Suave: The Latin Male Book

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Summary: !Que Hombres Guapisimos!
Review: This book could have been called "The Ultimate Book of Famous Hispanic Men." Almost everyone is here (except John Leguizamos, surprisingly). They show the living and deceased, young men and viejos, actors and politicians, etc. This book will make you think very expansively about who is the Latino Man. It includes photos of Sammy Davis Jr. (wasn't he black?), Holly Woodlawn (wasn't "she" white and "female"?) and Freddy Prinze Jr. (isn't he white American?). The authors provide very little analytical insight to the photo spread and unfortunately almost everyone is fully clad here. Still, it's a cute little edition for anyone's Latino Studies collection. (And yes: most of the men in it are killer hot!)

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Summary: Beefcake masquerading as cultural awareness
Review: This book is a bit frustrating because it is the kind of book we need, but it does not really fulfill its potential. On one hand I think it is wonderful to have a book about the cultural contributions of Latin males, since the Hispanic population of this country is growing rather rapidly and Hispanic males are often vilified, on the other hand I think that defining Hispanic men by their style alone is not the best route to go. For example, is Cesar Chavez (pictured in this book) really remembered for the way he dressed or for the way he used Gandhian ideals, fasted in protest, and inspired migrant workers to stand up for their rights? He has a holiday in the state of California, and I'm sure that on that day no one discusses what he wore to his protests.

On the other hand, this book is to be commended for the inclusiveness of its definition of "Latin." In recent decades the terms "Latin" and "Latino" have come to mean only "Hispanic." People forget, or perhaps never knew, that the very word "Latin" comes from the group of people known as the "Latinis" who lived in what is now Rome (Italy) and who spoke the Latin language from which Italian, Spanish, French, and Portuguese are derived. From Italy, the Latin culture spread to Spain, then moved to the Americas. This book, interestingly, seems to realize how vast the Latin culture is, and includes pictures of: Pele (Brazil), Antonio Banderas (Spain), Valentino (Italy), and even Juan Peron (Argentina), as well as the "manditory" pictures of Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias.

This book could use a little, actually, a lot, more biography with each man pictured. This book is to be commended for its inclusive definition of "Latin," but should not be taken too seriously because it seems to view the achievements of Latin men only in the context of what they wore and how they looked (can we help it if we are usually good looking men? We are often smart as well). In most cases, no biography is given for the men pictured. Only their names and occupations are listed near their glossy pictures.

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Summary: NewsFlash!
Review: This is a response to help clear up any questions from the previous review and to add some comments of my own. Sammie Davis Jr is half Puerto Rican and African American; and yes he can be black in the respect that Roberto Clemente is black, but he's a black Puerto Rican. Which are two different things entirely. Hooray for the efforts of colonialism, the salve trade, and double consciousness! Reggie Jackson and Maxwell are both half Puerto Rican as well. Freddie Prinze Jr., the son of the late comedian Freddie Prinze, who was half Puerto Rican and half Hungarian (a "Hungarican"), is more on the gringo side. If anything his father is more deserving of a feature. Also there is Rita Hayworth aka Margarita Carmen Cansino, I guess sometimes youve got to play gringo to get by. Afterall, look at Charlie Sheen, Cameron Diaz, and Christina Aguilera.