The Short Stories of Fray Angelico Chavez

This edition does not collect all of Chavez's stories, but it does contain the full contents of both of Chavez's earlier collections, with some uncollected stories added in. In these stories, Chavez writes a history of his beloved New Mexico people, telling of how their proud Spanish heritage and God's blessing helps them through difficult times. Chavez may or not be a Chicano writer -- partly because New Mexicans were only briefly part of Mexico and partly because Chavez sees them as bearers of their Spanish lineage -- but he is certainly an important writer in the New Mexico literary tradition (Momaday, Silko, Castillo, Vea, et al.), especially as he uses his stories to combat early 20th century Anglo racism against Latinos. He is also an interesting Christian writer (he was a Franciscan priest and historian), weaving Spanish mysticism into his stories and connecting New Mexico itself with the Holy Land.