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Books of Mexico
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Kuartos.com on 23 February, 2008 03:03:00
 
Books of Mexico
Mexico has attracted more than its fair share of famous foreign writers, and
has inspired a vast literature and several classics. Until very recently,
however, Mexican writers had received little attention: even now, when many new
translations are being made available through small US presses, few are well
known. Most big US bookshops will have an enormous array of books about, from,
or set in Mexico, plus a few novels. In the rest of the English-speaking world
there's far less choice, though the best known of the archeological and travel
titles we've listed should be available almost anywhere. In the lists, the UK
publisher is followed by the US one; where only one publisher is listed it's the
same in both places, or we've specified; o/p means a book is out of print, but
may still be found in libraries or secondhand bookshops.
For the less mainstream, and especially for contemporary Mexico, there are a
few useful specialist sources . In the UK the Latin America Bureau (LAB), 1
Amwell St, London EC1R 1UL (tel 020/7278-2829, fax 7278-0165, on ), publishes
books covering all aspects of the region's society, current affairs and
politics. Supporters receive a 25 percent discount off LAB books and a biannual
copy of Lab News . In the US, the Resource Center, PO Box 2178, Silver City, NM
88062-2178 (tel 505/388-0208, fax 388-0619, ), produces a wide range of
publications, including a monthly magazine, Borderlines , which examines issues
around the Mexican-American border (annual subscription US$12 in the States or
US$17 internationally). In London you can freely visit Canning House Library, 2
Belgrave Square, SW1X 8PJ (tel 020/7235-2303), which has the UK's largest
publicly accessible collection of books and periodicals on Latin America, though
you have to be a member to take books out and receive the twice-yearly Bulletin
, a review of recently published books on Latin America.
If you're travelling to the Maya areas of Mexico or Guatemala, visit the
library and resource centre at Maya - The Guatemalan Indian Centre, 94
Wandsworth Bridge Rd, London SW6 2TF (call 020/7371-5291 for opening times, ;
closed Jan, Easter & Aug). Members (£5 annually) have use of the library
(reference only) and video collection, and can access information of the monthly
events and film shows held at the Centre. There is also a particularly fine
textile collection. The Centre's director, Krystyna Deuss, is the acknowledged
English authority on Guatemalan life, dress and contemporary Maya rituals.
Travel Books About Mexico
Sybille Bedford , A Visit to Don Otavio (Eland/Picador). An extremely
enjoyable, often hilarious, occasionally lyrical and surprisingly relevant
account of Ms Bedford's travels through Mexico in the early 1950s.
Frances Calderon de la Barca , Life in Mexico (University of California). The
diary of a Scotswoman who married the Spanish ambassador to Mexico and spent two
years observing life there in the early nineteenth century.
Tom Owen Edmunds , Mexico: Feast and Ferment (Hamish Hamilton/Viking Penguin,
o/p). A coffee-table book of photographs, and a particularly good one, full of
marvellous and unexpected images.
Charles Macomb Flandrau , Viva Mexico! (Eland, o/p). First published in 1908,
Flandrau's account of life on his brother's farm is something of a cult classic.
Though attitudes are inevitably dated in places, it's extremely funny in others.
Thomas Gage , Thomas Gage's Travels in the New World (University of Oklahoma
Press, o/p). Unusual account by an English cleric who became a Dominican friar
as he travelled through Mexico and Central America between 1635 and 1637,
including fascinating insights into colonial life and some great attacks on the
greed and pomposity of the Catholic Church abroad.
Graham Greene , The Lawless Roads (Bodley Head/Viking). In the late 1930s
Greene was sent to Mexico to investigate the effects of the persecution of the
Catholic Church. The result was this classic account of his travels in a very
bizarre era of modern Mexican history.
Katie Hickman , A Trip to the Light Fantastic: Travels with a Mexican Circus
(Flamingo, UK). Enchanting, funny and uplifting account of a year spent
travelling (and performing) with a fading Mexican circus troupe.
Aldous Huxley , Beyond the Mexique Bay (Academy Chicago, o/p). Only a small
part of the book is devoted to Mexico, but the descriptions of the archeological
sites around Oaxaca, particularly, are still worth reading.
D.H. Lawrence , Mornings in Mexico (Penguin/Peregrine Smith, o/p). A very slim
volume, half of which is devoted to the Hopi Indians of New Mexico, this is an
uncharacteristically cheerful account of Lawrence's stay in southern Mexico, and
beautifully written.
John Lincoln , One Man's Mexico (Century, o/p). Lincoln's travels in the late
1960s are an entertaining and offbeat read - travelling alone, often into the
jungle, always away from tourists.
