Since the 1980s there has been considerable interest in Mexico and its art, as one can see from the sheer number of exhibitions, catalogues, and articles devoted to the subject. Despite this interest, there are few books devoted to contemporary Mexican art. New Tendencies in Mexican Art is the first book-length study devoted to a generation of Mexican artists who have had enormous international success. It focuses on several 'tendencies' Gallo has identified as prominent themes in the work of these artists including orientalism, perversion, and a fascination with urban culture.

An American Language is a tour de force that revolutionizes our understanding of U.S. history. It reveals the origins of Spanish as a language binding residents of the Southwest to the politics and culture of an expanding nation in the 1840s. As the West increasingly integrated into the United States over the following century, struggles over power, identity, and citizenship transformed the place of the Spanish language in the nation. An American Language is a history that reimagines what it means to be an American—with profound implications for our own time.