AMERICA LIBRE: Review and Giveaway

GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED!
AMERICA LIBRE
BY
RAUL RAMOS Y SANCHEZ

ABOUT THE BOOK:
After years of anti-immigrant backlash, anger seethes in the nation's Latino communities. The crowded streets bristle with restless youth, idled by a deep recession. When undercover detectives in San Antonio accidentally kill a young Latina bystander during a botched drug bust, riots erupt across the Southwest. As the inner-city violence escalates, Anglo vigilantes strike back with shooting rampages. Exploiting the turmoil, a congressional demagogue succeeds in passing legislation that transforms the nation's Hispanic enclaves into walled-off Quarantine Zones. Citizens tagged Class H-those who are Hispanic, are married to a Hispanic, or have at least one grandparent of Hispanic origin-are forced into detention centers. Amid the chaos in his L.A. barrio, Manolo Suarez is out of work and struggling to support his growing family. But under the spell of a beautiful Latina radical, the former U.S. Army Ranger and decorated war veteran now finds himself questioning his loyalty to his wife-and to his country.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
A long-time resident of the U.S. Midwest, Cuban-born Raul Ramos y Sanchez is a founding partner of BRC Marketing established in 1992 with offices in Ohio and California. Besides developing a documentary for public television, Two Americas: The Legacy of our Hemisphere, he is host of MyIimmigrationStory.com — an online forum for the U.S. immigrant community. In his own words: “The first English word I learned was ‘January.’ I read it on the calendar thumb-tacked to the wall of our apartment in the Bronx as a seven-year-old. I pronounced it Han-noo-a-ree. I’ve managed to learn a few more English words since.”

Could it happen here? (a statement by the author)
When I began writing America Libre in 2004, some thought the book’s premise was unrealistic. An uprising by Hispanics? The idea seemed far-fetched, they said. Today, as the rhetoric over immigration grows more heated, the skeptics are no longer so certain. I posed the nightmare scenario of America Libre as a wake up call to the dangers of extremism—on both sides of this explosive issue. Illegal immigration is a hotly debated topic. Yet it is only the tip of the iceberg. Over the next decade, three other factors will prove equally significant. Some of the volatile conditions presented in America Libre have already surfaced. I hope my abilities as a prophet end here. But the potential for a widespread conflict lurks behind every escalation of our current war of words. Visit Raul Ramos y Sanchez website here.

BINGO'S REVIEW OF AMERICA LIBRE
What a surprising book! I thought this was never going to be "my kind of book". I read lots of genres but this seemed to military/warlike/history for me. Was I wrong! This is an amazing book and Sanchez is a fabulous writer. I now am really looking forward to the next book. This story of a young Latina youth being shot in Texas and it brings about rioting to the point that the National Guard is called in. Shots are fired and people are killed. Across the country their is an outcry and what we are now experiencing in real life is magnified and made very real as the immigration problems that are real concerns erupt in the book. For me, it brought back memories of what happened after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed.

The book takes it a step farther as Hispanics are labeled and rounded up into camps much like the Japanese during World War II but worse. The characters the author creates are well developed and you care about them all. The action is fast moving and I can see this being made into a film right away. Good people become the enemy and the people we want to have faith in let us down. This is too close to reality and the author does a dynamic job of making the reader become so involved that it is hard to put the book down. If you are lucky enough to win a copy in my giveaway, you will be so pleased but if you don't, I strongly recommend you getting a copy as quickly as possible.

AND SO...
THE GIVEAWAY!!!

THANKS TO LINDA AND THE GOOD
PEOPLE AT THE HACHETTE BOOK GROUP,
I HAVE 10, YES! TEN COPIES TO GIVEAWAY
OF THIS AMAZING BOOK!

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