Zapatas Disciple

The ferocious acumen with which the award-winning poet Martn Espada attacks issues of social injustice in Zapatas Disciple makes it no surprise that the book has been the subject of bans in both Arizona and Texas, targeted for its presence in the Mexican American Studies curriculum of Tucsons schools and for its potential to incite a riot among Texas prison populations. This new edition of Zapatas Disciple, which won the 1999 Independent Publisher Book Award for Essay / Creative Nonfiction, opens with an introduction in which the author chronicles this history of censorship and continues his lifelong fight for freedom of expression. A dozen of Espadas poems, tender and wry as theyare powerful, interweave with essays that address the denigration of the Spanish language by American cultural arbiters, castigate Nike for the exploitation of its workers, reflect upon National Public Radios censorship of Espadas poem about Mumia Abu- Jamal, and more. Zapatas Disciple is a potent assault on the continued marginalization of Latinos and other poor and workingclass citizens in American society, and the collection breathes with a revolutionary zeal that is as relevant now as when it was first published.