Join us for a conversation with Chesa Boudin author of Gringo: A Coming of Age in Latin America. Gringo charts the sweeping transformation of Latin American politics starting with Hugo Chávez’s inauguration as president of Venezuela in 1999 and the rise to power of a new generation of progressive Latin American leaders.
Including incisive analysis, brilliant reportage, and deep humanity, Gringo is a revelatory look at the sweeping change. It weaves together the voices of Latin Americans, some rich, most poor, and the endeavors of a young traveler to understand the world around him while coming to terms with his own complicated past.
"In Gringo, Chesa Boudin takes us on a delightfully engaging trip through Latin America, in an ingenious combination of memoir and commentary. The personal story is unflinchingly honest, and the political judgments nuanced and thoughtful. Latin America is at the outer edge of consciousness in this country, and Chesa Boudin brings it back to our attention, eloquently and vigorously."
– Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States
This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling 312.413.5353.
More About Chesa Boudin
Chesa Boudin is a twenty-eight year old Rhodes Scholar with degrees from Oxford and Yale Universities. He has contributed to The Nation magazine, coauthored The Venezuelan Revolution: 100 Questions and 100 Answers, and co-edited Letters from Young Activists. His most recent publication is Gringo: A Coming of Age in Latin America.
More About Gringo: A Coming of Age in Latin America
"This marvelous voyage of personal discovery provides a vivid portrait of the richness and diversity of Latin America, its wonders and suffering, the courage and irrepressible spirit of its people, as they are revealed to a thoughtful and sensitive eye during the most exciting and hopeful decade since the European conquests. It is an enthralling account, stimulating and provocative."
– Noam Chomsky, linguist, scholar and activist
"Gringo might well be Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London for the Millennial Generation, except that instead of Paris and London, it’s Caracas and Quito and the Amazon Basin."
– Russell Banks, author of Cloudsplitter and Dreaming Up America
"This superb travel memoir has the benefit of an appealingly honest, intelligent and reliable narrator, whose humorous self-scrutiny and compassionate insights bridge two worlds with extraordinary tact. I found it engrossing, moving and compulsively readable."
– Phillip Lopate, author of The Art of the Personal Essay
This event is co-sponsored by The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Latin American and Latino Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago, and The Public Square.
For more information, call 312.413.5353.