Mexico Books

I was looking forward to reading Eryk Hanut "The Road to Guadalupe: A Modern Pilgrimage to the Virgin of the Americas". When it arrived I was surprised to see that the title on the cover was "The Road to Guadalupe: A Modern Pilgrimage to the Goddess of the Americas". I was disappointed and confused why the book had not been presented with its true title. Why the deception?

As I began to read the book it became clear that Mr. Hanut's take on the miracle at Guadalupe was coming from more of an occult or New Age interpretation. On the inside flap of the cover it says how Mr. Hanut "travels deep inside the occult religiosity of Mexican Culture." He quotes from the "Dictionary of True Magic", "Brujeria: A body of religious and folk magic practices that blends Roman Catholicism and the Aztec goddess faith. It has been influenced by other traditions, such as spiritism, Santeria, voodoo, Wicca and ceremonial magic... Brujeria is centered around the worship of Our Lady of Guadalupe."

This not the true Lady of the Americas. The genuine Our Lady of Guadalupe told Juan Diego:""Know and understand well, you the most humble of my sons, that I am the ever-virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth."

Jesus Christ on his cross gave us His Mother to be Our Mother. Mary is the New Eve. She is the perfect Disciple of the Lord. Her power is in her humility and obedience before God. She does nothing on her own but is in perfect harmony with her Son and Saviour. This is who Our Lady of Guadalupe is is spirit and truth. To settle for anything else is to miss the mark.

This book is just AMAZING- I bought it with "Blessings of Guadalupe"by the same author, and i am really thrilled and impressed by the beauty of this talent; I am sure that Eryk Hanut's name will shine in the history of writing; Buy this book and you will acquire the same belief; His metaphors, sense of prose and lyricism are just matchless- Can't wait for the next book of Eryk Hanut!!

This was a terrific read for anyone interested in La Virgen. I wish all the books about her delivered like this one.

What a thoroughly delightful book. It was an informative and fun weave of history and personal journey. And funny! There were parts which are still causing me to laugh. This book is a treasure.

This book is just superb! And I mean- SUPERB!!!!!!!!!Poetic,funny, acerbic- and so full of wisdom. I like his style- so irreverent and so deep at the same time. I will reread it often and will give it around.
I strongly recommend it- you got the point, right?
I met Eryk Hanut once- many years ago. I attended an opening for his artwork in Virginia Beach. I was with a friend (who was already sick and has died since)who admired and praised one of Mr. Hanut's Art pieces . She told him so and joked that she couldn't afford it; He left us and came back with the framed photograph that he had just took off the wall- and gave it to my friend. That's the kind of man he is.
Long live authors of his talent and originality!

This is one of the books that I'm recommending as a resource to my bestselling book The Vision Board: The Secret to an Extraordinary Lifebecause it is so much fun to look at and it is so inspiring for anyone creating a Vision Board. Kathy Cano Murillo and I've talked before about the power of "inspirational crafts" this is certainly a great example of how to liven up your life and add a sense of excitement to creating any crafts especially Vision Boards or Vision Journals. Check out her section on the scrap and swap memory album. Be dazzled by her luminarias and note all of the wonderful extras that will spark up your life. Even her photo charms could definitely serve as defining images as you take mini-versions of some of your images on your Vision Board and add them to a wearable bracelet. What a wonderful birthday or holiday gift. The window shade section is perfect for your travel vision board. Why not use a shade that you can pull down and see -- so much fun -- maybe just put on sunrises and sunsets and beaches and all those places you vision going on a second honeymoon. Share the vision and add a bit of sparkle to your own life! Thanks Kathy for reminding us that a little dazzle gets rid of the dull!

If you're looking for a muse to inspire you to crafty heights then this is the book for you. Everything Ms. Cano-Murillo does is touched with true originality and makes the reader feel competent and creative. Coupled with delightful, heartfelt, and often very funny writing, you will gobble this book up in one sitting and refer back to it for years to come. The best craft book to date in my library.