Patrick Marnham , So far from God & (Penguin, o/p). A rather jaundiced view,
but nevertheless a humorous and insightful one, as Marnham travelled from the US
to Panama in 1984. About half the book is occupied with his journey through
Mexico.
James O'Reilly and Larry Habegger (eds), Travelers'Tales Mexico (Travelers'
Tales, US). An anthology of Mexican travel writing. Disappointing considering
the riches that are available: many here are reprinted magazine articles.
Nonetheless there's something for everyone somewhere.
Nigel Pride , A Butterfly Sings to Pacaya (Constable, UK, o/p). The author,
accompanied by his wife and four-year-old son, travels south from the US border
in a Jeep, heading through Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. Though the travels took
place 25 years ago the pleasures and privations they experience rarely appear
dated.
John Lloyd Stephens , Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and
Yucatán (Dover). Stephens was a classic nineteenth-century traveller.
Acting as American ambassador to Central America, he indulged his own enthusiasm
for archeology. His journals, told with superb Victorian pomposity punctuated
with sudden waves of enthusiasm, make great reading. There have been many
editions of the work: many include fantastic illustrations by Catherwood of the
ruins overgrown with tropical rainforest; the Smithsonian edition combines some
of these with modern photographs.
Paul Theroux , The Old Patagonian Express (Houghton Mifflin/Penguin). The epic
journey from Boston to Patagonia by train spends just three rather bad-tempered
chapters in Mexico, so don't expect to find out too much about the country. A
good read nonetheless.
John Kenneth Turner , Barbarous Mexico (University of Texas, o/p). Turner was a
journalist, and this account of his travels through nineteenth-century Mexico
exposing the conditions of workers in the plantations of the Yucatán,
serialized in US newspapers, did much to discredit the regime of Porfirio
Díaz.
Ronald Wright , Time Among the Maya (Abacus/Grove). A vivid and sympathetic
account of travels from Belize through Guatemala, Chiapas and Yucatán,
meeting the Maya of today and exploring their obsession with time. The book's
twin points of interest are the ancient Maya and the recent violence.
Mexican Fiction
Mariano Azuela , The Underdogs (University of Pittsburgh/Signet). The first
novel of the Revolution (finished in 1915), The Underdogs is told through the
eyes of a group of peasants who form a semi-regular revolutionary armed band:
the story concerns their escapades, progress and eventual betrayal, ambush and
massacre. Initially fighting for land and liberty, they end up caught up in a
cycle of violence they cannot control and descend into brutal nihilism. The
novel set many of the themes of post-revolutionary Mexican writing.
Carmen Boullosa , The Miracle Worker (Jonathan Cape, o/p). One of Mexico's most
promising contemporary writers, Boullosa's work focuses on traditional Mexican
themes, often borrowing characters from history or myth. The Miracle Worker
explores Mexican attitudes to Catholicism through the eyes of a messianic healer
and her followers. The story can be seen as a parable on the Mexican political
system, where ordinary Mexicans petition a distant and incomprehensible
government machinery for favours, which are granted or refused in seemingly
arbitrary decisions.
María Escandon , Esperanza's Box of Saints (Simon & Schuster/Picador). A
charming tale of female emancipation that starts when the eponymous heroine
receives a message from the saints that her dead daughter is actually alive.
Esperanza's quest to find her becomes a magical realism odyssey that takes her
from her small Mexican village to the dark and sleazy underworld of Tijuana and
Los Angeles and forces her to question everything she thought she knew.
Laura Esquivel , Like Water for Chocolate (Black Swan/Anchor). Adapted to film,
Laura Esquivel's novel has proved a huge hit in Mexico and abroad. The book is
even better: sentimental (schmaltzy, even) it deals with the star-crossed
romance of Tita, whose lover Pedro marries her sister. Using the magic of the
kitchen, she sets out to seduce him back. The book is written in monthly
episodes, each of which is prefaced with a traditional Mexican recipe. Funny,
sexy, great.
Carlos Fuentes , The Death of Artemio Cruz (Penguin/Atlantic/Noonday), and The
Old Gringo (Noonday). Fuentes is by far the best-known Mexican writer outside
Mexico, influenced by Mariano Azuela and Juan Rulfo, and an early exponent of
"magical realism". In The Death of Artemio Cruz , the hero, a rich and powerful
man on his deathbed, looks back over his life and loves, from an idealist youth
in the Revolution through disillusion to corruption and power; in many ways an
indictment of modern Mexican society. Some of his other books are harder work:
they include Distant Relations (Abacus), Where the Air is Clear
(Noonday/Alfaguara), A Change of Skin (Deutsch/Farrar, Strauss & Giroux) and
Terra Nostra (Penguin/Farrar, Straus & Giroux). The Crystal Frontier
(Bloomsbury/ Farrar, Strauss & Giroux), is a collection of stories examining the
way personal contacts colour Mexicans' experiences of their unequal relationship
with the USA.
