Real revolution in language is taking the stranger’s tongue and using it better than he.— Richard Rodriguez HUNGER OF MEMORY The Education of Richard Rodriguez By Richard Rodriguez Bantam, 1982 Memoir Astounding. Superb. A Triumph. The difficult journey of an immigrant child struggling to navigate two cultures, two languages, two worlds is the same now as it was in the 1960’s and 1970's. The struggle to learn a new language, to be accepted, to belong to the new world takes a toll on the child and can often threaten the bonds of family and culture. Such is Richard’s story. HUNGER OF MEMORY is the story of Mexican-American Richard Rodriguez, who begins his schooling in Sacramento, California, knowing just 50 words of English, and concludes his university studies in the stately quiet of the reading room of the British Museum. Here is the poignant journey of a “minority student” who pays the cost of his social assimilation and...