David Río, Robert Laxalt: The Voice of the Basques in American Literatura . Translated by Kristin Addis. Reno: Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, Reno, 2007.
Robert Laxalt (1923-2001), an American-born writer of French Basque descent, is the literary spokesman of the Basque Americans. With his novels and non-fiction works on the Basques of the American West, and especially his highly successful and influential Sweet Promised Land , Laxalt ended the literary and even social invisibility of Basque immigrants in the U.S., rescuing them from silence and oblivion. His works served to highlight the figure of the Basque sheepherder in the American West, establishing himself as a literary archetype. Laxalt will be remembered for his several works set in the Basque Country as well, where he explores his roots and masterfully depicts the traditional way of life in the land of his ancestors.