Chicano

This is a searching examination of the life, work, and mysterious disappearance of the charismatic civil rights activist Oscar Zeta Acosta-a leading figure in the Chicano movement of the 1960s.

"A deeply considered essay on the Chicano movement's worldly Aquinas.- A fine, learned homage." --Kirkus Reviews

"Ilan Stavans has written a valuable portrait of a self-destructive provocateur who is a seminal figure in Chicano/Latino history. Half Conradian hero,...
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This is a searching examination of the life, work, and mysterious disappearance of the charismatic civil rights activist Oscar Zeta Acosta-a leading figure in the Chicano movement of the 1960s.

"A deeply considered essay on the Chicano movement's worldly Aquinas.- A fine, learned homage." --Kirkus Reviews

"Ilan Stavans has written a valuable portrait of a self-destructive provocateur who is a seminal figure in Chicano/Latino history. Half Conradian hero, half mythological creature, O. Zeta Acosta is an existential Orpheus who courted darkness until he was swallowed by it." --Jaime Manrique

"Although Acosta's life was ridden with excessive drugs, sex, and alcohol, this does not belittle his attempts to further the Chicano movement. Through his books and his activism, he openly defied a society that considered him worthless. Through Stavans' writing, many Anglos as well as Chicanos can experience the power of such a character." --Texas Observer

Ilan Stavans teaches at Amherst College.