Inventing Latinos - by Laura E Gómez

About the Book

"In an unprecedented demographic shift, Latinos will comprise a third of the American population in just a matter of decades. While their influence shapes everything from electoral politics to popular culture, many Americans still struggle with two basic questions: Who are Latinos, and where do they fit in America's racial order? Laura E. Gâomez, a leading expert on race in America, argues that it is only recently that Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans, and others are seeing themselves (and are being seen by others) under the banner of a cohesive racial identity. And the catalyst for this emergent identity, she argues, has been the ferocity of anti-Latino racism. In a bold effort to reframe our often-confused discussions over the Latinx generation, Gâomez argues that everything from Trump's toxic rhetoric and anti-immigrant laws like Arizona's SB1070 to DACA and sanctuary cities have indelibly changed the way race functions in this country. Part history, part guide for the future, Inventing Latinos argues that all Americans must grapple with Latinos' dynamic identity--an identity that is impacting everything we think we know about race in America"--

Book Synopsis

Named one of the Best Books of the Year by NPR

An NPR Best Book of the Year, exploring the impact of Latinos' new collective racial identity on the way Americans understand race, with a new afterword by the author

Who are Latinos and where do they fit in America's racial order? In this "timely and important examination of Latinx identity" (Ms.), Laura E. Gómez, a leading critical race scholar, argues that it is only recently that Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans, and others are seeing themselves (and being seen by others) under the banner of a cohesive racial identity. And the catalyst for this emergent identity, she argues, has been the ferocity of anti-Latino racism.

In what Booklist calls "an incisive study of history, complex interrogation of racial construction, and sophisticated legal argument," Gómez "packs a knockout punch" (Publishers Weekly), illuminating for readers the fascinating race-making, unmaking, and re-making processes that Latinos have undergone over time, indelibly changing the way race functions in this country.

Building on the "insightful and well-researched" (Kirkus Reviews) material of the original, the paperback features a new afterword in which the author analyzes results of the 2020 Census, providing brilliant, timely insight about how Latinos have come to self-identify.

Review Quotes

Praise for Inventing Latinos:
"This incisive survey of Latino history packs a knockout punch."
--Publishers Weekly

"In this thoughtfully argued study . . . Gómez provides much-needed insight into the true complexity of Latinx identity while revealing the ways in which the dominant culture continues to mask the many racist currents within American society. An insightful and well-researched book."
--Kirkus Reviews

"A[n] incisive study of history, complex interrogation of racial construction, and sophisticated legal argument, this title proves especially timely, what with the controversial 2020 census on its way, and expands brilliantly on the work Gómez began in Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race."
--Booklist

"A rigorous and provocative study of the liminal zone Latino/as inhabit in America's racial continuum. Required reading."
--Library Journal (starred review)

"[A] timely and important examination of Latinx identity."
--Ms.

"[Inventing Latinos] offers a significant and fresh examination of a topical subject--racism in our country."
--Albuquerque Journal

"In her pioneering book, Laura Gómez puts racism, colonialism, white dominance, and community resistance exactly where they should be: at the heart of the conversations about Latinos today, and the nature of race in the United States tomorrow."
--Ian F. Haney López

"Gómez reveals that history is not past. Instead, she shows us that as racism evolves, the U.S. commitment to racism remains steady, creating, but never quite controlling, Latinos as a distinct racial group. But if racism's allure continues to tug powerfully at some segments of the United States, Inventing Latinos reveals that creative resistance is never far away."
--César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, author of Migrating to Prison

"The critically important story of Latinx racial formation told here requires the impressive skills and knowledge of a scholar like Gómez. Inventing Latinos is informed by a hemispheric sweep centered on U.S. empire, an ability to trace history over centuries, and an appreciation of class relations and power."
--David Roediger, author of How Race Survived U.S. History

"Written with exceptional clarity and drawing on deep research, Inventing Latinos presents not only a brilliant account of the changing position of Latinxs, but also a nuanced understanding of racism in the U.S. today."
--Howard Winant, co-author of Racial Formation in the United States

"Inventing Latinos offers a unique road map for understanding how Latino identity came to be, and where it might be going. Gómez's discussion of how Latin America's mestizaje, or mixed-race ideology, is both perpetuated and sometimes re-purposed in the U.S. is one of the book's many strengths."
--Ed Morales, author of Latinx and Fantasy Island

About the Author

Laura E. Gómez is the Rachel F. Moran Endowed Chair in Law at UCLA and also a professor in the departments of sociology and Chicana/Chicano & Central American studies. She is a member of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Latino scholarly advisory committee and the author of Manifest Destinies, Mapping "Race," and Misconceiving Mothers, as well as Inventing Latinos (The New Press). She lives in Los Angeles.