The Dark Side of the Dream edition by Alexander Grattan Dominguez Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : The Dark Side of the Dream edition by Alexander Grattan Dominguez Literature Fiction eBooks 
Award-Winning Historical Fiction -- 2014 winner of silver Benjamin Franklin Digital Award from Independent Book Publishers Association in the USA.
Two Mexican brothers, Jose Luis and Francisco Salazar, and their families migrate to the U.S. shortly after the U.S. entry into World War II. The story depicts their struggles as they come to grips with a new, often hostile environment. Later, the family prominently figures in two of the most tragic, yet stirring incidents in Mexican-American history.
The first involves the all-Hispanic rifle company that as part of the Texas Volunteer Division lost its colors at the Battle of the Rapido River in Italy during the Second World War, when 156 badly-mangled Hispanic soldiers were ordered to cross the Rapido River against a known German force of more than 3000 men. Only 23 U.S. soldiers came back, and of those, ten would later die. Yet before the war was over, that unit would win more medals for bravery than almost any other rifle company in all of American history.
The second calamity came in the early 1950’s, when some 200 Mexican-Americans, African-Americans and Filipino migrants went on strike in the harvest fields of South Texas. Though the movement was washed away by the winds of history, within the seeds of that defeat were the victories that came a generation later in the San Joaquin Valley of central California.
It is in California that “America—The Promised Land” finally begins to live up to its billing as a new generation of Salazars at last succeed in fulfilling the dreams they had fought for so long to enrich their lives in soul-satisfying ways.
The Dark Side of the Dream edition by Alexander Grattan Dominguez Literature Fiction eBooks
When traveling with a backpack, I need to carry as few things as possible. Not one to catch on to a Kindle yet, I still lug around books that I want to read. Many get ditched when I realise that their reading quality under-performs their weight in underwear and clean socks. The Dark Side of the Dream is the heaviest paperback I have ever read. I recently published a 330 page hardcover. And this softcover outweighed two of them!But I continued to carry this book with me through South East Asia. I couldn't put it down. It's a Grapes of Wrath kind of story about migrant Mexican farm workers, trying to make a go of it in the promise land. But it's better than Grapes.
Unlike Steinbeck's book, this one is more balanced. It's tough to tell a great story that makes you feel deeply for the protagonists, yet still recognises patches of goodness in sectors of the opposition. But Gratton-Dominquez pulls it off.
There are shades of grey in this book, as there are in real life. But your overall sympathies clearly align with the struggling families, as they try to "make good" in their new, adopted home.
The characters are well developed, complex, and easy to connect to. As with life itself, there's no fairy-tale ending. But nor does this book paint a bleak perennial picture.
Highly recommended!
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The Dark Side of the Dream edition by Alexander Grattan Dominguez Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
This story starts with a patriarch in Mexico using his last words to exhort his family to leave for El Norte to make a better life for themselves. He is aware that World War I is going to take much of the United States younger men off to war, leaving a void in the economy, especially for growing food. He says that when his descendents have accrued five thousand dollars then it will be a good time to return to Mexico and purchase land of their own. Feeling duty bound, the family sells off what they can to move across the border to seek their fortunes. The Salazar family gets involved in fighting for the US military which gives certain members a new status. Later, some get involved in a migrant struggle for human rights. Historical fiction with plenty of well drawn characters makes for a consuming story. I had to read it twice through. Author of a practical guide to living in Baja My Gold Coast---Baja
I was fortunate enough in January to be invited to a Meet the Author book luncheon for Alex Grattan. When I was invited, I had not yet read the book "The Dark Side of the Dream," even though it was on my . So many choices, so little time. Therefore, so I could contribute to the conversation, I wasted no time in starting it, and I must say the book immediately captured my attention and held it throughout. What a great choice!
I read several great reviews on , and since I hate to reinvent the wheel, I must share some with you.
Paul Jackson compared "The Dark Side of the Dream" to Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind" and John Steinbeck's "East of Eden." And many readers mentioned Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath," as well as calling it the Latino "Roots." Many people have expressed the opinion that this novel was worthy of a mini-series on the scale of "Roots." I so wish it would happen.
As Edward said, this "little epic, written some years ago, has a timeless story about several generations of a Mexican family in America, determined to get beyond the struggles of immigration and succeed despite political and cultural challenges." Two Mexican brothers, Jose Luis and Francisco Salazar, and their families migrate to the U.S. shortly after the U.S. entry into World War II. The story depicts their struggles as they come to grips with a new, often hostile environment. Later, the family prominently figures in two of the most tragic, yet stirring incidents in Mexican-American history.
One review in particular resonated with me.