Sergio Cialindo , Otilia's Body (University of Texas). This prize-winning
novel, published in Mexico as Otilia Rauda , traces the story of Otilia's
passionate, tragic affair with an outlaw in post-revolutionary Mexico. Somewhat
let down by an over-literal translation.
Jorge Ibargüengoitia , The Dead Girls, Two Crimes and others (all Chatto &
Windus/Avon, o/p). One of the first modern Mexican novelists translated into
English, Ibargüengoitia was killed in a plane crash in 1983. These two are
both blackly comic thrillers, superbly told, the first of them based on real
events.
Octavio Paz (ed), Mexican Poetry (Grove). Edited by Paz (perhaps the leading
man of letters of the post-revolutionary era) and translated by Samuel Beckett,
this is as good a taste as you could hope for of modern Mexican poets. Some of
Paz's own poetry is also available in translation.
Juan Kullo Petlro Páramo , (Serpent's Tail/Grove). Widely regarded as
the greatest Mexican novel of the twentieth century and a precursor of magic
realism. The living and spirit worlds mesh when, at the dying behest of his
mother, the narrator visits the deserted village haunted by the memory of his
brutal patriarch father, Pedro Páramo. Dark, depressing and initially
confusing but ultimately very rewarding. Rulfo's short-story collection, The
Burning Plain and Other Stories (University of Texas), is rated by Gabriel
García Marquez as the best in Latin America.
Foreign Fiction
There must be hundreds of novels by outsiders set in Mexico, all too many in
the sex-and-shopping genre: apart from those below, others to look out for
include a whole clutch of modern Americans, especially Jack Kerouac 's
Desolation Angels (Flamingo/Riverhead) and several of Richard Brautigan's
novels. And of course there's Carlos Castañeda 's Don Juan series
(Arkana/Pocket Books) - a search for enlightenment through peyote.
Taisha Abelar , The Sorcerer's Crossing (Penguin). The extraordinary true story
of an American woman who joins an all-female group of sorcerers in Mexico and
undergoes a rigorous physical and mental training process, designed to enable
her to breach the limits of ordinary perception.
Tony Cartano , After the Conquest (Seeker & Warburg, o/p) An extraordinary
fictional account of a fictional author who believes he is B. Traven's son and
sets out to discover the truth about his father. A psychological thriller that
is also full of Mexican history and politics.
Eduardo Galeano , Genesis, Faces and Masks (both W.W. Norton). The opening
parts of a trilogy by a Uruguayan writer, these anthologies of Indian legends,
colonists' tales and odd snatches of history illuminate the birth of Latin
America. Not specifically Mexican, but wonderful, relevant reading nonetheless.
Graham Greene , The Power and the Glory (Penguin). Inspired by his
investigative travels, this story of a doomed whisky priest on the run from the
authorities makes a great yarn. It was a wonderful movie too.
Gary Jennings , Aztec (Forge). Sex and sacrifice in ancient Mexico in this
gripping bestseller. The narrator travels around the Aztec empire in search of
his fortune, chancing upon almost every ancient culture along the way, and
sleeping with most of them, until finally the Spanish arrive. Perfect beach or
bus reading, and informative too.
D.H. Lawrence , The Plumed Serpent (Wordsworth/Vintage). One of Lawrence's own
favourites, the novel reflects his intense dislike of the country that followed
on from the brief honeymoon period of Mornings in Mexico . Fans of his heavy
spiritualism will love it.
Haniel Long , The Marvelous Adventure of Cabeza de Vaca (Picador). Two short
stories in one volume - the first the account of a ship-wrecked conquistador's
journey across the new continent, the second the thoughts and hopes of Malinche,
Cortés' interpreter.
Malcolm Lowry , Under the Volcano (Penguin/Plume). A classic since its
publication, Lowry's account of the last day in the life of the British Consul
in Cuernavaca - passed in a mescal -induced haze - is totally brilliant. His
Dark as the Grave Wherein my Friend is Laid is also based on his Mexican
experiences.
James A. Michener , Mexico (Crest). Another doorstop from Michener. Fans will
love it.
