"Luminous.[Rodriguez's] insights, irony and descriptions make the
writing richly evocative."--Publishers Weekly

"Days of Obligation looks into Americanorth and south of the Rio Grandeas
penetratingly and eloquently as Camus did when he compared the mental landscapes
of France and Algiers."--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"The best American essayist as far as I'm concerned.[Rodriguez] doesn't kowtow to
political correctness. He shuns the pack, rides alone. He writes a lonely line of
individualism, the grandeur and grief of the American soul."--Village Voice

In a series of ten essays, spanning five centuries of history, beginning with the conquest
of Mexico by Hermn Corts and ending in 1992 San Francisco. Rodriguez explores the
conflicts of race, religion, and cultural identity for Mexican-Americans across the landscape
of his beloved California.

The book's "argument" poses Mexico and the United States as moral rivals. Mexico wears
the mask of tragedy, the United States wears the mask of comedy. By the end of the book,
the reader recognizes an historical irony: the United States is becoming a culture of tragedy;
Mexico, meanwhile, revels in youthful optimism. Mexico and the United States have changed
roles.