Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Literature from California

Edited by Rick Heide; Foreword by Juan Velasco

Under the Fifth Sun collects stories of love, family, work, exploration, politics, history, culture, and survival—fiction, poetry, memoirs, commentary, and drama—covering more than two centuries of Latino presence in California, from missionaries and soldiers to gold miners, farmworkers, and political refugees.

A celebration, an outcry, a revelation, and a powerful reading experience, this anthology ranges from naturalism to magical realism, from lyric poetry to detective fiction, with works by Francisco X. Alarcón, Isabel Allende, Lorna Dee Cervantes, César Chávez, Francisco Jiménez, Graciela Limón, Juan Marichal, Pablo Neruda, Gary Soto, Luis Valdez, Alma Luz Villanueva, and many others.

Reviews

"A plentiful harvest...Under the Fifth Sun is not only a Who's Who but a What's What, When, and Why. I salute Rick Heide for handing us a mirror on which to appreciate California's gorgeous brownness."—Ilan Stavans

"A thoughtfully conceived, thoroughly inclusive anthology that captures the Latino essence of California. Straddling borders, high academia, and a bilingual bohemia that is central to any understanding of postwar America, this is a collection that anyone infatuated with the West should read."—Ed Morales, author of Living in Spanglish: The Search for Latino Identity in America

About the Editor

Rick Heide has been a member of the San Francisco Bay Area publishing community since 1968, working twenty years as a typesetter, for clients including the North American Congress on Latin America, Nicaraguan Perspectives, and numerous small presses, magazines, and journals with a multicultural focus. He is currently a freelance typesetter, editor, and co-publisher.