Cathy is such a wonderful artist. She found her niche in creating the wonderful Latin-inspired crafts contained in this book. You will love them! Since her books have come out, I have seen many copycat crafts by other authors.

This Crafty Chica is the original and the best! have fun making some of these lovely, cultural pieces, and enjoy learning a bit about Mexican culture as well!

¡Wow! What a great book, even if you are not into crafts. I bought the book, because I was intrigued by Kathy on DIY's CRAFT LAB. I am a Latino, Gifted and Talented teacher, and a professional artist, so her creative/artsy/ethnic persona and projects appealed to me. Although the book is geared towards Latinas, I can understand her witty journal entries. (My wife is Anglo, but I have many feisty Latina members in my family and work primarily with Latinas in a border town.) The crafts are very creative, and Kathy offers a plethora of open-ended suggestions at the end of each project. Many of the projects are also appropriate for males, so are great for classroom use. In addition, the Latino style illustrations created by Kathy's husband, Patrick Murillo, are marvelous! I highly recommend this book.

I LOVED this book. It not only had some great projects that almost made me get in the car and drive to the craft store but it was a fun read. I have enjoyed picking it up several times this summer and looking at the creativity inside. I would recommend this book!

This is by far my favorite book from that genre. I first read it in high school and have gone back several times over the years. I just purchased it again to give to my 13 year old daughter.

I grew up in Santa Fe, reading this book, serving Mr. Bradford coffee at Zook's Pharmacy on the Plaza. Mr. Bradford's book reassured me that my turbulent adolescence was do-able, by lighting the way.
I have not been back there in thirty years. Santa Fe has been taken over by the rich and the entitled and they have squeezed the soul out of what we knew growing up there, though there is plenty of beauty and spirit left to be sucked dry by the commercial people. But if you want to know the siren song of Santa Fe, read this book. Sagrado is, indeed, Santa Fe. This was what it was like there even in the 1960's and 1970's.
I mean, where else could you have that unforgettable horse AND world-class opera AND the mountains AND the humility of entertaining the Native Americans by just being white people on the Plaza?
I read this book, I can smell the pine wood burning in the farolitos, and the breeze in the chamisa after the Summer afternoon cloudbursts.

This is a wondrous short novel. Read it if you'd like to be a teenager again. Buy an old paperback copy showing a teenage boy and girl standing facing each other with their foreheads touching--a very sweet illustration.

Now a good review (recommendation) doesn't have to be long, so let me give you a few lines of description. A boy moves from Alabama to New Mexico during World War II, and while his father is away in the war, the boy finds friends and a home in the small mountain town of Sagrado. One of his new friends is an sculptor who carves stone heads and places them on a hillside.

On the great book cover: Sometimes book covers actually decline in quality with the many printings of a book. This has happened with "Red Sky At Morning," but remember you are buying the book for the story.

Another example of the decline in a book's cover is seen in the early cover for "Summer of Night," by Dan Simmons.Summer of Night (Aspect Fantasy) The 1991 "Warner Book" edition has a window with a cut out. Through the window you can see some boys riding their bicycles at night. When you open the book, you see a mysterious school in the background.

The later covers of "Summer of Night" were not half as mysterious or fun.

As many others have said, it's impossible to get tired of this book. My parents gave it to me when I was 18 and (again, like several others) the first time I read it I found it a little slow and disjointed. It gets better and better with every read - each time I pick up on the subtleties of a scene for the first time.

Rather than boring the reader with a bunch of obnoxious capers and hijinks, Bradford envelops you in his characters' community, and it's this day-to-day banality (which turned me off so much the first time) that really draws you into the story. Josh's adjustment to Sagrado takes time, but when it comes it's so natural and amusing that you're almost completely unprepared for the sobering conclusion of the story.

