a teacher at the University of Iowa, and Rachelle McCoy, a teacher at West Branch High School in West Branch, Iowa, analyze the novel in two different perspectives of multicultural literature. An emic perspective takes a view of a culture within its elements whereas an etic perspective takes an objective view of culture. For the two teachers, the story takes an emic perspective as Antonio, living within a Chicano culture, must find his own identity as he analyzes and questions his own connections to the culture's various ideologies, cultures, and viewpoints throughout the narrative. Candace Morales, a graduate student pursuing a Masters of Science in Education while concentrating in Reading, proposes that in a curriculum that utilizes Bless Me Ultima as a piece of multicultural literature, it must be timed appropriately. Specifically, she suggests teaching it to middle schoolers so that they have a diverse lens (that of a Chicano/a culture) to view their own development; to Morales, Antonio's own pursuit of “knowledge, truth, and personal identity” will resonate with the students as well. Reception and legacy , Bless Me, Ultima has become the best-selling Chicano novel of all time. The New York Times reports that Anaya is the most widely read author in Hispanic communities, and sales of his classic, Bless Me, Ultima (1972) have surpassed 360,000. After Quinto Sol's initial publication of Bless Me, Ultima in 1972, critics by and large responded enthusiastically. The general consensus was that the novel provided Chicano literature with a new and refreshing voice. Scott Wood, writing for America Press, asserted: By 1976, four years after Bless Me Ultima's initial publication, the new author was finding fans and fame among Chicano readers and scholars. He was in high demand as a speaker and the subject of numerous interviews primarily among journalists and publicists who were Chicanos or deeply interested in the development of Chicano literature. In the preface to his 1976 interview with Anaya reprinted in Conversations with Rudolfo Anaya (1998), Ishmael Reed states that, Bless Me Ultima, as of July 1, 1976, had sold 80,000 copies without a review in the major media. For twenty-two years after the novel's initial publication (its only availability through a small publisher notwithstanding), the novel sold 300,000 copies primarily through word of mouth. In this period the novel generated the largest body of review, interpretation, and analysis of any work of Chicano Literature (p. 1). Finally