Our Migrant Souls

Starred review from March 6, 2023
Pulitzer winner Tobar (The Last Great Road Bum) explores in this probing, heartfelt essay collection the promises and contradictions inherent within Latino identity. Aiming to help young Latinos “untangl the roots of the racist ideas about us,” Tobar interweaves autobiographical reflections on growing up in L.A. and visiting his family in Guatemala with profiles of undocumented immigrants; cultural analyses of how Latinos are portrayed in American films, television, and literature; and historical vignettes on the Spanish conquest of Mesoamerica, the annexing of New Mexico and California, the rise of the Chicano Movement, the “militarization” of the U.S. border with Mexico, and more. Throughout, he highlights the diversity of Latinos (“Latino people are brown, Black, white, and Indigenous, and they are European, Asian, and African. Some of us speak excellent Spanish, but many more of us do not”) and fiercely critiques the “static, one-dimensional images” of suffering immigrants that saturate U.S. journalism. Lyrical and uncompromising, this is a powerful call for all Americans to “dedicat our energy and our intellects to creating new ways of being in the world.” Agent: Jay Mandel, WME.