejon	p. 244
La Guera	p. 247
How to Tame a Wild Tongue	p. 254
Above All, a Family Man	p. 262
My Name Is Maria Christina; Anonymous Apartheid	p. 266
Ending Poem	p. 269
Our House in the Last World (excerpt)	p. 271
Day of the Moon (excerpt)	p. 280
Anything but Love (excerpt)	p. 285
Rites of Passage	p. 291
Going Up North	p. 291
My Wonder Horse	p. 296
First Communion	p. 301
The Moths	p. 304
Amanda	p. 308
Volar; Maria Elena; Exile	p. 314
New Directions in Poetry	p. 319
Day Laborer; Strange City	p. 319
The Latest Latin Dance Craze; today is a day of great joy; Loisaida; energy	p. 320
Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway	p. 326
Legal Alien; Curandera	p. 329
Mi abuelo; Wet Camp; Nani	p. 331
The Literature of Immigration	p. 335
Encounters with the Modern City	p. 337
Two Views of Coney Island (excerpt)	p. 337
New York from Within: One Aspect of Its Bohemian Life	p. 341
Fourth Missive	p. 344
Lucas Guevara (excerpt)	p. 348
A Song for Wall Street; The Secret	p. 352
The Hispanic Barrio	p. 353
Tropics in Manhattan (excerpt)	p. 356
Negotiating New Realities	p. 360
My Valise	p. 360
The Factory (excerpt)	p. 361
The Texas Sun (excerpt)	p. 364
The Adventures of Don Chipote or, When Parrots Breast Feed (excerpt)	p. 367
Easy Jobs	p. 372
Memoirs of Bernardo Vega (excerpt)	p. 374
The Dishwasher; The Deportee	p. 379
A Jibaro's Lament; A Jibaro in New York	p. 385
Prayer to Home Relief	p. 387
Take the Dead Man Away (excerpt)	p. 389
El Coyote/The Rebel (excerpt)	p. 391
The Oxcart (excerpt)	p. 394
Scribbles	p. 399
The Night We Became People Again	p. 403
El Super (excerpt)	p. 411
Diary of an Undocumented Immigrant (excerpt)	p. 414
No Face	p. 417
Odyssey to the North (excerpt)	p. 421
Early Perspectives on Class and Gender	p. 425
The Rebel Is a Girl	p. 425
The Emotions of Maria Concepcion	p. 429
How Poor Women Prostitute Themselves	p. 432
The Intelligent Woman	p. 434
The Stenographer	p. 436
I'm Going to Mexico	p. 438
The Flapper	p. 441
Women and Puerto Rican Identity	p. 442
Editorial Discontent	p. 444
Speech Read by the Author on the Evening That the "Society of Workers" Celebrated the Twenty-Fourth Anniversary of Its Founding	p. 444
The Castilian Language and Puerto Rico	p. 445
Editorial, August 7, 1927	p. 447
How to Unite the Puerto Rican Colony	p. 448
Those Who Return	p. 451
Open Lettter to Don Luis Munoz Marin, President of the Puerto Rican Senate; United States	p. 453
Cultural (Dis) Junctures	p. 458
The Key West Rose (excerpt)	p. 458
A Prayer in the Snow	p. 462
Barrio Boy (excerpt)	p. 465
Kipling and I	p. 470
Miracle on Eighth and Twelfth	p. 473
Chronicles; Self-Portrait	p. 475
The Herb Shop	p. 476
The Argonauts	p. 483
Reflections on the Dislocated Self	p. 488
I Was My Own Route; Farewell in Welfare Island	p. 488
Horizons; Five-Pointed Stars	p. 491
Mexico; Dark Romance; Marina Mother	p. 493
Spared Angola; Going Under (excerpt)	p. 496
The Greatest Performance	p. 499
A Matrix Light	p. 503
The Literature of Exile	p. 509
Struggle for Spanish-American Independence	p. 511
On Behalf of Mankind: To All the Inhabitants of the Islands and the Vast Continent of Spanish America	p. 511
Mexicans: Signaled by Providence ...	p. 517
Necessary Ideas for All Independent People of the Americas Who Want to Be Free	p. 521
Essay on Slavery; Jicotencal	p. 522
To the People of Cuba	p. 533
With All, for the Good of All	p. 536
Hymn of the Exile	p. 545
Hymn of the Exile	p. 545
Always; Song of the Cuban Women	p. 549
To Spain	p. 551
In Greenwood	p. 557
My Flag	p. 558
Ode to October 10	p. 560
A Statistic; Fragments	p. 563
Hatuey	p. 566
Simple Verses	p. 575
Against Tyranny	p. 578
Why Are You Still Here, Mexican Men? Fly to the Battlefield	p. 578
Revolutionary Hymn	p. 580
Letter	p. 583
The Underdogs	p. 584
The Aching Soul	p. 586
Blood	p. 588
Postcard	p. 591
Emmaus; Stuck to the Wall	p. 592
I Also Accuse! By Way of a Prologue	p. 595
Contemporary Exiles	p. 599
The Cow on the Rooftop: A Story of the Cuban Revolution	p. 599
It is dark ...; This senor don Gringo ...	p. 605
Before Night Falls (excerpt)	p. 607
I'm Your Horse in the Night	p. 611
I Grew Accustomed; Here Am I Now	p. 614
Exile (excerpt)	p. 616
Epilogue: Sin Fronteras, Beyond Boundaries	p. 623
Danger Zone: Cultural Relations between Chicanos and Mexicans at the End of the Century	p. 625
The Flying Bus	p. 631
List of Editors, Contributors, and Translators	p. 639
Source Notes	p. 643
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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