A most imperfect union : a contrarian history of the United States

289 Pages·2014·58.342 MB·English

by  Alcaraz, Lalo, Stavans, Ilan

A L L I S O N
$26.99 US / $30.00 CAN
HISTORY PDF KM 3/26 PE
A MOST IMPERFECT UNION
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR & 3/26
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4/8
nough with the dead white men! Forget
“This imaginative portrayal of ‘a most imperfect union’ is contrarian, as presented, and also thought- AC
provoking, as intended.” —NOAM CHOMSKY, Institute Professor (Emeritus), what you learned in school! Ever since
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MMaassssaacchhuusseettttss IInnssttiittuuttee ooff TTeecchhnnoollooggyy Columbus—who was probably a converted
Jew—“discovered” the New World, the powerful and NC
“A Most Imperfect Union is the perfect antidote to the canned Hollywood version of American history.
is Lewis-Sebring Professor
privileged have usurped American history. The true CG
Morally sound on the important stuff but irreverently face-smacking too, the book holds up a mirror to
of Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst
America—warts and all, great but fl awed. In words and pictures, Ilan Stavans and Lalo Alcaraz have story of the United States lies not with the founding LH
College. A Mexican-born essayist and cultural critic
given us something to laugh with, to blanch at, and to learn from.” —JON LEE ANDERSON, fathers or robber barons, but with the country’s most
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and the author of over twenty books, he is the recipient aauutthhoorr ooff Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life
overlooked and marginalized peoples: the workers,
of a Guggenheim Fellowship and of many international AL
immigrants, housewives, and slaves who built America
“In A Most Imperfect Union: A Contrarian History of the United States, Ilan Stavans and Lalo Alcaraz
prizes and honors, including the Latino Literature
strip away the pen-and-inks of popular history in an extended comic strip that presents the highs and from the ground up and made this country what it AM
Prize, Chile’s Presidential Medal, and the Rubén Darío
lows, ins and outs, established and too easily missed truths of our American story. With wit, irony is today.
Distinction. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. and a snappy parade of different perspectives, the book allows us to poke fun at ourselves even as we
In A Most Imperfect Union, cultural critic Ilan 7.5” x 9.5”
grapple with the deeper implications of our culture of ‘creative destruction.’” S: 5/8”
Stavans and award-winning cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz
—HHEENNRRYY LLOOUUIISS GGAATTEESS,, JJRR..,, AAllpphhoonnssee FFlleettcchheerr UUnniivveerrssiittyy PPrrooffeessssoorr,, HHaarrvvaarrdd UUnniivveerrssiittyy B: 7/16”
present a vibrant alternative history of America, giving
““AA ttrruullyy aammbbiittiioouuss,, wwiittttyy,, aanndd oofftteenn ddaazzzzlliinngg ppoorrttrraaiitt ooff hhooww aa ggrreeaatt nnaattiioonn wwaass ffoorrggeedd.. TThhee MMaayyflfl oowweerr full voice to the country’s unsung but exceptional 4/C
was nice, but the sweat and ingenuity of the entire globe went into creating our nation. Stavans and
people. From African royals to accused witches, from
Alcaraz’s book gives these lesser-known protagonists the honor they are due.” —GARY SHTEYNGART,
Puerto Rican radicals to Arab immigrants, Stavans and
author of Little Failure: A Memoir
Alcaraz use sardonic humor and irreverent illustrations
“Well then, by God, we have a history here that’s not the usual one—that is, the mainstream, blue- to introduce some of the most fascinating characters
FINISH:
eyed history we’re usually force-fed. A Most Imperfect Union provides a sobering look at (if not a
in American history—and to recount travesties and gritty over
is an editorial cartoonist sometimes absolutely gut-busting, humorous portrayal of) how we came to be who we are in this pgs mylar
triumphs that mainstream accounts all too often ignore.
country: gracious and generous, yet selfi sh and mean-spirited; awesomely truthful and helpful and
and illustrator and faculty member at Otis College
What emerges is a colorful group portrait of these
neighborly, yet sometimes meagerly erecting borders and fences where none should exist. Alas,
of Art & Design in Los Angeles and draws the fi rst
something to really enjoy.” —JIMMY SANTIAGO BACA,, ppooeett aanndd aauutthhoorr ooff Singing at the Gates United States, one that champions America’s progress
nationally syndicated, political Latino daily comic strip,
while also acknowledging its missteps.
La Cucaracha. He is the recipient of numerous awards ““AA tteerrrriififi cc bbooookk bbyy tthhee ppeerrffeecctt uunniioonn ooff SSttaavvaannss aanndd AAllccaarraazz.. II ccoouullddnn’’tt ppuutt iitt ddoowwnn,, bbuutt lluucckkiillyy hhiissttoorryy
Sweeping and cinematic, stretching from the
only goes so far.” —JAIME HERNANDEZ, cartoonist, Love and Rockets
and distinctions, including fi ve Southern California
nation’s prehistory to the post-9/11 era, A Most Imperfect
Journalism Awards from the Los Angeles Press Club.
Union is a joyous, outrageous celebration of the complex,
$26.99 US / $30.00 CAN
A writer at FOX Television’s new animated show,
ISBN 978-0-465-03669-1 sometimes unruly individuals and forces that have
52699
“Bordertown,” he lives in Los Angeles, California.
shaped our ever-changing land.
A member of the Perseus Books Group
www.basicbooks.com
Jacket illustrations by Lalo Alcaraz
9 780465 036691
MORE PRAISE FOR
A MOST IMPERFECT UNION