I had no idea the book was so loved until I read these reviews. There are so many special moments in the story - the big wet snowfalls that ruins Chamaco's fiesta, the horribly backward residents of La Cima, the refreshing "white trashiness" of the Cloyd sisters, even Parker Holmes tearing an elk sandwich apart with his teeth.

I wish these characters existed in real life, and I wish I could be their friend.

I thouroughly enjoyed this book, I do not know how I missed it for so many years. It was recommended in Nancy Pearl's "Book Lust" (which you really should buy if you are an avid reader.) I have never been dissapointed by her recommendations.

Josh, as the narrator in "Red Sky at Morning" is a 17 year old high school senior at the end of WWII. His dry wit mad me laugh right out loud several times. I loved his sensibility and humor. The cast of characters in this book reminded me of some of the characters in "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving.

This is one of my favorite reads of the year, so much so I will probably hunt down a hard cover edition for my collection.

It's been 15 years since I first encountered this book - part of a vocabulary challenge in the sixth grade. I still remember most of the stories, and I must have infuriated my parents using each word incessantly as I learned it. I can't recommend it highly enough.

I love this book.This book is one of the best books ever.The reason why I gave this book five stars because its funny and senstive. My favorite word was laxcity.Laxcity means that you dont even care about whats gioing on.I think that this book is good for all ages. I hope that you read this fantastic book.

This animated book gives children a new way to learn the definitions of words. It was highly recomended to me, and I loved it!

I use this book with my third grade students. We read a story per week. Many of their parents tell me it becomes a topic of conversation each week as the child teaches Mom and Dad a new word. It is fantastic.

This book is one of the best books I had ever read in my life.I would recommend this book to every one because its funny and great.

I purchased this Cookbook for my wife and she just loves it. Everything she makes from the book is great. The pictures and articles are fantastic.

I have lived in Mexico for eight years now and have done a lot of cooking, as well as reading other books about Mexican cuisine; This is the all around best I have seen.

Mexico The Beautiful Cookbook contains what it claims: beautiful MEXICAN recipes, which are traditional, therefore not owned by anyone and like all traditional recipes vary from family to family, cooking to cooking. The book is beautifully illustrated and easy to follow. I have used the book over and over and given it as a gift to numerous friends all over the world who all treasure it. Mrs Palazuelos reputation is due to high standards and extremely hard work and with very good reason is considered Mexico's number 1 caterer and now her equally talented son has just opened a hit restaurant of Mex-Thai fusion cuisine, unique in Mexico.

unique cookbook, explains some about the culture and has many true Mexican dishes that are yummy.

This book is beautiful and packed with appealing recipes. The quality of the paper, the vivid photography, and the engaging travel writing combine to make this more than just a book of recipes. It's a book you'll pull out and thumb through while you think about where you want to go in Mexico.

........ during their first 12 months of "Life in San Miguel". I have not been there yet (in person), but I am sure, it is as helpful for people, who want to visit (like me), for those, thinking to live there more permanently, or even for those who move there for "rest of their lives". I loved the very personal letter-writing style of the authors, and nothing ever felt gossipy. After finishing the book I had a better understanding, what will await me in this wonderful Mexican city, when I can finally visit there next spring. I also enjoyed the carefully deliberate approach of the authors of staying alert to their limits of loving to live there, being a part of the community, and accepting that they may never understand many aspects of Mexican life and history. The authors never claim to be San Miguel experts ... but surely they are San Miguel lovers.

I thoroughly enjoyed Falling In Love with San Miguel! After reading it I almost feel like I've been there and now I can't wait to go there. I picked up information in this book that will make my upcoming visit there much easier and more interesting and will give me a better feel for the people who live there. I'd definately recommend this read to anyone who is planning a visit to San Miguel or who has already been there and would like the inside scoop on what it's like to live there.

This book is great. Carol has delightfully shared her impressions of San Miguel de Allende which have made me hungry for more. Beyond that, she has revealed life lessons learned as well as a few of her own philosophical/ethical views. Carol Schmidt and Norma Hair have stirred up my desire to taste the food, experience the culture and dive deeper into the history of SMA.

