LA HUELLA HISPANICA EN LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA

The history of the United States cannot be understood without Spain. And yet, the propaganda of the Black Legend has sought to erase our presence, reducing it to self-serving clichés and calculated silences. This book proposes a different strategy to dismantle these fabrications: to listen to what Americans themselves have said about Spain. From Charles F. Lummis in the 19th century to Richard L. Kagan or Felipe Fernández-Armesto in our own time, including Walt Whitman and Nobel laureate Pearl S. Buck, we find voices that recognize the Hispanic legacy as a fundamental foundation of the American nation; they vindicate historical truth and admit to having been educated in the distortion of our memory.Through a journey that spans the geography and the paths charted by Spain, the wars in which it left its mark, the place names that still speak in Spanish, the laws that shaped its institutions, and a gallery of figures who bridged the two shores of the Atlantic, this book recovers the hidden narrative: the United States of America is also a child of Spain. With over 62 million Americans of Hispanic origin and Spanish established as the second national language, Spain...s footprint can no longer be erased. The 250th anniversary of American independence offers us a unique opportunity to remember that, without Spain, the United States would be a different nation, poorer in history, culture, and identity. This work is, therefore, a plea against forgetfulness and a vindication of Hispanic pride. ...The truth is not imposed by shouting, but by facts. And the facts show that the future of America and Spain remains intertwined in a shared her tage....