A intriguing look at the effort to make the various Latinx identities into a collective race. It’s heavy on the history of colonization and the heavy hand that American has wielded in the Latin American areas. The look at how the census is politicized and weapon used to push and prompt Latinx into making certain choices about their identity. Since America is so color-obsessed maybe the next census should come with a color chart that runs from snow to crow, and each individual can lay their arm next to the color chart and choose which one closely matches their skin tone. Then USA will know definitively how many brown beige and black exist in the land. I say this only half in jest. The text does a thorough job of exposing the attitudes of Latinx people and the attitudes of the colonizers who want to move them in a direction that ultimately benefits the oppressor. So, ultimately this is a book that you should have in your toolbox to gain a deeper understanding of Latinx people. Thanks to the New Press and NetGalley for an advanced DRC.

Although not a comprehensive history, the author does provide enough details about the historical trajectories of different Latine immigrant groups in the US to document how US interventionism and colonialist attitudes toward Latin American nations have negatively impacted them. Race becomes particularly problematic as Latines are construed as racially different from presumably White European settlers in the Americas. As immigrants in the US, contemporary Latine individuals and communities embody multiple processes of racialization as colonized subject under successive oppressive regimes.

Gómez historicization is interesting but not really thorough, which is understandable since she is not a historian. She makes a good case about race and racialization, not through a systematic historicization of their complex trajectories, but by focusing on particular events and moments of their history of contact with the US.

This book is a decent introduction to a complex history but not the best of historical sources. It does give educators a critical entry point to discuss a series of issues, especially concerning race and class, but it is not a definitive history. Unfortunately, as often happens with US-based publications, the author does not draw on the substantial literature and scholarly production generated in Latin America itself. And, here and there, she indulges in making idiosyncratic points largely of her own opinion that are not necessarily sustainable (e.g., that the solution for Puerto Rico is just to become a state,, a partisan position that is highly contested among Puerto Ricans).

In sum, this book's best use is as an introduction to the emergence of Latines as a distinct identity group., but some of the arguments and conclusion need be contextualized and complemented with other material.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy of this book! I was super belated in diving into this one, but it is definitely an excellent resource and a perspective that is sorely needed in this space. Very well executed!

This is a great text to use in US history classes at all stages in order to create a more comprehensive and inclusive curriculum. Furthermore, it gives voice and agency to a demographic of the population that is consistently marginalized and silenced by narratives of the dominant demographic. It is well written, detailed and necesssary.

a very good discussion of colorism within latino identity and a good historical context of latino within the US. However, one cannot discuss the entirety of the colonial history of Latin America in a few chapters (esp for those starting at zero...) and this is written in a dry prose/academic tone. Ultimately I disagreed with her basic premise which is that latino is a racial construct relevant to only the USA. I mean, sure it's true in some ways but insisting that the racial dynamics at play in the US are unique and cannot be used as a jumping point for querying white supremacy in different countries is exceptionalism. The colorism within latino immigrants in the US was learned in their home countries and adapted to the conditions in the US as you can see in Latinidad and La Raza and the other Peninsulare based identities found in the various countries of Latin America.

I'm Latina, Latinx, Hispanic, Mexican-American, pick an ethnic identity, since I get called and labeled some version every time I fill out paper work for anything even though I was born here as were my parents. This book, just in the introduction, already had me going yep, yes, uh huh, oh my gosh me too! I really liked it. Yes it has some data and, even though I am somehow who enjoys research, it all still felt easily understood and presented in a way that makes sense. I hope to read more from Laura in the future!

This book is really great. But be prepared for a total onslaught of facts and statistics. It may blow your mind a bit how well-researched this book is, and how little you really know about Latinos, even if you are one yourself. So much has happened throughout history, and the author takes a few examples out of many to really illustrate what Latinos have gone through and how they all got grouped together under the umbrella term of Latinos. It's not a beach read, but you will come away much smarter for having read this book.

