John Phillip Santos

Fine writing. Rings true to my time in San Antonio, The Valley and Northern Mexico. Rain Of Gold is a good companion piece.

Some of the chapters were slightly disjointed, obviously written as stand-alone pieces and only later folded into a chapter of this memoir. An important story of those that headed Norte, and the long generational echos of past choices and traumas.

The farthest home is in an empire of fire. A Tejano elegy is a freely exploratative autobiography tracing the author's Spanish and Amer-Indian ancestors. The writing style is light and unpretentious. Ultimately, the book is dissatiffactory because it lacks a clear focus and is too anecdotal.

Interesting romp through Santo's ancestry and mind.