Writer records an oft-overlooked history

It has been predicted that by the year 2050, Latinos will make up a quarter of the population in the United States. And by the next century, the thinking goes, they will make up half the population. Author Juan Gonzalez, an award-winning columnist for the New York Daily News, tried to explain this phenomenon in his new book, Harvest of an Empire: A History of Latinos in America. On Thursday night, La Casa Latina and the Greenfield Intercultural Center hosted a talk by Gonzalez at the House of Our Own Bookstore for promotion of his latest work, currently on the bestseller list in Puerto Rico. At his talk, Gonzalez discussed his inspiration for writing the book and described his process in writing it. "This book is meant to open it up for people to do much better research in this area," Gonzalez said. He added that he believes that not enough research is being done on the history of Latinos in the United States. In his book, Gonzalez recounts the history of the relationship between Latin Americans and Anglo Americans. The book then delves into the history of each Latino ethnic group and its respective relationship to the United States. By examining that history, Gonzalez explained, he tries to find out why the Latinos of each Latin-American country migrated to the United States. To conclude his book, Gonzalez explains the effect that the massive Latino presence has had on the modern United States in politics, as well as in other areas. "To explain how the migration happened, you must go to the source," he told the small audience of about 20 area college students and community members. With his book, Gonzalez looks to dispel what are called "myths" about Latin-American history and Latinos in the United States. Gonzalez wrote this book to primarily target Anglo Americans and African Americans who have little knowledge about Latino history, and Latino college students so that they might learn a more cohesive history about Latinos in the United States. Several of the audience members said they thought that Gonzalez was pursuing a noble task in putting an often overlooked history to paper. "It is good that Gonzalez gave sufficient facts in his book to dispel the myths about Latinos in America," said Meliza Reynoso, a Temple University senior. "His facts are very clear and precise." During the discussion, Gonzalez expressed his political views concerning Latinos both in the United States and abroad. He claimed that the reason why many Latinos migrate to the United States is to reclaim what the United States took from them. Otherwise, he said, there would not be as many Latinos presently living in the United States. "The massive Latino presence in the United States is an advent from the harvest that the United States created over the Latin Americans," Gonzalez said.