Herman Badillo - New Book

New Book

His first published book, written at age 77 and released on December 28, 2006, One Nation, One Standard: An Ex-Liberal on How Hispanics Can Succeed Just Like Other Immigrant Groups, Penguin (December 28, 2006), hardcover, 256 pages, ISBN 1-59523-019-X, ISBN 978-1-59523-019-5, generated major controversy within the Latino community before it was even published because of an inflammatory article in the New York Post (Dec. 19, 2006, p. 8) announcing its release. In the book, Badillo criticizes what he perceives as a lax work ethic among Hispanics, who he contends do not value education as much as other historically impoverished, but successful, immigrants, such as Asian-Americans.

In contrast to the support he gave to bi-lingual education during his early career, his book attacks what he describes as obstacles to assimilation, such as bilingual education, and urges Hispanics to eschew government solutions and adopt instead the cultural values that have made previous generations of American immigrants prosperous and successful. His view is that Hispanics will soon make up 25% of the population of the United States and that their failure to excel would be tragic for them and the nation.