Mexico Books

This cookbook does a great job of presenting Northern Mexican cooking -- until I came across this book, I'd found the choice was between cookbooks that concentrated on the more exotic South (e.g. Oaxaca, Veracruz, and the Yucatan), the Mexican American experience (e.g. Cocina de la Familia), or Tex Mex ... not a whole lot on Sonora, Chihuahua and Coahuila.
The book is attractively laid out, with well written recipes that make me want to fire up the grill and get cooking each time I leaf through it. Also, the book starts with a very handy no nonsense introduction to chiles and other essential ingredients which should appeal to folks who've had no luck securing a steady supply of epazote or huitlacoche.
This book now sits on my kitchen bookshelf alongside books by Diana Kennedy and Zarela Martinez ... unlike a few others by better know writers, that have gone the way of garage sales ;-)

If you want one beautiful book about Mexican food and how to prepare it authentically, get El Norte. TEXAS BOOKS IN REVIEW

The book is a work of art. Drawings, photos in black-and-white of chefs and their kitchens enhance the recipes. Most attractive are twelve color plates of foods one could die for, made from recipes in the book. If you want one beautiful book about Mexican food and how to prepare it authentically, get El Norte. TEXAS BOOKS IN REVIE

This is my favorite book in my home. I love the pictures and graphics. The pages feel nice and sleek like an encyclopedia. Each word entry is in capital letters which is helpful for me. Overall quality of the book is exceptional.

I bought the book for my mother and she just loved it. We always buy them every 3-5 years....and this has been the best one so far. She loved the pictures and all the updated information. An awesome and practical book. Thank you.

Jael

This book has definitions, not just word-for-word translations, that broaden your understanding of the spanish culture and language. There are words in this book that even most common spanish-speakers haven't heard of, so this book is great for beginners and advanced speakers. I would recommend to anyone no matter the cost.

Hola
Esta diccionario es excelente para aquellos que quieren investigar y aprender mas, incluso el precio que decia y que estaba usado esta en excelentes condiciones.
Gracias por excelente publicacion
Cesar de Puerto Rico

I received the package in Europe in a very good shape. And the book was brand new. The dollar rating very low against the Euro, this was a real bargain !

It's a great source to improve your spanish. Instead of defining spanish words you don't know in english it provides simple, concise definitions in spanish. It's a good buy.

Imagine Joyce's Dubliners set on the Rio Grande. Like life itself, this book is sweet, sad, beautiful, astonishingly interconnected, and all too short. When Tomasita burns the beans, she sets in motion a series of events that touches the lives of a dozen other women, and attracts the notice of millions. Romo employs a series of brief vignettes to tell powerful, emotion-packed stories of life and death and love and pain, and ties them all together into an exquisite package. Short, but delightful in its richness and complexity, this is a perfect gem of a novel, and one of few works of fiction this reviewer has read recently that didn't cry out to be edited down. All of the main characters are Mexican-American women, so women and Latinos may find this book especially endearing, but such is the power of Romo's achievement that this slim volume can readily be appreciated by everyone.

"These stories are at once bittersweet, tender, and funny without ridiculing. We recognize ourselves or know someone in those shoes and they touch our hearts. We root for or pray along with them as they try to unravel the puzzle of their lives. Romo skillfully maintains and heightens the momentum and allure of the story with folkloric intrigue: how and why has the Rio Grande turned red?" -- Liz Raptis Picco, for El Andar.

"Romo has a pleasing, unpretentious writing style, and he sometimes exhibits a real eye and ear for the ordinary moments that give life meaning. Throughout EL PUENTE, I was frequently reminded of John Steinbeck. Romo isn't as obsessed with social and economic justice, but he has a similar knack for describing the lives of plain, simple folk on the street.... EL PUENTE shows a lot of promise."--Steven Robert Allen

This book is part on a series of books about Mexican who participated in the Mexican Revolution. It has a great mix of photographs and tales that help you better understand that piece of history.

