Aug 6, 2026 · 25 min · 13 segments
Over forty years after *The House on Mango Street* came out, Sandra Cisneros is still hearing from readers about how her words healed them. In this episode, the award-winning writer shares the books…
Sandra CisnerosGuest
Virginia MarshallHost
Adjoa AduseiHostAnd I heard you also wanted to talk about, um, the Indigenous people's history of the United States.
I love this book by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz because, like, you know, we think about and celebrate, we've just celebrated the 250th anniversary of the United States, but we forget that, you know, that when pilgrims landed, there were people here.
They n- had networks that connected communities from coast to coast, from the top of Canada all the way to Tierra del Fuego.
There were networks of communities and civilizations existing for millennia.
Uh, so it's beautiful history, especially right now when we're so conflicted about borders, to read about this land and the communities that lived here and, uh, their relationships to one another across from Canada all the way south.
Um, she was talking about, like, what prompted her to write that book was when Howard Zinn came out with his People's History of the United States, and he had just one chapter, even just, like, half a chapter maybe, mentioning the Indigenous people's story.
Like, I don't know that history." So this idea that she was actually filling in so much, and then when I read it, it's like, it goes back so, so long.
And I heard you also wanted to talk about, um, the Indigenous people's history of the United States.
I love this book by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz because, like, you know, we think about and celebrate, we've just celebrated the 250th anniversary of the United States, but we forget that, you know, that when pilgrims landed, there were people here.
They n- had networks that connected communities from coast to coast, from the top of Canada all the way to Tierra del Fuego.
There were networks of communities and civilizations existing for millennia.
Uh, so it's beautiful history, especially right now when we're so conflicted about borders, to read about this land and the communities that lived here and, uh, their relationships to one another across from Canada all the way south.
Um, she was talking about, like, what prompted her to write that book was when Howard Zinn came out with his People's History of the United States, and he had just one chapter, even just, like, half a chapter maybe, mentioning the Indigenous people's story.
Like, I don't know that history." So this idea that she was actually filling in so much, and then when I read it, it's like, it goes back so, so long.
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