There’s no question that celebrities these days are some of the most prominent faces of philanthropic activity—yet their participation raises questions about efficacy, motivations, and activism overall. This book presents case studies of celebrity philanthropy from around the globe—including such figures as Shakira, Arundhati Roy, Zhang Ziyi, Bono, and Madonna—looking at the tensions between celebrity activism and ground-level work and the relationship between celebrity philanthropy and cultural citizenship.

A woman living and communicating in multiple lands, Susana Chávez-Silverman conveys her cultural and linguistic displacement in humorous, bittersweet, and even tangible ways in this truly bilingual literary work. These meditative and lyrical pieces combine poignant personal confession, detailed daily observation, and a memorializing drive that shifts across time and among geocultural spaces. The author’s inventive and flamboyant use of Spanglish, a hybrid English-Spanish idiom, and her adaptation of the confessional "crónica" make this memoir compelling and powerful. Killer Crónicas confirms that there is no Latina voice quite like that of Susana Chávez-Silverman.

Includes a chapter that was awarded first prize in El Andar magazine’s Chicano Literary Excellence Contest in the category of personal memoir.