Branche examines the racially partisan works of the Luso-Hispanic canon. This book centers on writings of the negro in Portuguese travel writing, Spanish drama, and various texts from the Latin American colonial and postcolonial world from the 15th century to the 20th century. He determines how deep and how widespread were the feelings these works expressed. The book unpacks the concept of race-as-narrative. He points out the importance of race to national discourse both in metropoles and in their colonial and ex-colonial areas of influence.