"Extraordinarily haunting and provocative." "--The Washington Post Book World"

"Rodriguez's account of his coming of age is vivid, raw....Here's truth no television set, burning night and day, could ever begin to offer." "--The New York Times Book Review"

"Rodriguez's life story is astonishing . . . It takes a heart broken open by a lifetime of sorrows to write with this wisdom and compassion. It takes a visionary to use this knowledge in service to those the world despises--troubled youth, the homeless, the incarcerated, the poor, the migrant--to be called back for those you love."

--Sandra Cisneros, author of "Caramelo" and "The House on Mango Street"

"This is a man who understands that 'giving back' is a natural thing to do--and does it in spades. My respect for his metamorphosis can only be described as awe."

--John Densmore, bestselling author of "Riders on the Storm: My Life with Jim Morrison and the Doors"

"Two decades ago Luis Rodriguez became a superhero in Chicano literature with his survivor's story of a gangbanger youth. Here, again, he beautifully details his not-so-ordinary life, its tragedies and graces, but now as a son, husband, father, a worker, journalist, and successful author. With "It Calls You Back", Rodriguez maps out his activist past and leads us into the future. Adelante!"

--Dagoberto Gilb, author of "The Flowers" and "Before the End, After the Beginning"