Rose Hill
An Intermarriage before Its Time
by Carlos E. Cortés
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Pub Date Mar 01 2012 | Archive Date Jan 31 2014
Heyday | Inlandia
Description
A riveting memoir of cultural crossfire
The son of a Mexican Catholic father with aristocratic roots and a mother of Eastern European Jewish descent, Carlos Cortés grew up wedged between cultures, living a childhood in "constant crossfire-straddling borders, balancing loves and loyalties, and trying to fit into a world that wasn't quite ready." In some ways, even his family wasn't quite ready (for him). His request for a bar mitzvah sent his proud father into a cursing rage. He was terrified to bring home the Catholic girl he was dating, for fear of wounding his mother and grandparents. When he tried to join a high school fraternity, Christians wouldn't take him because he was Jewish, and Jews looked sideways at him because his father was Mexican.
In his new memoir, Rose Hill: An Intermarriage before Its Time, Cortés lovingly chronicles his family's tumultuous, decades-long spars over religion, class, and culture, from his early years in legally segregated Kansas City during the 1940s to his return to Berkeley (where his parents met) in the 1950s, and to his parents' separation, reconciliation, deaths, and eventual burials at the Rose Hill Cemetery. Cortés elevates the theme of intermarriage to a new level of complexity in this closely observed and emotionally fraught memoir adapted from his nationally successful one-man play, A Conversation with Alana: One Boy's Multicultural Rite of Passage.
Copublished with the Inlandia Institute
Advance Praise
“Carlos Cortés has written a memoir which matches the distinctive and diverse history of his family—an engaging and far-traveling story populated with irascible and loving relatives whose lives illustrate a uniquely American story.”
—Susan Straight, author of Take One Candle Light a Room
“A funny, honest, and ultimately celebratory look at what it
feels like to grow up in the American melting pot. This unique memoir is
not to be missed.”
—Whitney Terrell, author of The King of Kings County
“Part intrigue and mystery, part conflict and tension, part humor and
love, and ultimately, a tale of acceptance and redemption.”
—Sonia Nieto, author of Affirming Diversity
“An inspiring story filled with hopes and dreams, heartbreak and frustration, deception and betrayal, devotion, and love.”
—Chris Gifford, co-creator and executive producer for Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer and Go, Diego, Go!
“Amazing, funny, sad, and totally memorable. Fascination and enjoyment are guaranteed.”
—Barnett Helzberg Jr., author of What I Learned Before I Sold to Warren Buffett
“While Cortés offers what is, on one level, an intensely personal story, Rose Hill is chock-full of broader insight and universal wisdom.”
—Joseph Zolner, senior director, Harvard Institutes for Higher Education
“[Cortés] compels us to take a deeper look into our own life journey.”
—Ron Loveridge, mayor of Riverside and associate professor of political science, UC Riverside
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781597141888 |
| PRICE | $16.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 192 |
