Desert America: Boom and Bust in the New Old West (Metropolitan Books) Rubén Martínez, the acclaimed author of Crossing Over and the Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing at Loyola Marymount University, will discuss and sign his revelatory new book on the 21st century American West, Desert America. "No book that I've read in the last twenty years has inspired so much genuine hope for the future of the West." —Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz "Most people experience the desert by car—they drive, stop to get gas, drive on, and after a while, they don’t see it anymore. Now the big plan is to cover the desert with solar panels and in ten years or less, it will all be gone, just like that. Maybe then, Rubén Martínez’s testament will be as close as you can get to the living feel of this beautiful land. After reading, I bet you’ll want to drive out there and take a look. But you better hurry." —Ry Cooder, guitarist, singer, composer, and author of Los Angeles Stories "Martínez offers reportage beyond the simple binaries of the immigration issue or the drug war. He delivers a lively, compassionate intervention into our collective conception of the Southwest… This thoughtful and well-written account intimately explores the convolutions of racism and class conflict that have come to define a divided America." —Publishers Weekly Rubén Martínez, an Emmy-winning journalist and poet, is the author of Crossing Over and The New Americans. He lives in Los Angeles, where he holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing at Loyola Marymount University.