Mexico Books

Most of us have read other stories of Jewish survivors of WWII; yet young Tereska's account stands out. The author has skillfully combined the small details of a child's life - as a child will mercifully still be a child, no matter how horrific the circumstances - with an account of the war's progression in Poland. Definitely worth reading.

I most admire individuals who have gone through great struggles in their lives and convert their pain into compassion and selfless service to humanity. As a specialist in childhood regression I have learned that it is not what happened to us that determines our character -- it is what we do with those experiences. Having close relatives whose experiences in the war hauntingly parallel those of Dr. Cahn-Tober's, I have experienced firsthand how such a harrowing childhood can effect one's ability to cope as an adult. Teresa has made different choices. She deeply understands children and their emotional wounds and has devoted much of her professional life to the path of healing. I felt grateful and validated by her understanding the emotional baggage that comes with being the "child of survivors." This book was not only personally meaningful to me, it was also extremely well-written and an engrossing read. The author has a gift for storytelling and I hope that she will continue to write.

This book begins with one of the best introductions I've seen in a long time. Here, in this short but beautifully written intro, Tober sets the tone for the retelling of her life story which resonates strength, humor, hope and love, all while giving the reader a personal inside view of living through the Holocaust. Educational without being dry or dark, hide and seek gives shining examples of love and humanity which cross over ethnic and religoius bounaries during a time of war and hate. During the book the reader is never burdened with an author's feelings of victimization, but instead inspired by the loving memories of a talented writer. Highly recommended for adults of every age, race or religion.

A compelling account of a child's experience in wartime Poland during World War II told convincingly from a child's pont of view. There is tension and adventure in her story of assuming multiple identities with a Catholic family who protects her as she and her own family hide from Nazis during a bewildering time of anti-semitism. I felt her confusion, her anxiety and her unfailing sense of humor and adventure on every page.

This is a beautiful book that somehow lifted me to a different perspective. The whole time I was reading it, I felt as if the air around me shimmered with diffuse light. It is interesting to read about life in Joseph Rael's culture, fascinating to learn about the perspective of different Native American languages, hopeful to learn of Joseph's dream and continuing work for all of us, and transfixing to experience the effect his writing had upon my heart.

I recommend this book for all who are not afraid to expand their view of life and their world.

Joseph Rael is one of the most interesting people you'll read about. This is basically his life story, and how he acquired the teachings to complement his natural gifts. The discussion of the Tiwa language is brilliant. Be one of the fortunate to read about this amazing man.

The vision of this book is remarkable especially when viewed in the light of string theory. So much of the philosophy of the Pueblo people from whom Joseph Rael sprang seems to be confirmed by modern physics. A must read for the serious seeker.

This book is not a physics text. It is the highest level
work on Native American religion I have ever seen. It would
also be of interest to linguists as it presents words from
the Tiwa language which uses verbs and not nouns.
But the interesting part is the actual experiences of
a man who is a healer and ceremonial dancer and peace
worker. It is well written amd presented in a personal
style.
The book is much better than this review.

Heaven help the hapless traveler who wanders off to Mexico without this enormously helpful book. I thought I knew Mexican food until I used the Hungry Travelers- Mexico. What a resource!

Whether you don't know a tamale from an enchilada or if you want to better understand regional nuances of Mexican cuisine, this handbook is for anyone smitten by Mexican food. The author has done a superb job of research and the prose flows like caramel on flan. A definite must read before your next trip to Mexico.

As fun to read as it is accurate, packable and irreplaceable, The Hungry Traveler for Mexico is the right book for anyone who enjoys eatings as much as traveling. The book is as much an appetizer for travel as for dining; I wasn't sure whether I was salivating more over the descriptions of the food or the thought of being in a place where I could eat such things. Forget your Spanish-English dictionary (it doesn't have important food terms anyway), and tuck this delicious little culinary guide into your pocket. The pronunciation guide is extensive and exact, and Marita Adair not only knows food, she knows Mexico and she knows travelers. It's as if you've found a good friend to eat out with--she won't lead you astray. You'll eat well using this book, you'll learn the nuances of dining in Mexico, and you'll find the way to the heart of the country.

This wonderful book is written by someone who obviously knows both the country and its food-everywhere. It's amazing that so much food information could be packed in a book that fits in my pocket. This little jewel is essential for traveling in Mexico whether you think you know the food or know for sure that you don't.

