The people of the Americas hardly noticed the arrival of one lost and ignorant sailor to a small island in the eastern Caribbean Sea. But things were different from that time on, all over the Americas. 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures, edited by Elizabeth Mart nez, tells one, very important part of the history since then. It tells a story of Chicano history a story of resistance starting with Indigenous resistance to the Spanish, and the creation of La Raza, continuing up to the early 1990s. The story takes its structure and direction from the content of the images.
Words are secondary to the pictures.
What's unique about this telling of the history of Chicano resistance is its accessibility. Even for someone who reads neither Spanish or English, the individuals and actions shown would be enough to see the power of a whole people. The book uses images to tell a history with a distinctly non-academic slant. The pictures themselves are beautiful, both in their content and the quality of reproduction. It is also a rare and valuable collection of such a volume of photographic material.