This will drop like a rock but has anyone here read Carlos Bulosan's

[dawgman]

"America Is In the Heart"?

Quick description:

First published in 1946, this autobiography of the well-known Filipino poet describes his boyhood in the Philippines, his voyage to America, and his years of hardship and despair as an itinerant laborer following the harvest trail in the rural West. Bulosan does not spare the reader any of the horrors that accompanied the migrant's life; but his quiet, stoic voice is the most convincing witness to those terrible events.

http://www.amazon.com/America-Heart-Personal-Washington-Paperbacks/dp/029595289X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212619442&sr=8-1

This is an incredibly moving story and I highly recommend reading it.

Amazon Review

By D. Pawl "mariposarosa2" (Seattle) - See all my reviews


I first read AMERICA IS IN THE HEART as a young teenager in high school. Writer Carlos Bulosan goes the semi-autobiographical route to re-examine some of the most painful memories of his life, starting as a youth in the Philippines up to his last days on the West Coast of the United States. Carlos Bulosan, born on November 24, 1913 in Pangasinan, Philippines, came from a very poor background. His family had no choice but to work, collectively, while he and his siblings toiled in the fields of Pangasinan, and abroad in the United States, just so they could subsist on their earnings and scrap by.

The main character, Allos, must relocate to the United States, to find work in various odd jobs (including the canneries of California and Washington state). He is faced with racism from all sides--Caucasians, exploitative Chinese and Japanese bosses, and just about everyone else. The darker your skin, the harder the discrimination fell on workers of the 1930s and 1940s. This came with strict laws again miscygenation. If you were Filipino, just speaking to a White woman could get you in a lot of hot water. Yet, in the face of all of this pain, Allos becomes involved as a labor organizer and demonstrator for the rights of exploited laborers. What's more, he meets and is reunited with friends and family, over the course of the story, and even finds friendship with a Caucasian woman, Mary.

AMERICA IS IN THE HEART beautifully recounts the pain that faced countless laborers who arrived in the United States to bring in income for their families, in their countries. Many of the passages read like poetry, yet remain very accessable to people for whom the concept of the plight of migrant workers is a fairly foreign concept. Great reading.

[dawgman]

1. Powerful quote from the book

"The old world is dying, but a new world is being born. It generates inspiration from the chaos that beats upon us all. The false grandeur and security, the unfulfilled promises and illusory power, the number of the dead and those about to die, will charge the forces of our courage and determination. The old world will die so that the new world will be born with less sacrifice and agony on the living ... "

"We in America understand the many imperfections of democracy and the malignant disease corroding its very heart. We must be united in the effort to make an America in which our people can find happiness. It is a great wrong that anyone in America, whether he be brown or white, should be illiterate or hungry or miserable."

[Loki]

2. No I haven't.......

but it sounds like a good one to add to my summer reading list. May I recommend one that I just finished that corresponds to the time frame that Bulosan was writing about, a book by Timothy Egan "The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those that Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. This ecological disaster that turned into a human disaster of epic proportions, was hard to put down. My family was and is from Kansas City, Missouri and my mother was a teenager during the 30's. After finishing the book, we talked at length about the devastation and the hardships that she and almost everyone endured. I felt guilty that I really had no idea the depth this disaster reached in this country.

Thanks for the recommendation. :hi:

[dawgman]

3. Thank you

I will check it out.

[bunkerbuster1]

7. I'll second The Worst Hard Time rec

and kick this thread a bit.

I had similar discussions with my father, who had grown up and still remembers those times.

[dawgman]

8. I plan on reading that next.

[Canuckistanian]

4. K&R

From what I've seen, this is interesting.

Bookmarked for later.

[dawgman]

5. thanks

[dawgman]

6. Final kick