Juan Bruce-Novoa, the fourth son of Dolores Novoa and James H. Bruce, was born 20 June 1944 in San Jose, Costa Rica, where his father worked with the Ottis McAllister coffee importers. When the family returned to the United States in 1945, James H. Bruce joined the United States Army. During his absence, the family resided in San Antonio, Texas. In 1948 the reunited family moved to Denver, Colorado, where Bruce-Novoa was raised and where he attended Holy Family High School. He often spent summers with an uncle in Mexico City. In 1966 he graduated with a B.A. from Regis College. He received an M.A. in 1968 and a Ph.D. in 1974 from the University of Colorado at Boulder. His formal education has been multidisciplinary. He majored in European history and psychology as an undergraduate, studied twentieth-century Spanish literature for his M.A., and specialized in contemporary Latin American literature for his...