I TRULY ENJOYED THIS BOOK !!! IT WAS INTROSPECTIVE AND COVERED ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIFE. I AM CLOSE TO BEING IN CAROL AND NORMAS AGE GROUP AND FOUND THIS BOOK VERY APPROPRIATE. I HOPE TO BE A SUNBIRD WITHIN THE NEXT FEW YEARS (SPENDING MY SUMMERS IN MEXICO) AND FOUND THIS BOOK VERY WORTHWHILE. SHARON A.

This book makes for such enjoyable reading you don't realize how much you are learning about the multi-faceted culture of Mexico and the unique town of San Miguel. We are fortunate two such intelligent and hip women took on this project. The information is down-to-earth and at the same time poetic in expressing a heartfelt appreciation for the beauty of San Miguel and its people. The authors are remarkably non-ethnocentric, a refreshing quality in this day and age. You may find yourself wishing that you too could begin an adventure like this one. Carol and Norma quite strongly tell you, Yes, you can.

This book was extremely disappointing unless you would like to know how many gallons of water it takes to illegally cross from Mexico into the United States. The author takes a liberal and sympathic view of illegals and tries to sway the reader into thinking that breaking the law is OK for these people. Give me a break. Where is the equal-sided journalism? What about the economic drain to healthcare, gang violence and drugs that these people bring into the United States? If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck then it is a duck. Illegals are illegals are illegals. Don't waste your time on this book.

"A passionate exponent of more human solutions to the problems of illegal border crossings...John Annerino, an Arizona writer-photojournalist, tells the story up close and personal in a gut wrenching, bare knuckle account...His account puts flesh and bones on the story behind the dreams, and skeletons,too," Desert Candle.

There are those who call themselves experts on the subject and those who are. John is the genuine expert. His points on the subject can only be done by being there and doing it. That is John, that is how he is. That is how he lives. A Master photographer, a Father, Journalist. His treatment on the border issue is a no-holds-barred trip into the unknown. He makes it known, he does it masterfully! When I read Dead in Their Tracks I found it to be the best publication on the subject. It should be required reading for those who are studying Hispanic Culture here at the University of Arizona! When one has the folks at ABC News and other News organizations beating on your door for your knowledge on the subject you know it is John Annerino. When you read a John Annerino book or see his imigaes you are guaranteed that you have exposed to the very best in subject treatment. Dead in Their Tracks will take you for a ride you won't soon forget.

-"Photojournalist John Annerino plunges into a world few Americans ever consider, much less confront: a pitiless trek through the southwestern Arizona Desert that can deliver a man to steady work - or to a whimpering death," Laura Brooks, The Arizona Daily Star.

-"Anyone interested in this slaughter should run, not walk, to John Annerino's Dead in Their Tracks," Charles Bowden, author of Down by the River.

-"A passionate chronicle. The story...is gripping and profoundly disturbing," Susan J. Tweit, The Bloomsbury Review.

-"A stunning portrayal of the dangers (including death) faced by immigrants eager to work in the United States," Library Journal.

-"I'm trying to illuminate the lives of those who continue to die in America's killing ground," Annerino said," abcnews.com.

-"A gripping firsthand account of crossing the Camino del Diablo in the company of Mexican nationals...Annerino's evocative words and haunting pictures make the issue impossible to ignore," Donnamarie Barnes, People Magazine.

-"The story is riveting.Annerino's writing is emotional and graphic," Ernesto Portillo, San Diego Union-Tribune.

-"Through cholla cactus and scorpions, along sands simmering at 140-160 degrees, John Annerino and four Mexican companions stumble toward an oasis north of poverty: the American dream," oneworldjournies.com.

-"The book is a testament and a memorial.Thirty pages list the known dead...Annerino deserves praise for putting this story into words and pictures," Will Chaffey, San Antonio Express-News.