This book is a game changer! While many books about race and racism have been released over the last 20+ years, this book is unique in that it approaches Latinos in the US from a racial lens, more than in terms of ethnicity. This book takes a different approach than most that address Latinos/Latinx in the US, and goes deeply into histories to trace the trajectory of a people (yet not a monolith) in the US.

This book is a must-have for college history classes as well as for classes that are focusing on race and culture. With Latinos often being misunderstood, this book allows the viewer an advanced understanding. Highly recommend!
#Netgalley #Inventinglatinos

Inventing Latinos by Laura E. Gómez is such an essential read given current affairs in the US. I was especially glad to be able to read this during Latinx Heritage Month. This is a short book, but it is full of rich historical information. It could easily be used in an academic setting but is also accessible.

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Well researched fantastic book, books that show the history and struggles of a community are always interesting reads. This is one that will stay with me for a long time.

Meticulously researched and well-written, this book takes a deep dive into the history of race in the context of conquest, colonialism, imperialism, and as part of the diaspora in the United States.

This book is extremely timely and relevant in it's exploration of the racial, ethnic, & legal status categories in the census, as we are in the midst of the Census 2020 with all it's contested questions and legal disputes.

It also examines how at times Latinos in the United States have been used, and have positioned themselves as a buffer group between White and Black categories in the service of White Supremacy. It was heartening to see that at other times Latinos have aligned themselves with the larger civil rights movements in the United States and have called out for Black & Brown unity, which is especially important now in the era of Black Lives Matter.

The heart of this book is how Latino identity has been dynamic and contested (both from within and without) from the beginning and how we are a diverse array of people under the name Latino/Hispanic.

I especially appreciated how the author elucidated the difference in the history/class/race/legal status of the nationalities that comprise the group known as Latinos/Hispanics. Latinos are not a homogeneous group and the brief description of the countries provided a nuanced and historical basis for how and different Latino groups have fared in the U.S. and how that affects how they self-identify.

The most powerful part of the book is how the author drew a direct line from U.S. imperialism to immigration from those very countries it interfered with ("We are Here Because You Were There"). She calls for reparations in the form of legalizing all immigrants from those countries that are currently living undocumented in the United States and then, and open doors for migrants from those countries.

Scholarly, passionate and full of rich details and facts, this book is a perfect textbook for American and/or Latino history class as well as for anyone (like me) who is fascinated with books about history, demographics, Latin America, and the concept of race and ethnicity in the United States.

My review on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3453701275

If you're interested in learning more about the history of anti-Latino racism in the US, all the way up to the present, this is a perfect condensed primer. It doesn't require much, if any, prior knowledge for the reader to get A LOT out of it (speaking from my own experience!). I feel like this should be the go-to entry point for white folks interested in the topic.

I was impressed with how well Laura Gomez packed so much history into such a concise, brief narrative, one that's very easy to understand as someone not well-versed in the topics this book covers: Spanish colonialism in Latin America, US imperialism, corporate greed, capitalism, and colonialism in Latin America, the hypocrisy of American immigration policy, and the dynamics of "Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans serving as a buffer group between whites above them and Blacks below them in the racial hierarchy."

The book also details anti-Blackness perceptions among Latinos, and as a result, their role in perpetuating white supremacy. I appreciated the nuance and clarity that Gomez uses to discuss colorism and prejudice within different Latin American countries and communities, the debate between classifying "Latino" as an ethnicity versus a racial identity, and what it means to be both "white and non-white" and how that changes over time and depending on context among certain Latino populations (this often ties back to Spanish colonialism).

I appreciated learning from Gomez as she explained the impact that light skin versus dark skin prejudice has on Latinos. For dark-skinned Indo-Latinos and dark skinned Afro-Latinos, social and economic mobility is more difficult to come by than for lighter skinned Latinos. Lighter skinned Latinos may be able to pass as white, until another aspect of their identity beyond skin color "outs" them as an "other" in the eyes of the dominant white majority (their use of the Spanish language, for example). The specific differences of this across Latin American countries is well documented here, and I found it fascinating to read.

