Border crossings and beyond

Carmen Haydée Rivera

Best known as the author of The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros is recognized as one the most important contemporary U.S. writers. In this book, the author examines the ways in which issues of cultural and racial identity are reflected in Cisneros' writing and social activism. She looks at Cisneros' creative process when writing novels and analyzes her poetry collections, highlighting the distinctions that she makes between the two forms of writing. The author concludes with a discussion of Cisneros' role as an activist involved in community affairs, particularly those related to the development of Latino/a lives. This book is a revealing and multi-faceted portrait of Cisneros as writer, woman, and Mexican American.