News and views from the award-winning author of the novels The Skinny Years, America Libre, House Divided and Pancho Land

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Moving closer to the nightmare of AMERICA LIBRE?

More than once, readers of AMERICA LIBRE have told me they see world events moving closer to the nightmare scenario depicted in the novel. A disintegrating economy is one of the elements in the downward spiral that leads to a Latino insurgency. With consumer confidence in the economy again plummeting, the excerpt below from the first chapter seems chillingly prophetic.

As the United States entered the second decade of the twenty-first century, a severe recession was underway. With unemployment benefits running out, millions of Americans sought any kind of job, saturating low-rung job markets. From farms to fast food chains, Hispanics were pitted against mainstream workers in a game of economic musical chairs.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez