Latino USA represents the culmination of Ilan Stavans' lifelong determination to meet the challenges of capturing the joys, nuances, and multiple dimensions of Latino culture within the context of the English language. In this cartoon history of Latinos, Stavans also seeks to combine the solemnity of so-called serious literature" and history with the inherently theatrical and humorous nature of the comics. Stavans represents Hispanic civilization as a fiesta of types, archetypes, and stereotypes. These multiple, at times contradictory voices, each narrating various episodes of Latino history from a unique perspective, combine to create a carnivalesque rhythm, which is democratic and impartial. Latino USA , like the history it so entertainingly relates, is a dazzling kaleidoscope of irreverence, wit, subversion, anarchy, politics, humanism, celebration, and serious and responsible history.
