Barrio America: How Latino Immigrants Saved the American City with Author A.K. Sandoval-Strausz

Join us for an evening with A. K. Sandoval-Strausz, author of Barrio America A. K. Sandoval-Strausz is Director of Latina/o Studies at Penn State University. He was born in New York City to immigrant parents, received his B.A. at Columbia, and went on to the University of Chicago for his Ph.D. He teaches courses in Latina/o Studies, immigration, and urbanism. He is a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar and a Distinguished Lecturer of the Organization of American Historians.

His research has been featured in the Washington Post, the New York Times, The Economist and many more publications. His first book, Hotel was awarded the 2008 American Historical Association-Pacific Coast Branch Book Prize and was named a Best Book of 2007 by Library Journal. He has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the New-York Historical Society, the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Huntington Library, and the Harvard Business School.

His new book, Barrio America: How Latino Immigrants Saved the American City, describes how migrants and immigrants helped bring urban American back from the brink of abandonment by repopulating city neighborhoods at a time when most people were still leaving. Reviewers have called it “enchanting…a a welcome narrative for our demoralizing political moment” (Slate), “ a “thoughtful, provocative, and well-written study of why Hispanics have been and continue to be vital to the health of American cities” (Library Journal), and “a tour-de-force historical account” (Commonweal).

This program is co-sponsored by CPL’s Latinx Heritage Committee and presented in honor of Latinx Heritage Month.