The Captain of All These Men of Death

Fiction. LatinoLatina Studies. When Robert Contreras attempts to enlist tofight in World War II his medical examination reveals that he hastuberculosis and he i... » 

Fiction. LatinoLatina Studies. When Robert Contreras attempts to enlist tofight in World War II his medical examination reveals that he hastuberculosis and he is committed to a frightful sanatorium. Amid his relapsesand recoveries he meets a series of women who have a profound effect on hislife a mysterious French doctor a captivating patient and a sinisteracquaintance from a Los Angeles barrio. Meanwhile a hospital newsletterdelivers articles describing the various ways in which tuberculosis patientshave been treated throughout history whether that was with deep compassionostracism and alienation or shocking barbarism. The author equates thesepractices to heinous modernday medical experimentation and the superstitiouspagan practices of witchcraft and satanism in California barrios. «