”True patriotism consists in wanting to make your country better, not in pretending
that it is already perfect. In A Most Imperfect Union, Ilan Stavans and Lalo Alcaraz
provide a warts-and-all take on US history—witty and pithy, creative and critical,
subversive and constructive. By scanning the country’s virtues and vices in a single
sweep, they will make readers’ love for America better informed; the book may also
help to inspire young Americans to sustain the project of making the United States
a model country in an increasingly plural hemisphere, an increasingly complex world,
and an increasingly cynical age.”
—Felipe Fernández-Armesto, author of Our America:
A Hispanic History of the United States
“Ilan Stavans and Lalo Alcaraz make a dynamic duo: spirited, energetic, sardonic, and
irreverent. History is, after all, a story, and they are bravura storytellers, in words
and pictures. They take issue, not only with the official story, but also with each
other, demonstrating that the most essential element in the teaching of history—
and the practice of democracy—is critical thought.”
—Martín Espada, author of The Trouble Ball
“Media mestizaje at its finest. Alcaraz and Stavans present a tribute to America full
of the binaries that make our country great: angry and loving, lyrical and scabrous,
academic and street-smart. If you don’t buy this book, you don’t know modern-day
America.”
—Gustavo Arellano, ¡Ask a Mexican! syndicated columnist
“It’s often said—half jokingly—that every country has an unpredictable past. Our
histories are unique and the stories we tell about them are often contradictory.
Lalo Alcaraz’s dynamic, funny images and Ilan Stavans’s clever commentaries offer
a fresh, adventurous way of viewing the ‘uncertain’ past of this amazing American
nation.”
—Paquito D’Rivera, multiple Grammy Award–winning musician
and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master
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“This dynamic duo has done it again. Wordsmith extraordinaire Stavans and virtuoso
visual artist Alcaraz reveal the blind spots in our country’s magisterial epic and open
our eyes to the nation’s real grand story, describing it less as a uniform and pro-
gressive history than as a ‘symphony of creative destruction.’ This merciless, witty,
and deeply learned book will arm us and our children with the know-how to create a
better tomorrow.”
—Frederick Luis Aldama, Arts & Humanities Distinguished Professor
of English, Ohio State University, and author of
The Routledge Concise History of Latino/a Literature
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Also by Ilan Stavans
Fiction
The Disappearance • The One-Handed Pianist and Other Stories
Nonfiction
The Riddle of Cantinflas • Dictionary Days • On Borrowed Words • Spanglish •
The Hispanic Condition • Art and Anger • Resurrecting Hebrew • A Critic’s Journey • The Inveterate Dreamer
• Octavio Paz: A Meditation • Imagining Columbus • Bandido • ¡Lotería! (with Teresa Villegas) •
José Vasconcelos: The Prophet of Race • Return to Centro Histórico • Singer’s Typewriter and Mine
• The United States of Mestizo
Conversations
Knowledge and Censorship (with Verónica Albin) • What Is La Hispanidad? (with Iván Jaksi) •
Ilan Stavans: Eight Conversations (with Neal Sokol) • With All Thine Heart (with Mordecai Drache)
• Conversations with Ilan Stavans • Love and Language (with Verónica Albin) •
¡Muy Pop! (with Frederick Luis Aldama)
• Thirteen Ways of Looking at Latino Art (with Jorge J. E. Gracia)
Anthologies
The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature • Tropical Synagogues • The Oxford Book of Latin American Essays •
The Schocken Book of Modern Sephardic Literature • Lengua Fresca (with Harold Augenbraum) • Wáchale!
• The Scroll and the Cross • The Oxford Book of Jewish Stories • Mutual Impressions •
Growing Up Latino (with Harold Augenbraum) •
The FSG Book of Twentieth-Century Latin American Poetry
Children’s Books
Golemito (with Teresa Villegas)
Graphic Novels
Mr. Spic Goes to Washington (with Roberto Weil) • Once@9:53 (with Marcelo Brodsky) •
El Iluminado (with Steve Sheinkin)
• Latino USA: A Cartoon History (with Lalo Alcaraz)
Translation
Sentimental Songs, by Felipe Alfau •
The Plain in Flames, by Juan Rulfo (with Harold Augenbraum) • The Underdogs (with Anna More)
Editions
Spain, Take This Chalice from Me and Other Poems, by César Vallejo • The Poetry of Pablo Neruda
• Encyclopedia Latina (Four Volumes) • I Explain a Few Things, by Pablo Neruda •
Calvert Casey: The Collected Stories • Collected Stories, by Isaac Bashevis Singer (Three Volumes)
• An Organizer’s Tale: Speeches, by Cesar Chavez • Selected Writings, by Rubén Darío •
Latin Music (Two Volumes) • All the Odes, by Pablo Neruda
General
The Essential Ilan Stavans
Also by Lalo Alcaraz
Migra Mouse: Political Cartoons on Immigration •
La Cucaracha: The First Collection from the Daily Comic Strip
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New York
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
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Copyright © 2014 by Ilan Stavans
Published by Basic Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books,
250 West 57th Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10107.
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please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group,
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or e-mail [email protected].
LCCN: 2014931305
ISBN: 978-0-465-03669-1 (hardcover) — 978-0-465-08064-9 (e-book)
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