B. Traven , various works. Traven wrote a whole series of compelling novels set
in Mexico. Among the best known are Treasure of the Sierra Madre (Prion/Hill &
Wang) and The Death Ship (L Hill Books), but of more direct interest if you're
travelling are such works as The Bridge in the Jungle and the other six books in
the Jungle series: Government, The Carreta, March to the Monteria, Trozas, The
Rebellion of the Hanged and General from the Jungle (all Allison & Busby/I R
Dee, some o/p). These latter all deal with the state of the peasantry and the
growth of revolutionary feeling in the last years of the Díaz
dictatorship, and if at times they're overly polemical, as a whole they're
enthralling. Will Wyatt's The Secret of the Sierra Madre: The Man who was B.
Traven (Harcourt Brace) is the best of the books on the quest for the author's
identity.
Mexico History Books
The sources below are all entertaining and/or important references: more
standard general histories include Henry Bamford Parkes' History of Mexico
(Houghton Mifflin); Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico by T.R. Fehrenbach
(Replica); A Concise History of Mexico from Hidalgo to Cárdenas by Jan
Bazant (CUP, o/p); and Judith Hellman's Mexico in Crisis (Holmes & Meier).
Inga Clendinnen , Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatán
1517 to 1570 (CUP). A product of meticulous research that documents the methods
and consequences of the Spanish conquest of the Yucatán. The ambivalence
in the title reflects doubts about the effectiveness of the conquest in
subjugating the Maya, and the book provides insights into post-Conquest
rebellions: over three hundred years after the Conquest the Maya rose in revolt
during the Caste War, and almost succeeded in driving out their white overlords,
while in January 1994, Maya peasants in Chiapas stunned the world and severely
embarrassed the Mexican government by briefly capturing and controlling cities
in the southeastern area of the state.
Hernan Cortés , Letters from Mexico (Yale UP). The thoughts and
impressions of the conquistador, first hand. Less exciting than Díaz,
though.
Bernal Díaz (trans. J.M. Cohen), The Conquest of New Spain (Viking).
This abridged version is the best available of Díaz's classic Historia
Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva España . Díaz, having been
on two earlier expeditions to Mexico, accompanied Cortés throughout his
campaign of Conquest, and this magnificent eyewitness account still makes
compulsive reading.
Adolfo Gilly , The Mexican Revolution (Verso/Routledge, Chapman & Hall, o/p).
Written in Mexico City's notorious Lecumberri jail (Gilly was later granted an
absolute pardon), this is regarded as the classic work on the Revolution.
Heavy-going and highly theoretical though.
Brian Hamnett , A Concise History of Mexico (CUP). The book kicks off with a
brief examination of contemporary issues and then jumps back to the time of the
Olmecs. A combined chronogical and thematic approach is used to analyse the
social and political history of Mexico from then up until the present day. Some
fairly large chunks of history are glossed over, but key events and issues are
explored in greater detail, making for a good general introduction.
Michael Meyer, William Sherman and Susan Deeds , The Course of Mexican History
(OUP). Comprehensive general history.
William Prescott , History of the Conquest of Mexico (Cooper Square Press).
Written in the mid-nineteenth century, and drawing heavily on Díaz,
Prescott's history was the standard text for over a hundred years. It makes for
pretty heavy reading and has now been overtaken by Thomas' account.
John Reed , Insurgent Mexico (International Publications). This collection of
his reportage of the Mexican Revolution was put together by Reed himself. He
spent several months in 1913 and 1914 with various generals of the Revolution -
especially Villa - and the book contains great descriptions of them, their men,
and the mood of the times. It's far more anecdotal and easy to read than the
celebrated Ten Days that Shook the World .
Jasper Ridley , Maximilian and Juárez (Phoenix). This comprehensive,
highly readable account of one of "the great tragicomedies of the nineteenth
century" charts the attempt by Napoleon III to establish Archduke Maximilian as
the Emperor of Mexico. The colourful narrative brings to life an unmitigated
political disaster with huge consequences, including the execution of
Maximilian, the insanity of his wife Charlotte and the emergence of the United
States as a world power.
Hugh Thomas , Conquest: Montezuma, Cortés, and the Fall of Old Mexico
(Touchstone); The Conquest of Mexico (Pimlico, UK). Same book, different title,
but either way a brilliant narrative history of the Conquest by the British
historian previously best known for his history of the Spanish Civil War. A
massive work of real scholarship and importance - much of the archive material
is newly discovered - but also humorous and readable, with appendices on
everything from Aztec beliefs, history and genealogy to Cortés' wives and
lovers.