I finished reading David Fine's excellent book Imagining Los Angeles: A City In Fiction at just before 2 am this morning. I was reading in bed in my 1923 bungalow in Whittier, California. It was a quiet night. No winds blowing; even the neighborhood dogs were asleep. It was too humid and Fine's wonderful analysis of Los Angeles fiction had my mind going a mile a minute. I thought about going for a drive; maybe listen to a little late-night radio, but I knew my wife would worry if she woke up and found me gone. I finally got to sleep, knowing I'd have to type up this report as soon as I got out of bed this morning.

Fine's book is not encyclopedic; if you are looking for a complete listing of SoCal fiction, you'll need to look elsewhere. Imagining Los Angeles is an overview - an introduction, a history with examples - of fiction set in the Los Angeles metro area. The first chapter gives you a little background on the area. Then Fine takes the reader on a literary journey from booster fiction, through fiction in the 20's, hard-boiled fiction, tough-guy detectives, the Hollywood novel and finishes with more ethnically oriented fiction and Los Angeles as a setting for disaster. The book is serious - probably not a summer beach read - but it also kept me in rapt attention and didn't read like the textbook Professor Fine could have turned it into. In my opinion, this book should appeal to a wide audience - from the serious literary student to the pop culture buff looking for a little backstory.

A lady just walked into my office (actually, my three legged female mutt just hopped into the 1980 guesthouse behind the bungalow) looking for my attention, so I better end this report now.

Sincerely Submitted, agnostictrickster 13 August 2001

"Fine's research is extensive and thorough, his observations shrewd and penetrating, and his command of the political, social, and cultural matrix profound. A major contribution."--D. W. Madden, California State University, Sacramento--CHOICE, January 2001

This is a terrific book, that rare academic work that is both entertaining and instructive. Having grown up in L.A., but no longer living there now, I truly enjoyed revisiting the city of my childhood and young adulthood via all the stories and authors Fine discusses. Fine's writing style is clear and blessedly free of academic jargon. His treatment of a wide variety of books and ideas is nothing short of a tour-de-force. "Imagining Los Angeles" does exactly what good literary scholarship should do: shine fresh light on books and their authors and make readers eager to discover the books for themselves! (I've just placed a mega-order for several of the titles Fine discusses... )

"A short course in the essential literature of Los Angeles. . . . so full of punch and energy, so mercifully free of the impenetrable jargon that afflicts much scholarly and critical writing. Best of all, Fine sent me back to my old favorites with a fresh perspective, and he added a dozen titles to my own reading list."-Jonathan Kirsch, The Los Angeles Times

The paintings in this book are so beautiful and full and tell so much. You can see grandmothers rocking babies, children playing with each other, every little detail so sharply rendered. Look at the plates of empanadas in the kitchen and the family gathered for a backyard party. The honest, person text--given in both English and Spanish--make this perfect. Great for anyone who wants to learn about family life as well as another culture. My[...] daughter loves to pore over these pictures. Highly recommended!

I just had a baby and I want her to bilingual. This is a great tool to start with for both her and myself. Since I have to brush up on my Spanish.

The pictures in this book are so detailed. It reminds me so much of many of my family's homes growing up in Texas. Great childrens book.

This is a great book, and Carmen Lomas Garza is a great artist. Everything is so detailed, and she tells you exactly who's who. All her pictures are real memories. There is something going on in every corner

This novel is a must read for Americans during this time of the Iraq war. Parsons illuminates a facet of WWII, the so-called "good" war, that reveals just how devastating it really was, both for the losers and the "winners." We see how a humble New Mexican ranching family, patriotic to the core, is betrayed by our government, which takes their land and then their son. The lessons are haunting when applied to our age, and this new war. Read this novel, and you will not only better understand our country's history, but our present as well.

This is a rare gem: a page-turner that is beautifully crafted. It's the best book about the Southwest I've read.

Poignant and poetic, In The Shadows of The Sun is as enjoyable as it is significant. A well-researched and beautiful character study full of description and metaphor. Timeless. I was torn between wanting to find out what happens next and wanting to savor every word.

Executive Order 9029. This one order from the Federal Government displaces ranching leaseholders from their land in New Mexico, establishing the government's wartime authority to establish a test site on the land. With a war going on, there is no one to gainsay the right of the government to use the land in a manner that will aid the war effort. For those who must move from the land it is a wrenching, irrevocable order.

