{"title":"Read OC","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"flower-grand-first","title":"Flower Grand First","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"text\"\u003eGustavo Hernandez's debut poetry collection, Flower Grand First, moves through the complex roads of immigration, sexuality, and loss. These poems are points plotted on maps both physical and emotional-the rural landscapes of Jalisco, the glimmering plains of memory, the busy cities of California, and the circular paths of grief. Hernandez's stunning elegies float along a timeline spanning three decades, honoring family, recording a personal history, and revealing a vulnerable but resilient voice preoccupied with time, place, and what is left behind out of necessity.\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Arvida Book Co.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50617658409191,"sku":"9781735037837","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/Screenshot2025-01-04at5.38.30PM.png?v=1736041116"},{"product_id":"taco-usa-how-mexican-food-conquered-america","title":"Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe nationally syndicated columnist and bestselling author of \u003ci\u003e¡Ask a Mexican! \u003c\/i\u003epresents a fascinating and tasty trip through the history and culture of Mexican food in this country, uncovering great stories and charting the cuisine's tremendous popularity in el Norte.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNationally syndicated columnist and bestselling author of \u003ci\u003e¡Ask a Mexican! \u003c\/i\u003eGustavo Arellano presents a tasty trip through the history and culture of Mexican food in this country, uncovering great stories and charting the cuisine's tremendous popularity north of the border. Arellano's fascinating narrative combines history, cultural criticism, food writing, personal anecdotes, and Jesus on a tortilla. In seemingly every decade for over a century, America has tried new culinary trends from south of the border, loved them, and demanded the next big thing. As a result, Mexican food dominates American palates to the tune of billions of dollars in sales per year, from canned refried beans to tortilla wraps and ballpark nachos. It's a little-known history, one that's crept up on this country and left us better for it.","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51814745407719,"sku":"9781439148624","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/imageloader_6ed0482e-09a4-4fb8-bb8e-3c092b43f2d6.jpg?v=1771903761"},{"product_id":"orange-county-a-personal-history-1","title":"Orange County: A Personal History","description":"\u003cb\u003eBestselling author of \u003ci\u003e¡Ask a Mexican! \u003c\/i\u003eGustavo Arellano returns with \u003ci\u003eOrange County\u003c\/i\u003e, a seamlessly woven history of California's Orange County with Gustavo's personal narrative of growing up within its neighborhoods.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe story began in 1918, when Gustavo Arellano's great-grandfather and grandfather arrived in the United States, only to be met with flying potatoes. They ran, and hid, and then went to work in Orange County's citrus groves, where, eventually, thousands of fellow Mexican villagers joined them. Gustavo was born sixty years later, the son of a tomato canner who dropped out of school in the ninth grade and an illegal immigrant who snuck into this country in the trunk of a Chevy. Meanwhile, Orange County changed radically, from a bucolic paradise of orange groves to the land where good Republicans go to die, American Christianity blossoms, and way too many bad television shows are green-lit. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Part personal narrative, part cultural history, \u003ci\u003eOrange County\u003c\/i\u003e is the outrageous and true story of the man behind the wildly popular and controversial column \u003ci\u003e¡Ask a Mexican!\u003c\/i\u003e and the locale that spawned him. It is a tale of growing up in an immigrant enclave in a crime-ridden neighborhood, but also in a promised land, a place that has nourished America's soul and Gustavo's family, both in this country and back in Mexico, for a century. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Nationally bestselling author, syndicated columnist, and the spiciest voice of the Mexican-American community, Gustavo Arellano delivers the hilarious and poignant follow-up to \u003ci\u003e¡Ask a Mexican!, \u003c\/i\u003e his critically acclaimed debut. \u003ci\u003eOrange County\u003c\/i\u003e not only weaves Gustavo's family story with the history of Orange County and the modern Mexican-immigrant experience but also offers sharp, \u003ci\u003ecaliente\u003c\/i\u003e insights into a wide range of political, cultural, and social issues.","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51814745571559,"sku":"9781416540052","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/imageloader_7f649027-63db-48c7-9454-b1e3231ba6bc.jpg?v=1771903765"},{"product_id":"ask-a-mexican","title":"Ask a Mexican!","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom award-winning columnist and favorite talking head Gustavo Arellano, comes this explosive, irreverent, smart, and hilarious \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e¡Ask a Mexican!\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eis a collection of questions and answers from Gustavo Arellano that explore the clichés of lowriders, busboys, and housekeepers; drunks and scoundrels; heroes and celebrities; and most important, millions upon millions of law-abiding, patriotic American citizens and their illegal-immigrant cousins who represent some $600 billion in economic power. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAt a strong eighteen percent of the U.S. population, Latinos have become America's largest minority--and Mexicans make up a large part of that number. Gustavo confronts the bogeymen of racism, xenophobia, and ignorance prompted by such demographic changes through answering questions put to him by readers of his \u003ci\u003e¡Ask a Mexican!\u003c\/i\u003e column in California's \u003ci\u003eOC Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e. He challenges readers to find a more entertaining way to understand Mexican culture that doesn't involve a taco-and-enchilada combo. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom lighter topics like Latin pop and great Mexican food to more serious issues like immigration and race relations, \u003ci\u003e¡Ask a Mexican!\u003c\/i\u003e ​runs the gamut. \u003ci\u003eWhy do Mexicans call white people gringos? Are all Mexicans Catholic? What's the best tequila? \u003c\/i\u003eGustavo answers a wide range of legitimate and illegitimate questions, in the hopes of making a few readers angry, making most of us laugh, sparking a greater dialogue, and enhancing cross-cultural understanding.","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52085410988263,"sku":"9781416540038","price":18.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0449\/4075\/5096\/files\/imageloader_eedffcb2-1ad4-4759-a1ec-462d1c7d683e.jpg?v=1779310784"}],"url":"https:\/\/arvidabookco.com\/collections\/read-oc.oembed","provider":"Arvida Book Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}