James W. Wilkie and Albert L. Michaels (eds), Revolution in Mexico (University
of Arizona Press, o/p). A fascinating anthology of contemporary and more recent
writing on the Revolution and the years that followed.
Ancient Mexico
There are thousands of studies of ancient Mexico , many of them extremely
academic and detailed, plus any number of big, highly illustrated coffee-table
tomes on individual sites. Those below are of more general interest, and any of
them will have substantial bibliographies to help you explore further.
Ignacio Bernal , Mexico Before Cortés (Doubleday, US, o/p). The leading
Mexican archeologist of the twentieth century, and one of the inspirations
behind the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Bernal did important work on
the Olmecs and on the restoration of Teotihuacán, and has written many
important source works. This book covers much the same ground as Davies', though
in less detail and more dated, but it has the advantage of being widely
available in Mexico. A more scholarly version is available in A History of
Mexican Archeology: The Vanished Civilizations of Middle America (Thames &
Hudson, o/p).
Warwick Bray , Everyday Life of the Aztecs (P. Bedrick). A volume full of
information about Aztec warfare, music, games, folklore, religious ritual,
social organization, economic and political systems and agricultural practice.
Although the book is now showing its age, and some of its conclusions are a bit
dubious, its attractive comprehensiveness more than makes up for this. An
excellent general introduction.
Inga Clendinnen , Aztecs: An Interpretation (CUP). A social history of the
Aztec empire that seeks to explain the importance - and acceptance - of human
sacrifice and other rituals. Fascinating, though best to know something about
the Aztecs before you start.
Mirhael D. Coe , The Maya (Thames & Hudson). The updated sixth edition is the
best available general introduction to the Maya: concise, clear and
comprehensive. Coe has also written several more weighty, academic volumes. His
Breaking the Maya Code (Thames & Hudson), a history of the decipherment of the
Maya glyphs, owes much to the fact that Coe was present at many of the most
important meetings leading to the breakthrough, demonstrating that the glyphs
actually did reproduce Maya speech. Aside from anything else, it is a
beautifully written, ripping yarn, though the slagging-off of Eric Thompson gets
a bit wearisome.
Nigel Davies , The Ancient Kingdoms of Mexico (Viking). Although there's no
single text that covers all the ancient cultures, this comes pretty close,
covering the central areas from the Olmecs through Teotihuacán and the
Toltecs to the Aztec empire. An excellent mix of historical, archeological,
social and artistic information, but it doesn't cover the Maya. Davies is also
the author of several more-detailed academic works on the Aztecs and Toltecs,
including The Aztecs, A History (U Oklahoma).
M.S. Edmonson (trans), The Book of Chilam Balam of Chumayel (Aegean, US, o/p).
The Chilam Balam is a recollection of Maya history and myth, recorded by the
Spanish after the Conquest. Although the style is not easy, it's one of the few
keys into the Maya view of the world.
George Kubler , Art and Architecture of Ancient America (Yale UP). Exactly what
it says: a massive and amazingly comprehensive work, covering not only Mexico
but Colombia, Ecuador and Peru as well. It's rather old-fashioned, however, and
fails to take into account the ground-breaking epigraphic findings in Maya
scholarship.
Diego de Landa , Yucatán Before and After the Conquest (Dover). A
translation edited by William Gates of the work written in 1566 as
Relación de las Cosas de Yucatán . De Landas destruction of almost
all original Maya books as "works of the devil" leaves his own account as the
chief source on Maya life and society in the immediate post-Conquest period.
Written during his imprisonment in Spain on charges of cruelty to the Indians
(remarkable itself, given the institutional brutality of the time) the book
provides a fascinating wealth of detail for historians.
Maria Loiighena , Splendours of Ancient Mexico (Thames & Hudson, UK).
Sumptuously illustrated coffee-table tome, with better than average text
(translated from the Italian original) and excellent pictures and plans of all
the major ancient sites.
Mary Ellen Miller   The Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec (Thames &
Hudson, UK). An excellent, wonderfully illustrated survey of the artisanship of
the ancient cultures of Mexico, whose work reflects the sophistication of their
civilizations.
Mary Ellen Miller and Karl Taube   The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and
the Maya: An Illustrated Dictionary of Mesoamerican Religion (Thames & Hudson).
A superb modern reference on ancient Mesoamerica, written by two leading
scholars. Taube's Aztec and Maya Myths (British Museum Press) is perfect as a
short, accessible introduction to Mesoamerican mythology.