The Strickland brothers are hard, proud men who have worked the land, making their living from it and raising generations of family and both Baylis and Ross fight against embitterment when their livelihood is taken away. Baylis's wife has long wanted to live in town, although her husband refuses to acknowledge her; Ross is the older, more stubborn of the two, still nursing a grudge after the accidental death of their father. Just before the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Ross' son Jack enlists, but he refuses to say goodbye or wish him well. Not knowing the fate of his son since Pearl Harbor, Ross is smothered under his rage and general sense of injustice, while Baylis tries to make peace with the future.

Meanwhile, Jack endures the agony of the Bataan Death March, living corpses plodding through an eternity of days to reach the end of their journey. As Jack's friends fall away by the roadside, the young soldier keeps moving, his youthful enthusiasm as a soldier pounded into painful monotony under the weight of unrelenting horrors. But Jack carries the blood of his family, determined to survive his ordeal.

This unsparing novel of the high mountain desert of New Mexico and the jungles of the Philippines is as plain-spoken as the rugged country that requires all a man has to survive. While a young man wills himself to live and return home, his journey is made more poignant by the desperate straits of the Strickland's left behind. It would appear that there is little love in this family, what there is damaged by illicit romance and bitter regret, pitting brother against brother. But the love in this novels runs far below the surface; it is the deep-rooted affection of generations nurtured on their own land, the essence and endurance of family.

In sparse prose reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy, Parsons paints a compelling portrait of a harsh land and the men it breeds, their loyalties and resentments, those who are the heart of this country. With images as powerful as the harrowing dust-bowl years of the Great Depression, the author's characters stand alone, proud and immutable, citizens of a world they have built with their own hands. Bleak and plaintive, the novel resonates with its own spare beauty. In a country devastated by a world war, two brothers are stripped and bared, their personal demons exposed. A son struggles far from home, his parents beset with inexplicable grief over his fate. Then finally, the great leveler is released, the awesome glare of incomprehensible destruction as the world watches, illuminated by the transcendent glare of the atomic bomb. Luan Gaines/2005.

A quick impression of the photographs by Lueders-Booth might cause one to remember conversations about 'colonialist gaze' and other such Postmodernist concerns with the representation of foreign cultures. The photographs, however, are much to powerful and engaging to be defeated by such narrow arguments. They present the people of Tijuana, Mexico, living in and around the large municipal dumps that surround their town. Children play, adults search for valuables or burn wood, while makeshift cemeteries are created from scraps and a broken baby crib.

There is a sense in all of these images that there is nothing foreign here at all. In truth, Tijuana is but a stone's throw from the U.S. border, and there is little about these people or their lives that cannot be found inside our borders. They are the faces of poverty, of destitution, and their representation here makes them doubly powerful as symbols of repressive capitalism and the victims of economic oppression.

If it's true that one picture is worth a thousand words, then Jack Lueders-Booth presents us with a 69,000 word book that you can finish in less time than it takes to read the last night's box scores--or that you can linger over in wonder, page by page, giving yourself over to each, and to the stories implicit in each, for many minutes at a time.

The border has become the topic du jour, and by now the very word border conjures up a reality apart from what, for most of us, is daily life. It's not a particularly evocative or unsettling image, the border, when referring to the dividing line between Italy and Switzerland, or Uruguay and Brazil, or even between two countries claiming, with occasional cross-border skirmishes to italicize those claims, each a piece of the other.

But talk of the border here and it's one and only one you mean and you cross it, north to south, at your own psychic risk. Fictional characters have been discovering it as far back at least as D.H. Lawrence and as recently as Cormac McCarthy, and as actual characters have learned, and continue to learn every day.

Ambrose Bierce was probably not the first and Jack Lueders-Booth will surely not be the last--but Jack's is just as surely as stunning a document of that mythic crossing as we're likely to get.

Now, mythology tells us that heaven belongs to god, hell to the devil, and the borderlands, the wastelands, the shantytowns, the DMZ's, the dumping grounds, the scabby, toxic, orphaned frontier places neither flanking country will acknowledge as its own--these belong to neither the one nor the other but to the trickster.

Call him Hermes. Call him Legba or Exu. Call him Coyote or Lord of the Crossroads. They are one and the same for all their many names. And the Tijuana dumps in "Inherit the Land" seem to have been the classic trickster crossroads for Professor Lueders-Booth.

For it was here that the god unblocked the path to a reality other visitors, perhaps, have experienced, but whose visionary intensity no one's camera ever captured quite this splendidly before.

McCarthy's border trilogy is a masterpiece of modern American prose. Luis Urrea's "Across the Wire," "By the Lake of Sleeping Children," and, now, "Inherit the Land"-is no less a masterpiece trilogy of modern American prose and photography.

