Hernandez, Daniel and Susan Goldman Rubin. They Call Me a Hero: A Memoir of my Youth. Simon & Schuster BFYR, New York, 2013. 223 pages. Tr. $17.99 ISBN 9781442462281
On January 8, 2011 Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot, along with several members of her staff and citizens. Daniel Hernandez was a 20 year old intern working in Giffords office and when he heard the shots ring out he immediately ran to the aid of the victims. Hernandez was the first to reach Giffords and he saw that she had been shot in the forehead, but she was still conscious and responding. Hernandez had had some first aid and trauma training in high school and knew he needed to elevate the wound and apply steady pressure. Doctors later attributed Hernandez’s actions to be responsible for saving the Congresswoman’s life. In They Call Me a Hero, Hernandez recounts what happened that fateful January day and chronicles his childhood and adolescence growing up in Tucson and how he first became interested in politics.
