". . . well-conceived, clearly organized, and lucidly written."—Louis 
Mendoza, University of Texas–San Antonio

". . . couches the Latino rationale in sensitive, evocative vignettes of 
mother, father, and family love in the Latino community. . . . 
successfully contributes one of the few such book-length pro-Latino 
identity commentaries in a literary genre."—Andrés Tijerina, Austin 
Community College

Now that Latinos are the most numerous ethnic minority in the 
United States and a growing part of the middle and professional 
classes, Latinos can see that their sun is rising. Working within a 
traditional Aztec framework of "suns" or days, Marco Portales looks 
through the window of individual life onto the "morning" (sol naciente) 
of growing up as a minority member of American society, the 
"noontime" (sol ardiente) of private adult life and the transmission of 
identity to a new generation, and the full heat of afternoon (sol 
radiante), when public business is done and the larger polity is 
addressed.

    In a society that often asks people to choose between their 
American and Mexican identities, Portales inscribes himself into his 
people's experience, remaining fully aware that no one person's story 
can embody the great worth and potential of all U.S. Latinos.

_________________________________________________________

MARCO PORTALES, a professor of English at Texas A&M, holds a 
Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo, SUNY. He is the author of a 
number of works.