Thank you Netgalley for letting me read and review this book. "El Norte chronicles the sweeping and dramatic history of Hispanic North America from the arrival of the Spanish in the early 16th century to the present—from Ponce de Leon’s initial landing in Florida in 1513 to Spanish control of the vast Louisiana territory in 1762 to the Mexican-American War in 1846 and up to the more recent tragedy of post-hurricane Puerto Rico and the ongoing border acrimony with Mexico. Interwoven in this stirring narrative of events and people are cultural issues that have been there from the start but which are unresolved to this day: language, belonging, community, race, and nationality. Seeing them play out over centuries provides vital perspective at a time when it is urgently needed." This paragraph caught my attention and I knew I had to read this book. I enjoyed the writing style and learned a lot. If you like history and nonfiction you should definitely give this a read.

This is one of those books that, if you don't know much about history or the influence of other cultures in the United States and North America, you should read this book. It does a great job showing where Spanish and Hispanic influence has filtered into the greater US culture and how the roots are deeper and more Spanish than we tend to think. This book provides a way to think about how other cultures and languages reflect in other cultures.

After many attempts I was finally able to download this book and after many many hours I finally finished reading. This was a monster book but an easy read which made it feel not as daunting. Carrie clearly put in a lot of research and painted a clear picture of the Spanish experience in America from discovery to current events.

I recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading non-fiction history books.

Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me the opportunity to read the e-arc of this book in return for an honest review.

A comprehensive history of the Spanish history of the United States from Columbus to Trump.
I wondered if maybe this book might be too ambitious but I was mistaken. Gibson has clearly done a lot of research and she manages to make it very readable to the layperson. She covers U.S.-Spanish relations without whitewashing the topic as so many have done before her. I found this book incredibly readable and topical.

A comprehensive exploration of the "Spanish" experience in North America, from the days of Columbus to Trump and his wall.

The author begins with Columbus' expedition and the conquistadores, pointing out the major themes of the story as they relate to Central and South America but focusing on the attempt to establish "Florida": not just the present peninsula, but as much of North America as could possibly be obtained. The author chronicles the difficulties the Spaniards faced in establishing colonies in North America, but ultimately how they were able to establish St. Augustine in Florida and New Mexico. Interactions with other nations building colonies are described; I, personally, had not been aware of Spanish settlements established in the South Carolina area that would eventually be abandoned.

The discussion of the 18th and 19th centuries described the missions in California, how Spain obtained and lost territory in eastern North America (including their establishment of New Madrid, MO), ceding West and East Florida to the British and getting it back again, giving up all of "Missouri" to Napoleon, who sold it to America, and ultimately the selling of Florida to the United States and the loss of all territory in eastern North America. The story then shifts to the independence of Mexico, the settling of Texas and the war for Texas, the Mexican War, the Gadsden purchase, and all of it in terms of how it looked to the Spanish speaking population. The late 19th and 20th century discussions, having discussed Cuba, the Spanish-American War, and the elimination of Spanish dominion in the New World, do speak some to the relations between Mexico and the United States but focuses primarily on the experience of Spanish speaking Americans, especially of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage.

The author does well at providing the American reader with a very different perspective on American history, and that is very useful for Americans attempting to grapple with our nation's current situation.

The only critique I would offer would involve the book's perspective. The story seems to be about the experience of those who spoke Spanish - mostly Spaniard at the beginning - and only later the Latino population as we would understand it now. It features an odd shift, for the Spaniards were ruthless conquerors and oppressors of natives, and one can reasonably see what ends up happening to Spanish control as the oppressor getting his just deserts and getting oppressed and defeated by a stronger power. Some commentary is made regarding the tiered cultural system of New Spain based on "whiteness", but not much. Starting in the middle of the 19th century the subject seems to shift to being the Latino population as currently constructed, the mixed populace of Spaniard and indigenous. It seemed a bit fuzzy.

Otherwise, though, a different way of seeing North American history.

At present it feels like more people are emboldened about aggressively pushing a message that amounts to this - the US, a nation that started as a a bunch of mainly English settlers on the east coast who pushed west into the wilderness, is in danger from those who come from south of the Rio Grande, whose distinct otherness threatens to undermine the identity of the United States.

Of course this is all absolute nonsense, as should be made clear by any decent grasp of American history, and is made especially and undeniably obvious in Carrie Gibson's new book, "El Norte." In this comprehensive work, Gibson provides a sweeping and also eminently readable overview of Hispanic North America. Not only is it incredibly informative with its multi-leveled coverage, but from start to end this book strives to make it perfectly plain in every way possible that these regions, their peoples, and various cultures are very, very, very, very much a part of the United States, and that to try and argue otherwise (in good faith, at least) is simply not possible. "El Norte" is exactly the kind of books we currently need more of, and I greatly look forward to recommending it to others whenever possible.