"A Reader in Central Mexico" wrote "The most interesting Mexican-American story I ever read! As a Mexican, and someone with a Master's Degree in History, I read this novel with great interest and some suspicion, knowing that the book was purportedly `historical fiction.' Too often in the past, such books published in the United States have been more fictional than historical. The first casualty is invariably the truth, with Mexico and its people usually shortchanged in the process. Imagine then my surprise when I found that this novel not only has played fair, but is such a stirring story it may well inspire a new generation of young Mexican-Americans. The latter part of the novel is about a migrant worker strike that took place in South Texas just after the Korean War. In that struggle, the workers, mainly Mexicans, lost the battle but probably set the stage for the victories that came some fifteen years later in California. Throughout the actual incidents, the author skillfully weaves in the story of the Salazar family as they struggle to make a place for themselves in their new country. But this is no propaganda piece, pitting noble Mexicans against evil Anglos. Many of the Mexicans in the story have serious personal flaws, while several of the Anglos are decent human beings. Rather than the standard ethnic caricatures, the author has filled his story with highly believable and fascinating characters. In doing so, he has elevated this fast-paced, action-filled drama to the level of serious literature. After a lifetime of reading books about Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, I think this is one historical novel that stands in a class all its own."
I so agree with this wholeheartedly. And you will fall in love with the Salazar family, flaws and all...very decent people just trying to survive. One of the guests at the luncheon asked Alex, "Do you still stay in touch with the Salazar family?" That says it all, doesn't it? This family is very real to us, and as we completed the last page of the novel, we knew we were going to miss them a lot and think of them often.
I also have to say that even the preface itself made my mind whirl. I wish every American could read it to understand the Mexico-U.S. immigration challenge...how we welcomed them during our many wars to replace the missing manpower and then discarded them when we no longer needed them. As the preface said, [the war left] ... "the country with a desperate need for domestic manpower...Heeding the call, Mexico sent north some half-million workers to help make the world, in President Woodrow Wilson's unforgettable words, "safe for democracy."
Then, things went bad, and politicians looked for someone to blame, "Massive deportation measures were established, and tens of thousands of Mexicans were rounded up like common criminals to be entrained south in cattle cars. Thousands of American citizens of Mexican ancestry, some with roots in the U. S. that dated back for a full century, were likewise deported. Many of these Mexicans had fought as Dough Boys in France, but they were also shoved into the cattle cars, despite having been promised that naturalization would be their ultimate reward for serving in the U.S. military."
Reviewer leMeeg stated, "As an American living a gringo's life in Mexico, as a former United States Marine, and as a second generation descendant of Irish immigrants, I can readily identify on all counts with the exquisitely delineated characters in this...sprawling tale."
Whew...just reading all these wonderful reviews made me want to read this book again, and I just finished it.
The novel may be fictionalized history, but the people and their lives are real. You will not regret reading it.
This is a superb work of historical fiction, written with heart and historical accuracy, about the struggles of two Mexican families spanning two generations. Two branches of the Salazar family settled in Mission and in El Paso as WWII was just getting underway. The book deals with two significant battles—valorous Mexican service during the war and Mexican leadership in the fight to gain fair wages and working conditions for migrant laborers. The narrative is a tribute to these two families and the under-recognized contributions of Mexican immigrants in general.
Grattan has the knack for creating suspense and moving the action along. Scenes are so graphically described that the reader has a sense of being there, and the visual nature of the writing often gives one the feeling of watching a film. Grattan’s ear is finely attuned to the colorful regional vernacular of rural south Texas and also of the immigrant Mexicans who settled there. Characters are delineated in a way that makes us care for them and what happens to them.
There is no doubt that Dark Side of the Dream chronicles an important but neglected period in American history. It comes to us now in a politically timely moment and shines a light on the bright side of the Mexican dream and how it shaped social change in the US for the better.
When traveling with a backpack, I need to carry as few things as possible. Not one to catch on to a yet, I still lug around books that I want to read. Many get ditched when I realise that their reading quality under-performs their weight in underwear and clean socks. The Dark Side of the Dream is the heaviest paperback I have ever read. I recently published a 330 page hardcover. And this softcover outweighed two of them!
But I continued to carry this book with me through South East Asia. I couldn't put it down. It's a Grapes of Wrath kind of story about migrant Mexican farm workers, trying to make a go of it in the promise land. But it's better than Grapes.
Unlike Steinbeck's book, this one is more balanced. It's tough to tell a great story that makes you feel deeply for the protagonists, yet still recognises patches of goodness in sectors of the opposition. But Gratton-Dominquez pulls it off.
There are shades of grey in this book, as there are in real life. But your overall sympathies clearly align with the struggling families, as they try to "make good" in their new, adopted home.
The characters are well developed, complex, and easy to connect to. As with life itself, there's no fairy-tale ending. But nor does this book paint a bleak perennial picture.
Highly recommended!
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