Date Posted:20:18:08 04/01/03 Tue Author: Mt. Helathy Mountaineer Subject: ANHOW review of books: "Brown: The Last Discovery of America" by Richard Rodriguez
Published 2002 by Viking Penguin
Genre: Essay
Rodriguez is a San Francisco-based writer who was asked to write a book about being Hispanic in America. I doubt this was the book that the publisher had in mind when they asked. Rodriguez is a political maverick whose thesis is that America is becoming "Brown" - a mixture of Anglo, Hispanic, Black, Asian and whatever else you want to throw in. America can embrace this future (and probably will) or it can reject it and deny the reality that surrounds us all (and does it matter if you deny reality - it is still there).
I first hard of Rodriguez on C-Span. He was giving a speech at the Texas Book Fair created by Laura Bush. His speech was truly wonderful and I just had to find his book. I could go into detail on his observations, but you would much prefer if you would read it the way he put them in his book - his writing style is so fluid that he sneaks major concepts into your thoughts before you even realize that they are there. I seriously enjoyed this book - at the risk of sounding like the back of a book cover - here are some thoughts that crossed my mind while reading it - important, poignant, personal and filled with insights.
ANHOW review of books: "Brown: The Last Discovery of America" by Richard Rodriguez