A new book by award winning journalist and author Ruben Martinez focuses on the American Southwest and the population and cultural changes it has witnessed over the past decade. Weaving in his own experience of living in a number of South western cities with his unique historical analysis, Martinez paints complex and lyrical pictures of race and art, immigration and natural beauty, drug abuse and gentrification. His book, entitled Desert America: Boom and Bust in the New Old West, is described by Kirkus Reviews as “[a] savage journey into terror, cacti, drugs, desperation and all-around anomie in the superheated atmosphere of the desert Southwest… A necessary chronicle of a weird corner of America.”

On September 25, 2012, Uprising host Sonali Kolhatkar spoke with Ruben Martinez, Emmy winning journalist, Lannan Foundation fellow, poet, and author. His books include Crossing Over and The New Americans. He currently holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing at Loyola Marymount University.

Watch a video of the interview here:

Bipasha Shom recorded this interview.