Ensayo que trata de la época de la ilustración y el fluir de ideas entre Europa y América que antecedieron a la independencia de México, haciendo énfasis en el papel que desempeñó el pensador mexicano José Antonio Alzate y Ramírez y la vigencia que tiene en nuestros días su pensamiento vanguardista que alcanzó reconocimiento mundial, basándose en el aprovechamiento de los recursos propios y en la fe ciega de la capacidad de los propios mexicanos de poder estar a la par que cualquier académico a nivel mundial. Al final de la obra se analiza la aplicabilidad actual del pensamiento de Alzate en nuestro país.

The tenth volume in the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Series, this collection of essays reflects on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the project’s efforts to locate, identify, preserve and disseminate the literary contributions of US Latinos from the Spanish Colonial Period to contemporary times. Essays by scholars recalling the beginnings of the project cover a wide range of topics: origins, identity, archival research, institutional politics and pedagogy. From recollections about funding to personal reminiscences, the recovery of Jewish Hispanic heritage and the intellectual project of reframing American history and literature, these articles provide a fascinating look at twenty-five years of recovering the written legacy of the Hispanic population in what has become the United States. An additional nineteen scholarly essays speak to specific efforts to recover an extremely diverse Latino literary heritage. Historians and literary critics who research Spanish, English and Sephardic texts examine a broad array of subjects, including colonialism, historical populations, exile and immigration. This far-reaching book is required reading for those studying US Latino history and literature.