Description
Book Synopsis2023Honorable Mention Best History Book, International Latino Book AwardsBroad and encompassing examination of Chicanx popular culture since World War II and the utopian visions it articulatedAmid the rise of neoliberalism, globalization, and movements for civil rights and global justice in the postWorld War II era, Chicanxs in film, music, television, and art weaponized culture to combat often oppressive economic and political conditions. They envisioned utopias that, even if never fully realized, reimagined the world and linked seemingly disparate people and places. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Chicanx popular culture forged a politics of the possible and gave rise to utopian dreams that sprang from everyday experiences. In Chicanx Utopias, Luis Alvarez offers a broad study of these utopian visions from the 1950s to the 2000s. Probing the film Salt of the Earth, brown-eyed soul music, sitcoms, poster art, and borderlands reggae music, he examines how Chicanx pop cul