Did I already mention how much I learned from this book?! At the end, Gomez suggests concrete policy changes that should be made by American politicians (when and if we get Trump out of office) if we are to make racial and reparative justice for Latinos in America a priority.

This is required reading for white Americans.

Thank you to #NetGalley and the New Press for providing me a copy of this title in exchange for an honest review. I'm also grateful to the New Press and Laura Gomez for publishing this important work!!

This is definitely not the quick read I was expecting since its under 200 pages. This is the type of writing where you need to think and reflect. (which is a great thing!!) The writing gave off a very academic vibe (makes sense written by a professor) and I could see this in college classroom all over the world. I can think of quite a few of my undergraduate classes that would’ve greatly benefited from this book on its required reading. This is the type of book we should be reading in college classrooms!! I personally feel its more like a textbook that a non-fiction book.

Overall, I loved how informative it is. I often found myself stopping to research the people and places mentioned throughout this book. Very educational! I enjoyed it and would recommend to those wanting to do a deep dive in Latinx history and its implications.

Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism by Laura E. Gómez is an important exploration of the role the Latinx group plays in the United States and in contrast, the negative influence of the U.S and its leadership on Latinx individuals in the U.S and Latin America. Despite being Latina, I learned so much more about Latino history and opened my eyes that I need to continue reading literature like this, especially on topics of civil rights. I enjoyed the author provided meaningful recommendations on how we can drive meaningful change. Given the author's academic background, the writing tends to be a bit dense but is still well-explained. I would recommend this for individuals who want to read deeply on the history and enjoy a more academic style.
Many thanks to the publisher The New Press and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review.

"The story of American colonial exploits is particular to each Latin American country, but the connective tissue is the same: the radicalization of native peoples as subhumans the region’s geopolitical strategic value; how military exercises support and reinforce corporate capitalism; human rights abuses by U.S-installed dictators; and displacement caused by violence and economic deprivation, leading to migration of an exploitable workforce.”

“The history of American empire in the Western Hemisphere is powerful evidence that we ought to think of migrants from Latin American countries as the byproduct of colonialism.”

“It is the case that Latinos and African Americans both are victims of White supremacy, but also the case that Latinos benefit by situating themselves as a buffer between Whites and Blacks.”

If you haven’t added this book to your TBR, you need to do so immediatedly. This book talks about American imperialism and how it affected various Latin American countries. The constant U.S unwanted intervention lead to how Latin American countries established racial hierarchies stemming from White supremacy. Gomez also examines how these racial hierarchies affected these countries and how, as people from Latin American countries migrated to the U.S and how the idea of race has become more complex and harder to identify. Gomez puts many things into perspective and how we need to question how we view race and ethnicity in the U.S.

I had to take my time reading this book. Gomez presents in a way that is easy to read but it is A LOT of information that you need time to digest and understand. Overall, a very educational read and I learned many things that I was not aware of or hadn’t read much about. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

Another great book that I highly recommend, especially if you’re interested in learning more about American imperialism and its effects in Latin America is Harvest of Empire by Juan Gonzalez.

Thank you @netgalley and @thenewpress for this ARC!

This book is not a light read, but as informative as it gets; a rally for action. A call to all Latinxs to own up to our privilege, or conspiracy in perpetuating white supremacy and a drive to change.

What I love about the book:
❤️ Historical background on American colonialism in Latin America as trigger to migration.

❤️ Latinx identity is an American racial category that makes sense only in the US. We cannot use them to interpret social and racial interactions in Latin America.

❤️ Racial identities work only to support white supremacy and pin minorities against each other. They are nothing but racist conceptions and concessions of limited power by the White majority to certain groups. The further away you are to Black, the more power you yield.

❤️ Historical overview of the role of Latinx organizations in civil rights' movement

❤️ Inclusion of conclusions and how we can effect change.

It is one of those books that I will be thinking about forever.

