America Is in the Heart: A Personal History

by Carlos Bulosan and E. San Juan Jr.

Book Overview

First published in 1943, this classic memoir by well-known Filipino poet Carlos Bulosan describes his boyhood in the Philippines, his voyage to America, and his years of hardship and despair as an itinerant laborer following the harvest trail in the rural West.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 029595289X
• ISBN13: 9780295952895
• Release Date: January 1973
• Publisher: University of Washington Press
• Length: 327 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Timeless lessons written in a beautiful voice

I was surprised by the musicality that Bulosan writes in. His words appeal to what is just and good in both the soul and the mind. His cadence is unbelievably unique, and he writes of his experiences in a truly harrowing and original way. The subject matter can be very intense and dense, but Bulosan has a way of bringing out the beauty in the most desolate truths.

A beautifully-told tale of tragedy....

I first read AMERICA IS IN THE HEART as a young teenager in high school. Writer Carlos Bulosan goes the semi-autobiographical route to re-examine some of the most painful memories of his life, starting as a youth in the Philippines up to his last days on the West Coast of the United States. Carlos Bulosan, born on November 24, 1913 in Pangasinan, Philippines, came from a very poor background. His family had no choice but to work, collectively, while he and his siblings toiled in the fields of Pangasinan, and abroad in the United States, just so they could [barely] subsist on their earnings and scrap by. The main character, Allos, must relocate to the United States, to find work in various odd jobs (including the canneries of California and Washington state). He is faced with racism from all sides--Caucasians, exploitative Chinese and Japanese bosses, and just about everyone else. The darker your skin, the harder the discrimination fell on workers of the 1930s and 1940s. This came with strict laws again miscygenation. If you were Filipino, just speaking to a White woman could get you in a lot of hot water. Yet, in the face of all of this pain, Allos becomes involved as a labor organizer and demonstrator for the rights of exploited laborers. What's more, he meets and is reunited with friends and family, over the course of the story, and even finds friendship with a Caucasian woman, Mary. AMERICA IS IN THE HEART beautifully recounts the pain that faced countless laborers who arrived in the United States to bring in income for their families, in their countries. Many of the passages read like poetry, yet remain very accessable to people for whom the concept of the plight of migrant workers is a fairly foreign concept. Great reading.

Not really a review, but a sharing of experiences (sorta)

Essential reading? I dunno. Nonetheless, Bulosan's story is intensely personal and has historical weight in its documentation of the migrant experience. His isn't unique in any regard and you need only look around at the fields that hug the California freeways to catch a glimpse of migrant workers who are, to this day, living experiences similar to what Bulosan described then -- migrating up and down the coast, often without papers and in fear of authority; work conditions that can be intensely hot and bitterly cold, as well as low-paying and piecemeal; often overcramped living quarters; meager or no health services for those who suffer illness; rampant alcoholism and drug use to deaden one's existence. That the book was written several decades ago indicates that not much has changed, except for the major ethnicity of those in the fields. But enough about that. I acquired a copy of this book from a friend, from an affluent California family who had it assigned to her in a college class, which I believe was her own forced attempt to learn more about a Filipino now-ex-boyfriend's heritage. Her quick assessment: "boring." I, on the other hand, found it fascinating, because of the similar experiences my uncle went through prior to and during his time as a migrant worker in Dole's pineapple fields in the Marshall Islands: both my father and uncle described to me stories of being poverty-stricken working the land, then Japanese occupation driving them further into destitution, which eventually drove them to seek a better life in what Maxine Hong Kingston's relatives describe as "The Golden Mountain" in her book "China Men." My uncle related the harsh working conditions in the fields; the ethnic infighting (dark-skinned vs. "mestizos") and culture clashes among differing ethnic groups. His world didn't seem as brutal as Bulosan's, but the mere memory of my dad's and uncle's stories can be stirred up by reading passages from Bulosan's book. (My father's route took him to California by way of recruitment into the Navy prior to the Korean War; this is not covered in the book, although "America..." does cover laws and enactions that affected Filipinos in the preface.) My dear, departed godfathers where also migrant workers; I don't remember their stories, but I do remember visiting them in their migrant co-op housing in Oxnard, where I remember the smell of Jim Beam, pipe tobacco, and oranges, in the fields now covered over by parking lots and strip malls. To sum it up: Intensely personal story that might be lost on some readers (such as my friend); if you're Filipino, read this book. If you're of another ethnicity whose part of the migratory experience of California, it's worth reading for a comparison to other, similar stories.

The Manong Generation

This book is about my father, Dionisio U. Halog, an American Hero in WW2 as all of the Filipinos who fought for the red, white and blue. The manong generation is explicitly defined in Carlos's writings. My father was one of many who worked the plantations in Hawaii,Arizona and California and when the call to battle rang he joined many brave Filipino warriors do defend American honor. The racism inflicted on these proud men did not break their spirit as Carlos defines that spirit in his many examples. My father is buried in Golden Gate National cemetary with many heroes of our country. I thank Carlos Bulosan for his insight on this generation of proud men and I'm dammed proud tht I'm the son of one of them.

The spirit of immigrant struggle as revealed to a WASP.

As a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant male who planned to enter into the field of Human Services delivery in the mid-1970's I found Bulosan's book to be a most revealing and inspiring work. The almost spiritual quest for the mythical America in the face of racism in its multiple and treacherous manifestations has helped to shape my own pursuit of a social work career for more than 25 years.

A powerful tale every immigrant to America should read!

Bulosan is the voice of this era. If you must learn anything about Filipino-American history, read this beautiful prose. His autobiography reads like a novel! The first time I could barely put it down and have re-read passages over and over. The struggle he brings to life can touch any immigrant's soul. He is not only telling the story of his life history, but of the history of America's immigrant struggle. The story is universal in the humanity it brings to the reader.