For anyone interested in learning more about the history (primarily Mexican, Mexican-American) or some of the themes in Decent People, here’s a short list of recs written by subject-matter experts.

There’s a broad arc to this list, starting with colonialism across Latin America and ending with contemporary Mexico. 

• Open Veins of Latin America: How Latin American countries were originally looted, the way that morphed over generations, and the lingering effects.   

• Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America: A deep dive into the Latino presence in America and how America’s role in Latin American countries shaped migration to the US. 

• Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands: About the magonistas and other rebels who started the Mexican revolution. Plus, why Mexico was the “laboratory” of US imperialism.

• Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution: A short primer with great stories about some of the women who shaped the revolution. 

• The Femicide Machine: Covers the conditions that led to femicides and the reasons for impunity. 

• Grieving: Dispatches from a Wounded Country: A view of modern systemic violence in Mexico by one of Mexico’s finest intellectuals.

This is a small snippet of what exists on these topics. These are all worth reading, but if you can only read one, start with the last one on the list.   

• Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny: This offers a clear understanding of misogyny and its relation to patriarchy.

• Girls & Sex: What young women contend with, plus a bit about where that comes from. It’s not surprising (to women), but it connects the dots well.  

• Boys & Sex: What shapes a young guy and his ideas of sex and intimacy, and what that encourages/produces.    

• The Will to Change: This was the best and most accessible book I found on how to address the issue of patriarchy and what it does to men, along with some thoughts on how to begin to change that.