A Passing West

“Dagoberto Gilb is a national treasure. In these essays we ride with him on his mad journey—from high-rise construction worker to pioneering man of letters to unstoppable Latino literary force of nature.”—Héctor Tobar, author of Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino”

“The whole Southwest is his stage. He revisits childhood, marriage, literary snobbery, and Mexican history with rough care. Gilb’s trouble is authentic and the stuff of literary craftsmanship. No one writes like him.”—Gary Soto, author of A Simple Plan

“Un trip fantástico through the reading and the life of a celebrated Chicano writer: devastating in its honesty, stunning in its knowledge.”—Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez, author of One Day I’ll Tell You the Things I’ve Seen: Stories

“One of the most important American writers of his generation, Dagoberto Gilb has created exquisite works of fiction that have cast the Chicano experience as the site of the universal. In this collection of his nonfiction, Gilb displays that same mastery of prose, meditating on family, work, art, love, identity, and the very stuff that makes the human condition both confounding and exalting.”—Oscar Villalon, editor for ZYZZYVA

“Dagoberto Gilb’s A Passing West is a potent and incisive addition to American letters. His essays tackle matters such as racism, city life, education, the politics and history of Latinx publishing and writing, and the relationship between work and citizenship. His writings are both thought-provoking and passionate. Excellent!”—Yxta Maya Murray, author of The Queen Jade and God Went Like That

“One of the most powerful writers in his generation.”—Larry McMurtry