Chris Morton and Ceri Louise Thomas , The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls
(Thorsons, UK) Intriguing and accessible investigation into an ancient
Amerindian legend that tells of a number of life-size crystal skulls said to
contain vital information about the destiny of mankind. Following the discovery
that such a skull actually exists, filmmakers Morton and Thomas set off on a
journey through Mexico and Central America, meeting experts in Maya culture,
archeologists and modern-day shamans and finally coming to their own
well-researched and thoughtful conclusions.
Jeremy A. Sabloff , Cities of Ancient Mexico (Thames & Hudson). The best
introduction to ancient Mexico currently available. Thoroughly up to date and
easy to digest. Also worth checking is his New Archeology and the Ancient Maya
(WH Freeman).
Linda Schele, David Freidel et al . The authors, in the forefront of the "new
archeology", have been personally responsible for decoding many of the glyphs,
revolutionizing and popularizing Maya studies. Although their writing style,
which frequently includes re-creations of scenes inspired by their discoveries,
is controversial to some fellow professionals it has also inspired a devoted
following. A Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya (Quill, US)
in conjunction with The Blood of Kings , by Linda Schele and Mary Miller, shows
that far from being governed by peaceful astronomer-priests, the ancient Maya
were ruled by hereditary kings, lived in populous, aggressive city-states, and
engaged in a continuous entanglement of alliances and war. The Maya Cosmos
(Quill, US), by Schele, Freidel and Joy Parker is perhaps more difficult to
read, dense with copious notes, but continues to examine Maya ritual and
religion in a unique and far-reaching way. The Code of Kings (Touchstone, US),
written in collaboration with Peter Matthews and illustrated with Justin Kerr's
famous "rollout" photography of Maya ceramics, examines in detail the
significance of the monuments at selected Maya sites. It's her last book - Linda
Schele died in April 1998 - and sure to become a classic of epigraphic
interpretation.
Robert Sharer , The Ancient Maya (Stanford UP). The classic, comprehensive (and
weighty) account of Maya civilization, now in a completely revised and much more
readable fifth edition, yet as authoritative as ever. Required reading for
archeologists, it provides a fascinating reference for the non-expert.
Dennis Tedlock (trans), Popol Vuh (Touchstone). Translation of the Maya
Quiché bible, a fascinating creation myth from the only ancient
civilization to emerge from rainforest terrain. The Maya obsession with time can
be well appreciated here, where dates are recorded with painstaking precision.
J. Eric S. Thompson , The Rise and Fall of Maya Civilization (Pimlico
/University of Oklahoma, o/p). A major authority on the ancient Maya during his
lifetime, Thompson produced many academic works; The Rise and Fall &, originally
published in 1954, is one of the more approachable. Although more recent
researchers have overturned many of Thompson's theories, his work provided the
inspiration for the postwar surge of interest in the Maya, and he remains a
respected figure.
Ptolemy Tompkins , This Tree Grows Out of Hell (HarperCollins, o/p). An
interesting attempt to piece together the mystery of Mesoamerican religion,
which synthesizes and makes readable many of the recent findings in the area.
The latter half of the book is a thoroughly unconvincing apology for the
brutality of the Aztecs.
Richard F. Townsend , The Aztecs (Thames & Hudson). Companion in the series to
Goes Maya book, this is a good introduction to all aspects of Aztec history and
culture.
Mexico Society, Politics and Culture
Tom Barry (ed), Mexico: A Country Guide (LAB/Resource Center). A comprehensive
account of contemporary Mexico: Barry and ten other contributors impart their
expertise to make this the best single-volume survey on the issues facing Mexico
in the 1990s.
Rick Bayless , Mexican Kitchen (Scribner/Absolute). Aimed at the ambitious
chef, this weighty tome has over 150 recipes but no photos. The country's
gastronomic heritage is explored in detail with a special focus on the myriad
types of chile that form the heart of Mexican cuisine.
Dan La Botz , Democracy in Mexico (South End Press, US). Examines the political
landscape of modern Mexico and puts it into historical context by equating the
rise of civil society and political consciousness with the major defining events
of recent decades - the 1968 student massacre, the 1985 earthquake, and the 1994
Zapatista uprising amongst others.
Harry Browne , For Richer, For Poorer (LAB/Resource Center). A readable
analysis of the background to NAFTA and the effects of and prospects for closer
economic integration between the US and Mexico.
Miguel Covarrubias , Mexico South (KPI). The people and popular culture of
Veracruz and the Isthmus of Tehuantepec by the well-known Mexican artist and
anthropologist. A good read, well illustrated.
