The Dark Side of the Dream - Couverture souple

Dominguez, Alejandro Grattan

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1481255819 ISBN 13 : 9781481255813

Editeur : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013

Synopsis

Two Mexican brothers, Jose Luis and Francisco Salazar, and their families migrate to the United States shortly after the U.S. entry into World War II. The story depicts their struggles as they come to grips with a new, often hostile environment. Later, the family prominently figures in two of the most tragic, yet stirring incidents in Mexican-American history. The first involves the all-Hispanic rifle company that as part of the Texas Volunteer Division lost its colors at the Battle of the Rapido River in Italy during the Second World War, when 156 badly-mangled Hispanic soldiers were ordered to cross the Rapido River against a known German force of more than 3000 men. Only 23 U.S. soldiers came back, and of those, ten would later die. Yet before the war was over, that unit would win more medals for bravery than almost any other rifle company in all of American history. The second incident came in the early 1950’s, when some 300 Mexican-Americans, African-Americans and Filipino migrants went on strike in the harvest fields of South Texas. Though the movement was washed away by the winds of history, within the seeds of that defeat were the victories that came a generation later in the San Joaquin Valley of central California. It is in California that a new generation of Salazars at last succeed in fulfilling the dream of enriching their lives in a soul-satisfying way.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez was born in El Paso, Texas, the old-est son of an Irish father and a Mexican mother. After flunking out of college twice, he finally made good at Texas A& M, before going on to SMU, (a transfer he likens as going from a concentration camp to a luxury resort) where he earned a BA in English Litera-ture. Relocating to Los Angeles, he worked as a claims adjuster, and amused by the fact that so many claimants experienced miracu-lous recoveries after receiving a settlement check, he wrote up a short synopsis—which somehow found its way to the famed di-rector, Alfred Hitchcock, who over a very brief telephone call, en-couraged Grattan to make a movie based on the story. After two long years, he had done exactly that—and thus his career in the movie business was born. That career reached its zenith in 1979, when the filmmaker wrote, directed and co-produced the first major movie about the Mexican-American experience. The film, Only Once in a Lifetime, was invited to premier at the Kennedy Center, and later selected as one of a few films to represent the United States at the Deau-ville Film Festival in France. Thereafter, Grattan’s luck soured, as in his words, he developed a “reverse case of the Midas Touch.” Finally, figuring that if he could not change his luck, he would at least change his location, he moved in 1987 to Mexico. In 1988, he founded the Ajijic Writers’ Group (which still exists today), and began writing novels. The next several years saw the publication of seven novels, (most of which are on amazon). The screenplays he adapted from some of his books have won several awards at film/script competitions in Mexico and the United States. In 2007, he was selected for inclusion in Who’s Who in Mexico. For the past 17 years, Grattan has been the Editor-in-Chief of El Ojo del Lago (Chapala.com), the most widely-read English-language maga-zine in Mexico. His mother’s country has proved lucky for him.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Date d'édition: 2013
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1481255819
• ISBN 13: 9781481255813
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 2
• Nombre de pages: 444
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Manufactured by Amazon on behalf of the author; https://www.amazon.fr/hz/contact-us; ; c/o Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., 38 Avenue John F. Kennedy; Luxembourg; L-1855; Luxembourg