-"A gripping work of investigative reporting," Nicole Davis, National Geographic Adventure.

-"Seen on CNN and featured on CNN Bokchat, John Annerino has worked on the border for Newsweek, ABC Primetime, National Geographic Adventure, and America 24/7," KmG

This book is poorly written, _utterly_ disjointed, and has a cloying sentimentality that is really annoying. By that I mean it's not at all analytical: it includes random snippets of poems, etc. that serve only to confound the reader looking for some meat. Plus, there are certain phrases like "cutting sign" that I hadn't the foggiest idea about until I looked it up. Help the reader out here.

Yeah, it's hot as hell in the desert, and it's doggone handy to have water. It sucks that people are dying in the desert and the forces that draw them to _El Norte_ are highly complex and not necessarily their fault. Still, they are breaking the law from the word go, and well they know it, and it seems to me there are worse tragedies involving truly innocent people. Plus, it peeves me to no end that these illegals have largely trashed some of the most beautiful and exotic wildernesses in the U.S. So my sympathy is just not all that deep.

The photos are for the most part of lousy quality as well. Why it took carrying several cameras, as the author claims, to produce these pictures is beyond me.

Lastly the book is VERY short, with a ridiculously long appendix addressing every single death that has occurred in this area ... newsflash: no one is going to read that.

How could the editors have allowed a book like this to go to press? It's absolutely amateurish, despite being driven by sincere emotions.

Our recent trip to Mexico City was greatly enhanced by our reading of "An Opinionated Guide for the Curious Traveler". Its perspectives on Mexican culture, art, architecture and food are presented with humor, perceptiveness and intelligence by Jim Johnston. The "Guide" made our visit to a city which can seem overwhelming and frightening to the first time visitor more manageable. It focused our sight and attention on aspects of DF we otherwise would have missed. Post trip, I find myself re-reading sections to better appreciate aspects of the city and to plan for a return visit. We also purchased National Geographic's "Traveler Mexico" which I also liked very much.

Jim Johnston's book gives you the personal approach you would get from a friend who moved to Mexico City years ago and is willing to take you around to his favorite spots. It's not comprehensive, nor does it try to be. But - first time or multiple-time visitors who want to get a feel for the unique cacophony, artistry and paradox that is Mexico City will find a helpful guide that addresses practical issues and throws in some quirky delights, too. My husband and I fell in love with Mexico City 7 months ago and just returned to get another fix, using Mr. Johnston's book as our primary reference. We were also pleased to see that he updates information on his web site, so we checked for closings, openings, etc. before the trip. Maybe most important is that the ethic and personality of the author come through, revealing him as someone you would like to know - and you will, with this book.

Jim Johnston's guide to Mexico City took us off the usual tourist path and led to parts of the Centro Historico we would have missed. The walking tours are easy to follow and include some not so heavily visited sites. We followed #3 in the Centro and had a great time finding the places mentioned and finding other interesting places along the way. This guide will be a permanent part of the Mexico City bookshelf. And now we know what "pb" means in the elevator!

We travel to Mexico twice a year for business and pleasure (shouldn't travel always be a pleasure?), and we are always looking to explore more deeply this great world-city. I would recommend this book for both novices as well as experienced visitors, as Mexico City has so much and is so vibrant, that you take away something new each time. Jim's arrival tips and hotel listings are great, and I cannot wait to check out the walking tour and dining insights on our upcoming trip. The size is great as it is easy to carry around without looking like too much of a tourist. It is also a great book to use to take off the intimidating edge for a first-time visitor.

