East of East: The Making of Greater El Monte, is an edited collection of thirty-one essays that trace the experience of a California community over three centuries, from eighteenth-century Spanish colonization to twenty-first century globalization. Employing traditional historical scholarship, oral history, creative nonfiction and original art, the book provides a radical new history of El Monte and South El Monte, showing how interdisciplinary and community-engaged scholarship can break new ground in public history. East of East tells stories that have been excluded from dominant historical narratives—stories that long survived only in the popular memory of residents, as well as narratives that have been almost completely buried and all but forgotten. Its cast of characters includes white vigilantes, Mexican anarchists, Japanese farmers, labor organizers, civil rights pioneers, and punk rockers, as well as the ordinary and unnamed youth who generated a vibrant local culture at dances and dive bars.
Contributions by: Carribean Fragoza, Romeo Guzmán, Alex Sayf Cummings, Ryan Reft, Aurelie Roy, Maria John, Karen Wilson, Daniel Lynch, Daniel Cady, Yesenia Barragan, Mark Bray, Melquiades Fernandez, Rachel Newman, Nick Juravich, Juan Herrera, Adam Goodman, Daniel Morales, Daniel Medina, Andre Kobayashi Deckrow, David Reid, Jennifer Renteria, Michael Weller, Jude Webre, Troy Andreas Araiza Kokinis, Apolonio Morales, Stacy I. Macías, Michael Jaime-Becerra, Alex Espinoza, Toni Margarita Plummer, Salvador Plascencia, Wendy Cheng
