"A timely . . . edition of a . . . work in Latino literature, National Book Award nominee Gary Soto's first collection (originally published in 1977) draws on California's fertile San Joaquin Valley, the people, the place, and the hard agricultural work done there by immigrants. In these poems, joy and anger, violence and hope are placed in both the metaphorical and very real circumstances of the Valley. Rooted in personal experiences--of the poet as a young man, his friends, family, and neighbors--the poems are spare but expansive. This . . . edition has been expanded with a . . . selection of complementary poems (some previously unpublished) and an . .. introduction by the author"--Provided by publisher.