I began planning an upcoming trip to Mexico City and went looking for some current information about the city. The mainstream guidebooks are fine, but seldom up to date. I came across a positive reference about this book on [...] and checked it out on Amazon. Luckily, I bought it.
The author apparently knows and loves his city, and shares it the way a friend would. The level of detail is great, from how to get "there" (landmark, restaurant, museum, etc.), to what to expect, to what you might want to look for around the corner afterwards. I've explored Mexico City several times and thanks to this book I have many new intriguing options to augment my old favorites. This is the guidebook I'll take with me on my upcoming trip, and one I'll recommend to anyone I know who might be planning visit the City, and to some who haven't considered Mexico City as a destination - yet.
As a bonus, the author has a website where he posts updates: [...] . A revised walking tour of the area behind the cathedral (revised due to the exit of the throngs of street vendors) is already posted there.
Great book. Buy it.

This wonderful book tells the remarkable story of one of the most interesting women of all time. It is wonderful "read" and as colorful as Frida herself.

I read this book when it was first published and it changed my life, the way i looked at art and the way I approached my own art. Frida was an enigmatic personality, a genius of the surreal emotions we have. I adore her and her art. The book by Hayden Herrera was so thoroughly researched that if you end up visiting Coyocan, you will feel familiar with it and the cultures that surround it. Wonderful biography, well written, well researched and what a great service the author has done in educating us on an incredible artist that would have otherwise been hidden behind the shadows of her husband.

This is a paintakingly detailed biography, yet rather than making for tedious reading, it flows smoothly from the pages...Hayden Herrera has done an incredible job with the story of Frida Kahlo, the most famous Mexican artist in history.

Written in the late 1970s' (when many of Frida's friends and intimates were still alive to interview), this excellent book combines letters (to and from Kahlo), first person anecdotes and historical records (along with a decent selection of photos and paintings), to create a sweeping portrait of a very, very interesting life.

Everything you ever wanted to know about Frida (and maybe some stuff you didn't), is in this book.

"Frida" is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys Frida's work or just wants to know more about a very interesting, opinionated, talented, brutally honest (especially with herself), yet very vulnerable) woman.

I learned about Frida when I took art history in college. I always wanted to know more about her because of her art work. She was so passionate! Although she was considered an abstract artist. Her art was very REAL. You can feel what she feels by looking at her art. This book really helps you understand what happened in her life and attached the painting that went along with that specific period in her life. Very well written.

I bought this book after re-watching the movie taken largely from this exhaustive biography. As someone who has read many bios, let me say that this is a refreshing and encouraging alternative to the fawning and excessive grocery store drivel and/or the dull and fact-filled dissertations that describe most biographies. Hayden Herrera manages to combine a staggeringly comprehensive detailing of Kahlo's life with an easy prose that makes for an engaging read. I know far more about this artist than I could've imagined and it is largely first-hand accounts either from the pages of Frida's own diaries and numerous letters or the people who were there. Herrera keeps her personal opinions regarding the events to a minimum and allows the events to speak for themselves. The life of Frida Kahlo needs no additional padding or maudlin tricks to engender a connection to anyone with a heart and soul. When the author does speculate, it comes from someone who has clearly studied her subject thoroughly and backs up her theories with a wealth of compelling evidence and sensible arguments. While her appreciation for Kahlo is obvious, Herrera does not stop short of being critical, questioning Kahlo's motives, and revealing the stark humanity and insecurity that Kahlo tried to obscure with her public persona as the confident, outspoken, provocative enchantress sporting her exotic Tehuana finery.
However, the best use of Herrera's research and the clear compassion and empathy she has for this incredible woman is when she analyses Frida's paintings. I found myself continuously turning back and forth from the detailed observations and interpretation to the paintings and trying to understand what the author is talking about. It was fascinating reading and a wonderful exploration that shed light into the depths of Frida's intensely personal art.
Two last notes: First, the version I bought does not sport Salma Hayek on the cover but instead one of Frida's many self-portraits. Apparently the publishers corrected this unfortunate decision based on movie marketing. Second, I was fortunate enough to take in the amazing exhibit of Frida Kahlo at the Philadelphia Museum just a few weeks ago and it was a moving and special day. Seeing the actual frames dripping blood, the size and grandeur of some of the works juxtaposed with the smaller works, and the sheer emotionally gravity of her art was something I'll never forget. Having read much of this biography by that time, I was able to bring that much more to that exhilarating opportunity.
Frida Kahlo was not just an extraordinary artist but was moreover an extraordinary person. Herrera's heartfelt, deeply researched, and brilliantly written biography allows those of us who never knew her to feel as if we have and to share in the universal quality of her painful work. That alone makes us better people for having experienced it.

