Creating a Nation Series: In the wake of America’s 250th anniversary, this series turns to what has followed the Revolution – how a still-young country continues to define, redefine, and extend its ideals.
Latinos are the largest and fastest-growing minority in the United States — and yet their history, diversity, and contributions remain remarkably little known. Marie Arana, Peruvian American author and inaugural Literary Director of the library of Congress, has spent years correcting that. Most recently her book LatinoLand has drawn from hundreds of interviews and years of research that together paint a sweeping, revelatory portrait of a community too often treated as monolithic. A former chair of both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award juries, Arana draws on history and personal experience to illuminate the resilience and centrality of Latino culture to the American story.