Author Ruben Martinez shares a very personal take on desert communities of the Southwest in his book “Desert America: Boom and Bust in the New Old West.” He explores the economic and cultural contradictions in these Southwestern communities with host Maria Hinojosa.

Click here to download this week’s show. Image courtesy of KCET (creative commons).

A native of Los Angeles and the son and grandson of immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador, Rubén Martínez is a writer, performer and teacher. He holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing at Loyola Marymount University, and is an artist in residence at Stanford University’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts. He is the author of: Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail, The New Americans: Seven Families Journey to Another Country and The Other Side: Notes from the New L.A., Mexico City and Beyond. His new book, Desert America: Boom and Bust in the New Old West is now available in hardcover from Metropolitan/Holt Books.