The Hispanic American Dream
Introduction
The term "Hispanic American" is a deceptively simplistic one. Hispanic Americans—Americans from a Spanish-speaking background—may be from many different ethnic and cultural groups that hail from dozens of countries. Some were already living on land that now makes up California, Arizona, and New Mexico long before the United States laid claim to it; some came to the United States as political refugees; some came seeking economic opportunities. As such, their American dreams reflect familiar themes across American literature, but with unique perspectives. In the late twentieth century, literature reflecting the rich history of the Hispanic American dream began to flourish, giving modern readers a chance to understand just how varied the experiences that comprise it can be.
America Dreams of Mexico
Jeff Shaara's historical novel Gone for Soldiers (2000) creates a portrait of soldiers and commanders who fought in the Mexican-American War, but it focuses mainly on white Americans such as General Winfield Scott and Lieutenant Robert E. Lee. Shaara accurately asserts that this war is greatly overshadowed in the American consciousness by the Civil War, which followed less than fifteen years later, but the Mexican-American War played a crucial role in expanding American cultural heritage while at the same time creating a rift between white Americans and Hispanics both in and out of the United States.
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