He is the author of Aztlan and Viet Nam: Chicano and Chicana Experiences of the War, published in 1999 by the University of California Press. Other writings include the 1991 book, Contradictory Subjects, which won the Modern Language Association prize for best book on a Spanish language topic. He is the author of numerous articles, including "Chale con la draft: Chicano/a Antiwar Writings," which appeared in Vietnam Generation: A Journal of Recent History and Contemporary Culture. Mariscal earned his Ph.D. at the University of California, Irvine. He studies 16th and 17th century Spanish Literature, Chicano culture, and U.S. minority literature of the Vietnam war era.