Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-213) and index
pt. 1. Politics, Poetics, and the Residual Precursors, 1848-1958. 1. Borders, Bullets, and Ballads: The Social Making of a Master Poem. 2. Américo Paredes, Tradition, and the First Ephebe: A Poetic Meditation on the Epic Corrido. 3. With His Pistol in His Hand: The Essay as Strong Sociological Poem -- pt. 2. Social Conflict, Emergent Poetry, and the New Ephebes. 4. Chicano Poetry and Politics: The Later Recognition of the Precursor. 5. My Old Man's Ballad: José Montoya and the Power Beyond. 6. The Daemonizing Epic: Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales and the Poetics of Chicano Rebellion. 7. Juan Gómez-Quiñones: The Historian in the Poet and the Poetic Form of Androgyny -- App A. Harold Bloom: An Exposition and Left Critique -- App B. Juan Gomez-Quinones, "Canto al Trabajador" -- App C. Juan Gómez-Quiñones, "The Ballad of Billy Rivera