Avant-Mier challenges binaries that present Latina/os as outsiders by shedding light on the 'forgotten' or 'ignored' place that Latina/os have had in making and influencing U.S. popular culture. His work is thorough and impressive. --Bernadette Calafell, author of Latina/o Communication Studies: Theorizing Performance

Author was interviewed on the New Books In Popular Music blog http://newbooksinpopmusic.com/2011/11/15/roberto-avant-mier-rock-the-nation-latino-identites-and-the-latin-rock-diaspora-continuum-2010/

"[Rock the Nation] sheds a new light on rock music's relevance to the Latino/Hispanic community and the stereotypes that surround both.The book takes the reader back through the ages of rock music while highlighting examples of Latino/Hispanic influence and even origins. Through his critical analysis of the rock music genre, Avant-Mier exposes the association of Latinos as outsiders while showing evidence of the Latino/Hispanic push both for and against American assimilation."-Dorchester Reporter

'For Roberto Avant-Mier, Latinos can rightfully claim to have belonged to the centre of rock's production from the beginning. By driving home the point that rock 'n' roll was born in cultural hybridity, Avant-Mier successfully and irrevocably overturns the 'persistent and prevalent Black/White dichotomy' that has long been the epistemological axis around which popular music research has revolved. In doing so, he aims to 'reclaim rock music and its history for Latino/as' and thus 'raise the question of how Latino/as fit with regard to our narratives of ''nation'' and national culture.' The end result is a fascinating, at times encyclopaedic history of Latino and Latin American contributions to rock's global trajectory, and an ambitious conceptual mapping for future research.'-Bulletin of Latin American Research