Review: Harvest of Empire

As a Puerto Rican and liberal activist, in Harvest of Empire Juan González sets out to document the migration of people from Latin American to the United States of America and the role that Latinos and Latinas play and have played in society in the US. González achieves this by chronicling the migrations of different people to the United States over 500 years of history. The text begins by exploring European colonial presence in the Americas. González contextualizes the arrival of the first Spaniards to the Americas in 1540 by describing the changes and social climate of Europe. From these roots, González then examines different waves and motivations for immigration across the continents. His analysis ends in the year 1999 before the publication of the book. 

Though much of US society has grown to see the Latino population as one homogenous group with shared ancestry, the Latino and Latina population in the United States consists of people from dozens and dozens of Latin American countries. To take this into consideration, González devotes specific chapters to different nations in order to better focus on the unique contexts and situations of each population. Because there is a lot of anti-immigrant and, specifically, anti-Latino vitriol in the United States, Harvest of Empire looks to contextualize the presence of Latinos and Latinas in the US in hopes of reducing these negative sentiments. Further, González explains how American policies have created the conditions that spurred the migrations of people from Latin American countries to the United States of America. 

González divides his book into three distinct sections. The first begins with an examination of the colonization of the America’s and the United States relationship with these colonies. Driven by the desire for more land, labor, and resources, the United States saw Spanish colonies as untapped resources. This sentiment came to a head with the emergence of Manifest Destiny in the 19th Century. Manifest Destiny was the idea that the United States was justified in employing whatever means necessary to expand the territory of the nation and democracy. Inherent in this idea of Manifest Destiny was racism and colonial sentiments. Many people of the era felt that Caucasian inhabitants of the Americas were inherently superior to the people that inhabited South America and the indigenous populations.  These ideas were particularly apparent in the Mexican-American War in which the United States claimed half of Mexico’s land for itself. During this time period, the US was also expanding its interests further south in America where it exploited Cuba, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Panama in order to increase profit margins for the United States and further other neocolonial goals.

The second section of the book follows individual Latino families in the United States as they carve out their niches in sometimes-hostile environments. One of the most poignant sections of the book is when González describes his own family history and how their lives have been affected by blatant racism and insidious discrimination against Latinos and Latinas. He also describes the situations and hardships faced by families in other countries in Latin America. Another interesting aspect of Latino life in the United States is the fact that in certain regions of the United States Spanish-speaking immigrants from different nations are beginning to form communities that combine different aspects of multiple cultures. 

In the third section, González describes the current state of Latino immigrants in the United States. In these chapters, González illustrates how the combination of different factors, many of which are accompanied by racism, create the anti-immigrant sentiment that has become so common in the United States. González tackles the myths that accompany a lot of the rhetoric surrounding Spanish-speaking immigrants in the United States. There is a palpable sentiment that Latino immigrants, especially those from Mexico, come to the United States to exploit the nation’s resources and take jobs from citizens. González dispels these stereotypes by illustrating the racism that fuels them as well as the political systems, such as NAFTA, that create the economic inequality that fuels immigration patterns. 

In the epilogue, González outlines what he thinks needs to change in order to create a more sustainable and just environment for Latinos in the Americas. He suggests eliminating the labor system that exploits Mexico for cheap labor and instead of creating labor restrictions to create a fair market for people on both sides of the border. He says that Puerto Rico should not remain a colony of the US and that instead, the United States government should recognize whatever the people of Puerto Rico want to do. His other suggestions include strengthening the public schools, recognizing Spanish as the second language of the United States, ending the so-called War on Drugs and the economic blockade against Cuba. 

In the book, González does a convincing job of contextualizing the role of Latino immigrants in the United States society. He also comes to the conclusion that the current state of Latin American is a result of the interests and actions of the United States. González argues that one way to reduce immigration to the United States is to work to make better living conditions in the countries from which people are immigrating. González uses the history of the colonization of Latin America juxtaposed with the current situation of many Latinos in the United States to illustrate that the United States’ history with colonial behavior is not behind us and that racism and prejudice is abjectly present in how our society treats Latinos and Latinas. 

Given the scope and subject of the book, González’s conclusions are warranted. By using historical facts and creating a portrait of the diverse population of Latinos and Latinas in the United States, González is able to conclude that many of the United States’ economic policies have negatively harmed Latin America. The grand irony that González illustrates is the fact that many people in the US are up in arms about immigration trends when it is the neo-liberal policies that benefit them that have created a context in which people from Latin America need to immigrate to the US in order to find remunerable employment. With the grand history that González presents, he makes a strong case for his conclusions about the causes of migration patterns and treatment of Latino’s in the United States. 

Harvest of Empire does a great job of compiling hundreds of years of information about Latin America into a compelling and coherent book. One of González’s biggest accomplishments is his ability to present information about the different roots and nations that create the Latino population in the United States. This book helped me understand the context that has created the immigration patterns found in the United States. I think the book did a great job of explaining some of the predominant social movements in recent years. This text is extremely valuable to the course as it is a manageable summary of hundreds of years of history. 

Immigration has been a polemical issue in United States politics. Bills like the DREAM Act have garnered much public support yet been blocked by Congress. President Obama implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals which allows young immigrants to receive work permits and permission to remain in the United States. In the midst of this, however, anti-immigrant sentiments can still be found in places like Arizona with the passage of SB 1070 and the actions of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. With that said, I found that González cited the United States as the primary cause of many problems in Latin America, but failed to recognize that there might be other causes as well. I also think he would have done well to talk more about Los Angeles and immigrants in California because California has the highest percentage of immigrants of any US State. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of immigration or the relationship between Latin America and the United States.