Now, we often hear photographers--those who poke their lenses into the sores of the world, that is--accused of aestheticizing their subjects. Yet the poet Rilke tells us that in beauty is the beginning of terror. And the formal beauty of these pictures serve, to my eyes at least, to expose, not distract from, the terror--the terror and the humanity both. And expose them not once, but time and again, keeping them, as only great art can do, fresh, the pain and the beauty just as revelatory on the twentieth viewing, or the hundredth, as on the first.

Anything, however initially exotic or extreme, appalling or enchanting, becomes familiar over time. And while it doesn't necessarily breed contempt, familiarity usually breeds, even worse, complacency and indifference, even oblivion. Oblivion literally in that we forget what first surprised, engrossed, appalled, and bewitched.

"What surprised, appalled, engrossed, bewitched me when I first went to live and work in Calcutta--yet another world," in the words of Luis Alberto Urrea's Introduction, "of stench and dirt and mangled dogs and untouchables--became old hat, hardly noticeable, six months down the line. Even three."

It's up to the artist to keep the knife-edge of perception, reaction and emotion sharp. And that knife's edge is as sharp, in "Inherit the Land," as the light of Mexico itself.

This book by Lueders-Booth was one of the 10 best of last year as rated by American Photo. I take their recommendations with a grain of salt, but this is really first rate documentary photography. Lueders Booth has such respect for his subjects who are struggling to live--with some grace--under the most difficult circumstances. He never
milks the situation, which so many photographers do today. He's also a photographer's photographer. His way of relating people to their environment is informative, moving, and memorable. The images stay with you. This is a book to own and live with. I can't recommend it more highly

A moving essay about the families living on the dumps of Tijuana by a courageous and talented photographer. Every single photograph is testament to the photographer's commitment to bring us closer to the circumstances of their lives. The portraits are poignant, honest, and beautiful.

This is an outstanding book. There are several good books about the Alamo but this one by Jim Murphy is well written and has a true feel of endearment for those that sacrificed their lives and left loved ones behind. The cover is very striking and captivating and I immediately was drawn to the book. The layout of the book is exquisite. It really captures the historical meaning and importance of this event of heroism and bravery and enables you to imagine a feel for the time, place and people. This is a beautiful looking and splendidly written book. I flip through its pages often and just remember.

This is a brilliantly conceived book. It is concise and illustrated beautifully to convey the historical perspective of 1836 Texas. The struggle was essentially best remembered for the gallantry of the combatants. This book is a tribute to their memory and keeps their sacrifice alive.

I really like this book. There are several good books about the Alamo but this one by Jim Murphy is well written and has a true feel of endearment for those that sacrificed their lives and left loved ones behind. The cover is very striking and captivating and I immediately was drawn to the book. The layout of the book is exquisite. It really captures the historical meaning and importance of this event of heroism and bravery and enables you to imagine a feel for the time, place and people. This is a beautiful looking and splendidly written book.

The Washington Post was right in saying that no one does non-fiction better than Jim Murphy.

The story of the Alamo is one that I passed over in history books. I felt this was an appauling gap. Jim Murphy's book is fascinating and riveting -- as well as beautiful.

We have made this a family project to read this extraordinary story. It's a lesson in the making of myth and legend as well as history. An important story that all Americans should share.

With a new PG-13 Disney distributed feature film on The Alamo coming out this winter, the Alamo will be on the lips of kids and parents everywhere. Why not read the definitive presentation. It's riveting!

!~Josefina learns A Lesson~!
I am writing a book called Josefina Learns a Lesson. Its about a girl who likes to read. She likes to write about her family. She has two sisters and two nephews and a dad. She gos to school to learn how to read and write better. She likes to run outside and play with her nephews. She lives in Mexico. I recommend this book to people who like to read and write. The author is Valerie Tripp .The book is from American Girl Collection. Someother characters in the collection are Kirsten, Samantha, Addy, Molly, and Felicity. There are more characters.

This is another one of the American Girls series about Josefina Montoya, a nine-year-old girl (almost ten!) living in the New Mexico of 1824. When a flashflood brings disaster to her father's rancho, Josefina's aunt Dolores suggests that they begin weaving blankets that they can trade. Josefina throws herself into the work, eager to help the family, but one of her sisters is holding back, and Josefina needs to find out why.

