The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love was a popular and critical success as soon as it was first published in 1989. It was heavily promoted by its publisher, Farrar Straus and Giroux, a fact that Nicholas Kanellos made note of in his review for The American Review: "a 40,000 copy first hard-cover printing, a $50,000 national marketing campaign, 100% national co-op advertising, rights sold in advance to England, France, Finland, Germany, Holland and Italy, extensive exposure at the American Booksellers Association. . ." Kanellos went on to observe that this extensive promotion "has paid off, with glowing reviews in all the right places, from Time and The New York Times to Publishers Weekly and Kirkus; and the first Pulitzer prize for fiction to a Latino. And," he added, "The Mambo Kings is worth it. This is the best Hispanic book ever published by a large commercial press."

While the book is...