Days of Obligation

Richard Rodriguez: a master of the personal essay, has authored three books of intensely private memory woven with considerations of the great public issues of our time. He describes Hunger of Memory, Days of Obligation, Brown as a trilogy on class, ethnicity, and race, respectively. His most recent book is Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography. Rodriquez’s books have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Award. His television essays on American life for The PBS NewsHour were recognized with a Peabody Award. He also has written and hosted documentaries on California and Mexico for U.S. and British television. He was a longtime contributor to Harper’s Magazine and the Los Angeles Times. Rodriguez has lived most of his life in California.

FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE"In it's most powerful passages, Days of Obligation reveals the writer as a tightrope walker who balances pessimism and the defeat of predictable expectations against the discovery of the profoundly unanticipated." - The New York Times"Rodriguez's moral and aesthetic imagination guarantees that this beautiful book will linger long after the polemics in the culture wars subside. " - Kirkus Reviews

• Days of ObligationIntroduction: My Parent's VillageChapter One: IndiaChapter Two: Late VictoriansChapter Three: Mexico's ChildrenChapter Four: In Athens OnceChapter Five: The MissionsChapter Six: The Head of Joaquin MurrietaChapter Seven: SandChapter Eight: AsiansChapter Nine: The Latin American NovelChapter Ten: Nothing Lasts a Hundred Years