This book explores the aspects of the life of Emiliano Zapata, one of my heroes and inspirations. It covers everything about the man, with plenty of pictures that give a great view into the life of the people of the Revolution and of Zapata himself. The book also talks about the alleged legend that Zapata did not die, but in fact survived the attack at Chinameca. This book vividly explains his life and that in fact Emiliano Zapata did not die, but lives on today, in the people who are still fighting for the government to return the land that was illegally taken (The Zapatistas in Chiapas are an example of those still fighting). There was a small quote under a picture of an army that said: "Why was it that they followed him?" and after completing this book, i understood why so many people respected the man enough to not question his actions and his generosity and follow him to fight against a great injustice. Honestly, this is a great book and a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the man and legacy that is Zapata.

Enrique Krauze is well known for his series of books about the political power in Mexico since the last century to our days. In the Zapata's book, Krauze makes a very serious analysis of the life of this "caudillo" of the Mexican Revolution that nowadays is a symbol of social justice and in general: mexican socialism. Do you want to know more about the current "guerrilla" of the Liberation Army of Zapata (EZLN) in Chiapas? You need to read this book to know the true and imparcial phylosophy of Zapata, a person that shaped and still shapes the Mexican History in the last century. More than a simple biography, an excellent way to understand why the Mexicans love and will love forever their land.

Final Report: An Archaeologist Excavates His Past
Michael Coe, the famous Mesoamerican archaeologist, digs enthusiastically into his past. As an engaging memoir, this work chronicles the highlights of his personal life and his professional achievements. Each chapter is presented as a series of exciting anecdotes including personal experiences, conversations and opinions that sparkle with wit and good humor. Born into a well-to-do family in Long Island, NY, he fondly recollects his formative years at boarding schools in New England, interspersed with vacation times at the country estates of his wealthy grandfather. He developed an intense interest in the Maya during his undergraduate years at Harvard, where he majored in anthropology. During the Korean War, he served with the CIA in Taiwan. There he gained valuable new experiences in military intelligence - how to elicit information, how to detect lying, how to work with all kinds of people. After 2 years overseas service, he visited several ancient archaeological ruins in Southeast Asia before resuming graduate studies at Harvard. Following is the account of his 35 years of research and teaching, mostly in the Department of Anthropology at Yale. Discoveries from his numerous digging seasons brought new, exciting, and sometimes controversial evidence of age relations among the early Maya cultures. In particulat, the Olmec monuments that he unearthed have profoundly modified our understanding of their significance in early Maya history. His analysis of Maya hieroglyphs contributed significantly to his text "Breaking the Maya Code" (1992, Thames & Hudson, Inc.). In his personal life, Michael Coe was deeply devoted to his wife, Sophie Dobzhansky Coe, and to their five children. His greatest sorrow was at her death in 1994 that sadly coincided with his retirement. Among his many activities, he is an avid fly-fisherman. This memoir is an excellent "Final Report" - about an exciting life but, fortunately, not a final demise.

Excellent insight on this man who is a very interesting archologist. He brings life to a dead subjects and his final report is his memoir of his life.

Highly recommend.

Mr. Coe's contributions to society are immense. We owe much of our understanding of ancient Mesoamerican civilizations to him. He could have pursued many paths, and indeed the CIA and Ivy League background is reminiscent of William F. Buckly, without the politics. He is probably as close to a real Indiana Jones as you will ever find, and has written a marvelous tale of his exploits and accomplishments.

I just read this book, as I have read his other works. Oscar Lewis gives an extensive complete examination into the lives of extreme poverty. He gives exacting detail of the homes, lifestyles, and characteristics of the poor in Mexico. The last chapter delves with the poor who have accomplished "some wealth" and their upbringing still manages to evolve the same as if they were still poor. Wonderful thorough book!

