Our Migrant Souls

A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino”

By: Héctor Tobar

Narrated by: André Santana

Long-listed, New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Carnegie Medal, 2024

Finalist, Kirkus Prize, 2023

Long-listed, NPR Best Book of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, CPL: Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, 2023

Long-listed, Audible.com Best of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Time Magazine Best Books of the Year, 2023

Long-listed, Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year 2023

A new audiobook by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer about the twenty-first-century Latino experience and identity.

"Latino" is the most open-ended and loosely defined of the major race categories in the United States. Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of "Latino" assembles the Pulitzer Prize winner Héctor Tobar's personal experiences as the son of Guatemalan immigrants and the stories told to him by his Latinx students to offer a spirited rebuke to racist ideas about Latino people. Our Migrant Souls decodes the meaning of "Latino" as a racial and ethnic identity in the modern United States, and seeks to give voice to the angst and anger of young Latino people who have seen latinidad transformed into hateful tropes about "illegals" and have faced insults, harassment, and division based on white insecurities and economic exploitation.

Investigating topics that include the US-Mexico border "wall," Frida Kahlo, urban segregation, gangs, queer Latino utopias, and the emergence of the cartel genre in TV and film, Tobar journeys across the country to expose something truer about the meaning of "Latino" in the twenty-first century.

A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

©2022 Héctor Tobar (P)2022 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

Short-listed, 2023 Kirkus Prize Finalists

Personal stories and factual history blended into one book

The ability to mix in the stories of actual people the author interviewed and shared experiences with, along with the telling of historical events and the misconceptions of a migrant, is beautiful.

A thoughtful exploration of Latinidad.

Tobar traverses the nation like an explorer hearing stories of identity and survival and distills it all into this revelatory book that will make you think about race in a new way.

Loved!

This book was an amazing way to rethink my family history and become curious about the history of my people. Highly recommend!

Such a beautiful and important book

I was lucky to hear Mr. Tobar speak at the LA Library’s “Aloud” series and was motivated to get the book.
He is a beautiful writer, clearly gifted in both fiction and nonfiction, because his style in this book blends the two. He looks at culture and the immigrant experience on both a macro and a micro level— giving the reader much to think about, and even to act on in our daily lives here in Los Angeles.

A true American history

A must read for all of America. He takes a look at a human side of a disgraceful part of our history, and what we are doing, the other human beings.

The whole book was good from the beginning, to the end.

I liked everything and disliked nothing. One of the best books I’ve read so far.

Powerful storytelling

Beautiful prose present a picture of what it means to be Latino/a in America.

Plays in the idea of “we are the victims.”

I’m Colombian-born, and similar to so many of Tobar’s stories, landed in the USA at the age of 7. While I agree with many of the struggles written about in this book, I felt like Tobar portrays Latinos as victims. I felt a visceral disagreement with so many of his views.