Bootstraps: From an American Academic of Color

by Victor Villanueva

Book Overview

Bootstraps is an unusual book: at one level it is autobiographical, detailing the life of an American of Puerto Rican extraction from his childhood in New York City to an academic post at a university. At another level, Villanueva ponders his experiences in light of the history of rhetoric, the English Only movement, current socio- and psycholinguistic theory, and the writings of Gramsci and Freire, among others.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814103774
• ISBN13: 9780814103777
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: National Council of Teachers of English (Ncte
• Length: 151 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 8.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Oye, comemierda: el autor es boriqua.

Of course, anyone who has actually read the book will know that Villanueva is from a Puerto Rican family, not a Mexican one.Not that it matters. This is an important book for anyone in English studies, not just rhetoric & composition. Read it now.

A Mexican who became a success, in spite of the odds!

This is a true story of the prejudice that Mexicans and people of color face in school and and in life. Luckily, he found a teacher who understood him, and gave him hope. Today, Victor Villanueva is a leader of his field, but still many people who would accept him if he was white, will not accept him because of his Mexican heritage.