Raúl R. Salinas is regarded as one of today's most important Chicano poets and human rights activists, but his passage to this place of distinction took him through four of the most brutal prisons in the country. His singular journey from individual alienation to rage to political resistance reflected the social movements occurring inside and outside of prison, making his story both personal and universal. This groundbreaking collection of Salinas' journalism and personal correspondence from his years of incarceration and following his release provides a unique perspective into his spiritual, intellectual, and political metamorphosis. The book also offers an insider's view of the prison rebellion movement and its relation to the civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s and 1970s. The numerous letters between Salinas and his family, friends, and potential allies illustrate his burgeoning political awareness of the cause and conditions of his and his comrades' incarceration and their link to the larger political and historical web of social relations between dominant and subaltern groups. These collected pieces, as well as two interviews with Salinas—one conducted upon his release from prison in 1972, the second more than two decades later—reveal to readers the transformation of Salinas from a street hipster to a man seeking to be a part of something larger than himself. Louis Mendoza has painstakingly compiled a body of work that is autobiographical, politically insurgent, and representative.

raúlrsalinas and the Jail Machine: My Weapon Is My Pen (History, Culture And Society)

Literature & Fiction

Salinas, Raúl

Essays & Correspondence

University of Texas Press

This collection documents Raul Salinas' years spent working with the American Indian Movement in the 1970s and 1980s.

Indio Trails: A Xicano Odyssey through Indian Country

Poetry

Wings Press

Poetry. Music. Latino/Latina Studies. LOS MANY MUNDOS, the first spoken word CD by Xicanindio poet provocateur Raul Salinas, is now available due to a joint effort by Chicano publishers Calaca Press and Red Salmon Press -- and is newly available from SPD. Salinas is a sexagenarian activist, ex-prisoner, and native of Texas whose tough and stunningly vivid poetry chronicles the grassroots struggles of those whom Franz Fanon termed wretched of the earth. LOS MANY MUNDOS features the Taco Shop Poets rhythm section of Mikey Figgins (bass and trumpet) and Kevin Green (drums and piano) -- with a special appearance by Austin's Jazzmanian Devil, saxophonist Tom s Ram¡rez -- who weave a seamless aural tapestry for Salinas. The CD contains stunning cover art by Austin artist Joyce DiBona as well as liner notes by Abel Salas. Raul Salinas's critically acclaimed 1995 book of poetry and incendiary letters, EAST OF THE FREEWAY, is also available from SPD.

Los Many Mundos of Raulrsalinas: Un Poetic Jazz Viaje Con Friends

Dramas & Plays

Calaca Press

War brings together groups of men and women who, under different circumstances, would never meet. They form symbiotic friendships. Some last as long as a single frame in a film, there one moment, gone the next: dead or critically wounded. Others are shaped by a 50 ton drop forge hammer. Three or four pounding blows, and an intricate part of a team is shaped, much like a clutch finger, a tie rod or a shifting lever. A few take a long time to shape and form. And just when they do, it's time to say goodbye.

The Bearcats: They, Too, Are the Greatest Generation

Contemporary

AuthorHouse

Here is the long-awaited second edition of a pioneer work of Chicano literature, originally published as a collection in 1980 after individual poems by Salinas had appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers and anthologies from the 1960s through the 1970s. These fifteen years of poetry forged in the heat of the Chicano Movement (a period Salinas spent, in part, in prison) reveal the growing politicization of intelligent and talented minority convicts incarcerated at a time when their communities were marching forward. Prison bars were not strong enough to limit Salinas's highly lyric, even rhapsodic calls for liberation--poems inspired by jazz, the Beat writers, nature, and political skirmishes.

Un Trip Through the Mind Jail y Otras Excursiones (Pioneer (Arte Publico)) (English and Spanish Edition)

Raulrsalinas

United States

Arte Publico Press

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Books by Salinas, Raúl