In this book, Laura E. Gómez provides a comprehensive deep dive into the ever evolving Latinx identity in the United States, while also exploring the increase of anti- Latinx sentiments in our nation, as well as the history of anti-Black and anti-Indigenous sentiments within our Latinx communities.

As a Latina, I was excited to read this book & I found it extremely relevant to ongoing conversations I’ve been having in my own life. I was familiar with some of the history provided in this book, but there was still so much information that was new to me. I definitely think this is a book that you should be prepared to annotate and re-read.

I highly recommend this book for all readers. It is academic, but accessible and extremely relevant to our current times. Thank you, @netgalley and @thenewpress, for an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Inventing Latinos: A New Story of American Racism is a fascinating exploration of the intersectionality between race and class, in particular, in relation to the Latinx peoples residing in the United States. Despite being British I am intrigued by the changing face of countries around the world, including America, and this turned out to be a superb and comprehensive read addressing Latino history and America's role in compounding the poverty in which many Latinx people live. Gómez contends that the damage done through colonialism and subsequent colonisation, including political interference, economic exploitation and military intervention, should be subject to reparations, and I must say I don't disagree with her on that. The flood of migrants coming from Latin America to seek a better life in the North cannot really be criticised given some of the reasons they are fleeing have been caused or exacerbated by the American government sticking its nose in where it wasn't wanted. Unfortunately, most American's won't admit to that fact.

Recently, with the rise of populist politics and the age of Trump and his eponymous wall, with the intention of keeping out as many Mexicans as possible, discrimination again Latinos has been rising exponentially. His repeated diatribes and rampant demagoguery have led, whether intentionally or not, to an increasing number of racists, xenophobes and white supremacists feeling emboldened and coming out of the woodwork which is a dangerous situation in a country comprised of people of many different colours and ethnicities. This is an incisive, honest and timely book which is even more important to read in these times of white dominance and with Donald Trump at the helm of one of the worlds biggest ships. Incorporating and addressing a wide variety of topical issues, Gómez presents things in an accessible fashion and in easily understandable language that can be comprehended by all. Insightful, thought-provoking and extensively researched, this is a must-read for those looking to grasp prejudice towards the Latinx population. Many thanks to The New Press for an ARC.

*Will be posted on my blog, goodreads on August 24, and my instagram on 8/25*

Hello Fellow Readers,



Laura E. Gómez is here and she has receipts...


When I saw this book available to read I knew I had to read it. I, myself am Latino, yet I wasn't aware of most of the history that is discussed in this book. It's because it's just not talked about, but it's important to talk about it and learn it. This book took me a long time to get through, this is mostly because I wanted to make sure I understood everything I was reading, since it was a bit heavy. Gómez did her homework, in writing Inventing Latinos and she wrote this very well.



I don't want to give too much away as I do consider this a must read for any American, not just Latinos. Inventing Latinos, answered a lot of questions that I personally have, but it also made me ask more think and ask more questions. This book will definitely require another read, as well as some annotations because it covers a lot of topics in such a short amount of writing that I wish there was more in this book. It is virtually impossible for Gómez to be able to cover the amount of history that Latinos have in this topic, and there were some points in which I do wish that she went a little more in depth with. I will be looking into and reading more of Gómez's work because she's a great writer and fosters critical thinking as well as providing information.


The one downfall is despite the fact that I enjoy Gómez's writing, to more casual readers, it may be too heavy. It does have a lot of information to process that those who are not use to it may be overloaded. I do feel that some of the text should be broken up slightly more.


Overall, a must read.

I am so glad I read this book as I was studying for an exam on the history of the Spanish language, as well as reading Dominicana by Angie Cruz, it was a really good combination of reading materials. Inventing Latinos allowed me to have a much better understanding of Mexico and Central America’s history after the independence revolutions and the racialization process people from these countries are subjected to in the United States. The book is very well structured, thoroughly researched and, with the exception of a few passages, written in a truly accessible way.