Augusta Dwyer , On The Line (LAB). A painstakingly detailed account of
conditions on the US/Mexico border, where many of the most environmentally
damaging factories on the continent poison lands and people on both sides of the
frontier. The "line" is the only place in the world where the rich north
directly borders the poorer south, and Dwyer documents the consequences of this
economic discrepancy in case studies of maquila workers, legal and illegal
immigrants and both victims and members of the US Border Patrol.
Clare Ferguson , Flavours of Mexico (Ryland, Peters & Small). All the classics
are here: tortillas, enchiladas, empanadas, flautas and tamales, along with
party food suggestions and a few vegetarian recipes. A colourful and
straightforward cookbook that will inspire you to keep feasting on Mexican
cuisine once back home.
Judith Adler Hellman , Mexican Lives (The New Press, US). A compilation of
interviews with fifteen Mexicans on the eve of the signing of NAFTA, offering a
poignant insight into how ordinary people, rich and poor alike, cope with
everyday life on the brink of enormous political and social change, with the
voices of the interviewees themselves speaking so clearly that their
personalities and emotions stand out from the pages. Underlying all the accounts
is the reality of institutional corruption, which affects every sector of
society but falls heaviest on the poor. Worth reading by anyone who wants to
understand what modern Mexico is like behind the headlines.
Haydeii Herrera , Frida (Bloomsbury). This mesmerizing biography of Frida Kahlo
brings to life a woman of extreme magnetism and originality. Starting with her
childhood in Mexico City, the account goes on to describe the crippling accident
she had as a teenager that left her unable to have children, her tempestuous
marriage to Diego Rivera and the various men with whom she had affairs
including, most notoriously, Leon Trotsky. The book contains numerous colour
panels of her paintings.
Oscar Lewis , The Children of Sanchez (Random House). These oral histories of a
working-class family in the Mexico City of the 1940s are regarded as a seminal
work in modern anthropology. The book is totally gripping, though, and doesn't
read in the least like an anthropological text. Lewis' other works, including
Pedro Martinez (Vintage, o/p/Penguin, o/p), A Death in the Sanchez Family
(Vintage, US, o/p) and Five Families (Basic), use the same first-person
narrative technique. All are highly recommended.
Patrick Marnham , Dreaming with His Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera
(Bloomsbury). A gripping account of the extraordinary life of the great Mexican
muralist in which truths are revealed and myths are unravelled.
Octavio Paz , The Labyrinth of Solitude (Penguin/Grove). An acclaimed series of
philosophical essays exploring the social and political state of modern Mexico.
Paz, who died in 1998, won the Nobel prize for literature in 1990 and was
universally regarded as the country's leading poet.
Elena Poniatowska , various works. A pioneer in the field of testimonial
literature and one of Mexico's best-known essayists and journalists. In Here's
to you Jesusa (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) Poniatowska turns her attentions on her
cleaning lady. Jesusa's story of her marriage, involvement in the Revolution and
postwar period include her views on life, love and society. Narrated in the
first person, the text is compelling, lively and at times ribald: Jesusa herself
is now a celebrity on the literary circuit. Other works available in English
include Massacre in Mexico (University of Missouri), a collage of testimonies of
those present at the 1968 massacre of students in Tlatelolco; Dear Diego
(Pantheon, US, o/p); and Tinisima (Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Penguin, US).
Gregory G. Reck , In the Shadow of Tlaloc (Penguin/Waveland, o/p). Reck
attempts a similar style to that of Oscar Lewis in his study of a Mexican
village, and the effects on it of encroaching modernity. Often seems to stray
over the border into sentimentality and even fiction, but interesting
nonetheless.
Alan Riding , Mexico: Inside the Volcano (IB Tauris, UK). In-depth analysis of
modern Mexico by the British correspondent for the New York Times .
Enlightening, though gloomy.
John Ross , Rebellion from the Roots (Common Courage Press). A fascinating
early account of the buildup to and first months of the 1994 Zapatista
rebellion, and still the definitive book on the subject. Ross's reporting style
provides a really detailed and informative background, showing the uprising was
no surprise to the Mexican army. He's also the author of Mexico in Focus
(LAB/Interlink), a short but authoritative guide to modern Mexican society,
politics and culture - worth reading before a visit.
Guiomar Rovira , Women of Maize (LAB). Rovira, a Mexican journalist, witnessed
the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas on New Year's Day 1994. This book, which
interweaves narrative, history and the personal recollections of numerous women
involved in the rebellion, provides an extraordinary insight into the lives of
indigenous people. The women interviewed reflect on how their previously
traditional lifestyles were transformed when they joined up with the Zapatista
National Liberation Army and gained access to education and other opportunities
they'd never even dreamt of.
