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MEXICO
- BOOKS |
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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 www.lab.org.uk
), 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, www.irc-online.org
), 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, www.maya.org.uk
; 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
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...
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more >>
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...
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more >>
History
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....
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more >>
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...
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more >>
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...
read
more >>
Other 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.
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...
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more >>
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