Hard Knocks: Memoir of a Small Moment is the story of one man's dynamic journey through life from birth until the day after his twenty-first birthday. It takes place during the 1960s and 1970s on Long Island in New York. From a Latino background, he takes us through his cultural confusion, as his parents tried to assimilate within a predominantly white community, and his confrontation with overt racism at school. It details the abusive environment he faced in Catholic school, his growing anger, and his fall into childhood alcoholism and delinquency. The Vietnam War, counterculture, and science provide a constant background for his growing awareness, choices,