Chloë Sayer , The Arts and Crafts of Mexico (Thames & Hudson /Chronicle).
Sayer is the author of numerous books on Mexican arts, crafts and associated
subjects, all of them worth reading. The Skeleton at the Feast (University of
Texas), written with Elizabeth Carmichael, is a wonderful, superbly illustrated
insight into attitudes to death and the dead in Mexico.
Joel Simon , Endangered Mexico (Sierra Club). Eloquent and compelling study
documenting the environmental crisis facing Mexico at the end of the twentieth
century. Accurate and very moving, it's essential reading for those wanting to
know how and why the crisis exists - and why no one can offer solutions.
David Rains Wallace , The Monkey's Bridge (Sierra Club). When the Panama Bridge
formed between North and South America, three million years ago, plants and
animals surged back and forth across it in an evolutionary intermingling that
created one of the world's richest natural environments. This engaging account
of Central Amercia's role as an evolutionary link between the two continents
cleverly interweaves natural history, human history, travel writing and personal
reflection.
Mariana Yampolsky , The Traditional Architecture of Mexico (Thames & Hudson).
The enormous range of Mexico's architectural styles, from thatched peasant huts
and vast haciendas to exuberant Baroque churches and solid, yet graceful public
buildings is encompassed in this inspired book. While most of Mariana
Yampolsky's superb photographs are in black-and-white, a chapter on the use of
colour emphasizes its importance in every area of life; the text by Chloë
Sayer raises it above the level of the average coffee-table book. (For guides to
ecclesiastical architecture in Mexico see Richard Perry).
Other Mexican Guides
In Mexico itself, the best and most complete series of guides is that published
by Guías Panorama - they have small books on all the main archeological
sites, as well as more general titles ranging from Wild Flowers of Mexico to
Pancho Villa - Truth and Legend .
Tim Burford , Backpacking in Mexico (Bradt). Great on the practicalities of
backpacking, with lots of information specifically relevant to Mexico, and a
particularly good wildlife section. The hikes themselves cover all areas,
including how to ascend Popacatépetl.
Carl Franz , The People's Guide to Mexico (Avalon Travel). Not a guidebook as
such, more of a series of anecdotes and words of advice for staying out of
trouble and heading off the beaten track. Perennially popular, and deservedly
so.
Joyce Kelly , An Archaeological Guide to Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula
(University of Oklahoma). Detailed and practical guide to more than ninety Maya
sites and eight museums throughout the peninsula, including many little-known or
difficult-to-reach ruins; an essential companion for anyone travelling
purposefully through the Maya world. Kelly's "star" rating - based on a site's
archeological importance, degree of restoration and accessibility - may affront
purists, but it does provide a valuable opinion on how worthwhile a particular
visit might be.
Richard Perry , Mexico's Fortress Monasteries (Espadaña Press, US). One
in a series of expertly written guides to the sometimes overlooked treasures of
Mexico's colonial religious architecture. This volume covers more than sixty
cathedrals, churches and monuments in central Mexico, from Hidalgo to Oaxaca;
Maya Missions deals with colonial Yucatán and More Maya Missions covers
Chiapas. All are illustrated by the author's simple but beautiful drawings.
These specialist offerings, ideal for travellers who want more information than
most guide books can provide, are not widely available, though you can find them
in tourist bookshops in the areas they cover.
D.G. Schueler , Adventuring Along the Gulf of Mexico (Sierra Club Books, US).
An entertaining read, with much general info on plants and animals along the
Gulf coast.
R.J. Secor , Mexico's Volcanoes (Mountaineers). Detailed routes up all the big
volcanoes, and full of invaluable information for climbers.
Mexico Wildlife
Steve Howell , Where to Watch Birds in Mexico (Christopher Helm). One for the
enthusiast - over a hundred sites are listed, where more than 950 bird species
can be seen. More general information on the recommended regions is also
provided, along with tips on how to spot birds and identify them.
Steve Howell and Sophie Webb , The Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America
(Oxford UP). A tremendous work, the result of years of research, this is the
definitive book on the region's birds. Essential for all serious birders.
C. Kaplan , Coral Reefs of the Caribbean and Florida (Houghton Mifflin). Useful
handbook on the abundant wildlife off the coasts off the Yucatán
peninsula.
R.T. Peterson and E.L. Chalif , Mexican Birds (Houghton Mifflin). The classic
ornithological guide to Mexico. The text is excellent, but drawings are limited
to indigenous examples only; migratory species are included in additional (North
American) guides, which can be frustratingly impractical.