Michael Lesy's Wisconsin Death Trip, originally a doctoral thesis, is one of the most touching, poetic, beautiful, harrowing, moving and dislocating works I have read. Basically a compendium of found glass plate negative photos taken by the (himself knock-knees odd) Charles Vam Schaik in and around the rural community of Black River Falls WI, and leavened by snippets taken from the Badger State Banner newspaper and the Mendota State Record Book (an insane asylum), as well as a few personal reminisces, the book instead is a commentary and an indictment of a brutal time of economic dislocation, social upheaval, religious confusion and obsession, and personal decay in a farming community. It is an endless repitition of suicide, madness, arson, children dying of disease, and of a mostly sternly religious people living the grimmest of lives of back breaking work in the country. The photos by their sheer repetition and some of the games played with them by the author, pound out a tattoo of strain, people only barely suppressing their madness, and a society truly on the edge of collapse. Hardly the bucolic paradise so often evoked in our time.

The afterword by the author provides some backstory and statistics backing the point up, and illustrating in numbers and facts what the pictures and excerpts made clear by anecdote, and is also well written.

This was something of a cult book in the mid 70s, a most unusual way of looking at local history, lifting up the rock under which society had crawled. It is haunting, tragic, striking. You will never forgot it.

Buying a classic again. This is the U of New Mexico Press version. The earlier publisher had the picture of the baby in a coffin on the cover. That was better, but the contents are the same.

This is an interesting and slightly macabre book which is strangely beautiful. My son, who is Sam Witt, the poet, told me about it because he had been so moved by it that he wrote a poem associated with it in his soon to be published book, SUNFLOWER BROTHER. The old photos are stunning from the horses to the dead children. I am hoping to get the dvd soon.

"Wisconsin death trip"is an accurate documentation,not only of "agrarian white"culture at the end of the 19th century but,in many ways,the whole of white culture in america at that time..Contrary to popular belief,the"good"old days were not really so good..Yes,they may well have been less complex,but infant mortality was very high,illnesses which today are highly treatable being killers not only of children but of adults as well,daily life being,for most,a drudgery,with little to show for one's efforts...There were few saftey nets,no antibiotics,no pensions to speak of,no recourse against the harshness life,or against a system that,like today,favors the wealthy..
Insanity was not understood,and "treatment"such as it was,often did little to help the afflicted...Wisconsin did not have a monopoly on such things,anymore than,say,los angles has a monopoly on street gangs,or newark has a monopoly on ghetto housing...
The novelty is perhaps in the seeing of the photographs and the documents all together in one volume,so that one can peruse the sorrowful aspects of that period as it affected one particular area...

I read this book over 16 years ago. It left a lasting impression that will stay with me forever. It may not have the same affect on others but reading some of the reviews posted here, I know that it has on most. You can't really ask somebody "did this really happen?" becuase they either died then or in the 100 years that have past. We have no perspective on these people, places and times other than to read books like this. If any of these folks were alive today and heard someone say, "those were the good old days." They might be inclined to give the speaker a quick education. This book will do it for them. I have pictures just like this in a family archive. You wonder how anybody lived into middle or old age. Disease, starvation, hypothermia, and farm accidents all took their toll. Winters are hard enough in the south. Why did these people decide to stop the wagon in Wisconsin or if they lived thru their first winter there, why didn't they head south? I went to a Brewers baseball game at the end of May some 25 years ago and wore a down parka and was cold. You can still see houses in small towns outside of Milwaukee that look like the houses in this book and you can feel the desolation, pain and suffering looking out at you thru 100 year old panes of glass.