Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States
Most high-school and college survey texts for U.S. history continue an Anglocentric approach, although recent efforts have been made to acknowledge the contribution of non-English and non-European groups to our cultural heritage. A giant swath of current U.S. territory, from California to Florida, was once part of the Spanish Empire, and subsequently much of it was part of the Mexican Republic. Fernandez-Armesto, a professor of history at Notre Dame, provides a useful and absorbing counterperspective. He utilizes a chronological approach beginning with the first Spanish explorers and conquistadors in the sixteenth century and finally analyzes the effects of the current “second Hispanic colonization” as our Latino  population surges. He touches on various aspects of Latin American achievements and contributions to our country. His assertions that the U.S. should be and soon will be viewed as part of the broader Spanish-speaking American continents is unlikely to win broad acceptance but will certainly provoke interesting debate. --Jay Freeman