La Raza Revisited

It took local author Manuel Ramos, best known for his Denver-centric crime fiction, ten years to finish King of the Chicanos, a novel that rides on the history of the Chicano movement of the ’60s. But he knew it was something he had to do. “I believed that some of...

By Susan Froyd

May 20, 2010

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It took local author Manuel Ramos, best known for his Denver-centric crime fiction, ten years to finish King of the Chicanos, a novel that rides on the history of the Chicano movement of the ’60s. But he knew it was something he had to do. “I believed that some of the history of that time period is being lost, and that it’s being re-created as a mythology that’s not real,” Ramos explains. “The people actually involved should tell their story, and I kept telling them that. But after a while they said, ‘You’re a writer. Why don’t you do it?’”

Ramos took on the challenge, slowly unraveling a fictional yarn about Ramón Hidalgo, a character who starts out as a migrant worker and ends up a radical activist and political leader. A personal saga as much as a historical one, the novel is imbued with an element of rich storytelling from someone who knows what he’s writing about.

Celebrate a project worth waiting for when Ramos reads from King of the Chicanos tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Tattered Cover, 2526 East Colfax Avenue. For more information, go to www.tatteredcover.com or call 303-322-7727.
Thu., May 20, 7:30 p.m., 2010

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Susan Froyd started writing for Westword as the "Thrills" editor in 1992 and never quite left the fold. These days she still freelances for the paper in addition to walking her dogs, enjoying cheap ethnic food and reading voraciously. Sometimes she writes poetry.

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