In 1981 Richard Rodriguez burst onto the publishing scene with his autobiography, Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez . Its success can be attributed to the author's antagonism to bilingual education and affirmative action and the media's attention to these issues. Beyond its notoriety, however, the book is significant because Rodriguez reveals himself with frankness and sensitivity.

Prior to 1981 Rodriguez published portions of Hunger of Memory in the Columbia Forum (1973), American Scholar (1974), College English (1978), and other journals. In recent years he has written several articles. "The Head of Joaquin Murrieta" (Nuestro, November 1985) takes as its subject the nineteenth-century California folk bandit supposedly shot by rangers who verified their deed by placing his severed head in a jar of alcohol. In his account of the legend and its survival, Rodriguez wryly interprets California and its search for a past. In "California Christmas Carols" (California , December 1983), a vignette reminiscent of...