The final chapter of this wonderful book is a highly informative look at schooling in New Mexico in 1824. Jean-Paul Tibbles' illustrations are nothing short of excellent, and add so much to this wonderful story.

This is another of the excellent stories that American Girls presents. This one also has a fine lesson, while the story is highly entertaining. Also, I do enjoy the way the author has realistically woven Josefina's religion into her daily life; religion is something lacking in most American Girls stories. My eleven-year-old daughter and I read this book together; we both enjoyed it, and we both recommend it to you.

I like that there is a glossary of Spanish words at the end of the book, because I know that if I ever go to Mexico, I will know how to say thank-you and stuff like that (gracias). The idea of a maid teaching Josephina and Josephina being so eager to learn makes me stunned. I think that you will very much enjoy the pictures, as I did. I did not recognize the dyes that the girls used to dye the wool, but from the pictures I understood that they were very beautiful. (Carmelle, Age 8)

Nine year old Josefina Montoya is growing up on a rancho in New Mexico in 1824. When Josefina's Tia Dolores comes to visit to Montoyas, Josefina learns about a world beyond the rancho-a world of elegance. But Josefina and her sisters begin to worry that Tia Dolores will replace Mama, who died last year. And then disaster strikes. The Montoyas lose most of their sheep in a terrible flood. Tia Dolores comes to the rescue with the suggestion that the Montoyas weave blankets to sell so that they can get new sheep. But more and more, Josefina and her sisters begin to believe that all the new ideas their aunt has brought will make them forget all that Mama taught them. Then, Tia Dolores begins to teach the girls to read and write. Mama couldn't read and write, and Josefina and her sisters aren't sure she'd approve. More and more, Josefina must face many changes-both good and bad.

I thoroughly enjoyed Marc Simmons' documentary of Kit Carson and his wives. It is a well-written, 146-page account of one of the most fascinating characters in American history.

Simmons describes in detail the relationship that Carson had with his wives and children. Though absent much of the time, Carson loved his children, and even adopted and helped raise a young orphaned Indian boy. The book showcases the softer side of this legendary hero.

If you are a Colorado history buff like me, then you will enjoy reading this book. I would also recommend another relatively obscure book "The Western Odyssey of John Simpson Smith" by Stan Hoig. It is about an Indian interpreter and frontiersman who lived in and around Colorado during the 1840's, 50's, and 60's.

Both books make for great reading.

Mitch Paioff, Author, Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant

The Western Odyssey of John Simpson Smith: Frontiersman and Indian Interpreter

Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant

Kit Carson lived a life that many young men would have liked to have lived. He seemingly was in all the right places at the time that a nation was being born. He grew from a simple kid to being an American Patriot.
Simmons book cpatures the real Kit Carson, the man, the family, the life and times--it is not a novel, it contains 35 pages of documented footnotes--by one of the best historians of the west.
At a time when the slave trade was still happening, he raised several Indian children, along with his own, by buying the kids from the slave traders. It is a book that helps anyone understand time and place. The book has been nominated for a national award.

Great history book detailing some of the little-known (or unknown) parts of Kit's life. Very well researched and very well written. Not "dry" research, but living information.

Nobody in his era survived more adventures and did more hard traveling than Kit Carson. His dispatch duties during the Mexican War totalled 16,000 miles -- most of that by horseback. In the first six years of his marriage to his third wife, he spent only six months at home in Taos. Carson was restless, and also uniquely qualified to play a major role in the far-flung events taking place across the Western U.S.

That is by way of saying that Carson was hardly domesticated. Based on very limited information this book looks into Carson's life with his three wives. With the first, Waa-nibe, an Arapahoe woman, he seems to have enjoyed domestic bliss. After she died he took up residence with Making Out Road, a beautiful and willful Cheyenne woman in what proved to a relationship from hell. After escaping from -- or being thrown out of the teepee by -- Making Out Road, he married Josefa, a Mexican woman of respectable family from Taos.

It was apparently a good marriage -- although Carson was rarely there and, moreover, never earned any money. In the census of 1850, when he was 41 years old, the value of his property totalled just over $200. Carson, however, apparently was a loving and responsible parent. He put his half-Arapaho daughter in school in Missouri and raised not only his own children in Taos but adopted several Indian orphans.

This is a good book, as much about the comings and goings of Kit Carson, as it is about his family relationships. The author tells of the fate of his wives and children and has included a number of photographs of family members. There's a large literature about Carson and little information about him that has not already been explored, but this book gives a different slant on his life than other biographies.

Smallchief