I first read Five Families when I was a 23yo public health nurse from the Midwest, working in a Mexican-American barrio in East Los Angeles. A co-worker advised me to read this book in order to better understand the families I found myself working with.
I devoured it.
Then I came to realize that it's a seminal work in modern cultural anthropology, a book that will surely stand the test of time, a 'study' written in a style that makes it accessible to all readers.
Five Families is a dramatic and forceful account five poor Mexican families. It's a book that will leave you changed.

I first read this book many years ago, along with some of the author's other works, and decided to take read it again. Time certainly has not diminished the power of the author, winner of the 1967 National Book Award for his book, "La Vida", to take the reader into the lives of others. This is an anthropological work that reads as if it were a riveting novel, so fascinating is its subject matter.

The author takes the reader into the lives of five different Mexican families for one entire day, so that the reader can see how it is that they live their lives. The families are both rural and urban and represent a cross-section of Mexico at the time that this book was written. All but one of the families portrayed are poor, yet they all share some similar characteristics.

Written during the nineteen fifties, this book is, for the most part, a look at a culture of poverty. It is also a look at a culture that is in transition, shifting from rural to urban with its often resulting poverty and pathology. Yet, it is also a culture into which, North American material comforts and influence were making inroads. That then nascent influence is often reflected in even the poorest of the families laid bare here.

The author basically gives the reader a typical day in the lives of each of these families. It is an intimate, objective look that creates a fascinating family portrait. It is a totally engrossing work of not only anthropological import but of historical value, as well. The author has managed to freeze in time a segment of Mexican life during the nineteen fifties. Who would have thought that reading about people shopping, preparing meals, and talking about their relationships would prove to be so fascinating?

Those who are interested in other cultures, as well as the way people live their lives, will really enjoy this book. The author provides a fascinating, freeze-frame glimpse into the lives of others. I simply loved this book. Bravo!

Every once in a while you encounter a murder novel in which all the characters are so interesting, you hate seeing anyone get killed. This is one of them.

The main character is a Dan Mahoney, an insurance investigator and a man you'd like to know. In some ways, he has the 'solid' feel of characters in John Lutz's novels.

He's also unflappable. In one of the best scenes, good ol' boy ranch hands set Dan up with an ornery horse, and I loved how he handled the situation.

The unwinding of the story is more cinematic rather than whodunit. It has a little bit of tasty sex and a lot of characterization.

Bill Roland Eklund, the owner of the Double Horseshoe Ranch in Tatum, New Mexico lost three heads of cattle over a three-month period. He has filed claims worth over $600,000 with United Life and Casualty but before they remit such a huge some of money, they want to make sure there is no fraud involved so they dispatch Dan Mahoney to find out what is going on at the reach.

Before he reaches the ranch, Dan witnesses a double homicide. When one of the victims, Eric Linden turns up alive, he contacts Dan to tell him that he took the fall for Billy a drug charge and expected two million dollars waiting for him when he got out of prison. Now Eric wants revenge and he intends to find the evidence to give to Dan that will send his former employer to jail for life. Dan has a lot of problems with this scenario including the fact that he likes Billy and is in love with Eric's wife who is divorcing him.

The hero doesn't realize why he is out in the field after years behind a desk, but that doesn't stop him from solving the case in a very unique manner, helping the FBI find the real drug dealer and falling for his sister's best friend. Though relationships make solving the case harder on Dan's conscience, the story line is exciting and action packed. Susan Slater's new series is compelling and will lead the audience to want to read the next installment as soon as possible.

Harriet Klausner

Bill Roland Eklund, the owner of the Double Horseshoe Ranch in Tatum, New Mexico lost three heads of cattle over a three-month period. He has filed claims worth over $600,000 with United Life and Casualty but before they remit such a huge some of money, they want to make sure there is no fraud involved so they dispatch Dan Mahoney to find out what is going on at the reach.

Before he reaches the ranch, Dan witnesses a double homicide. When one of the victims, Eric Linden turns up alive, he contacts Dan to tell him that he took the fall for Billy a drug charge and expected two million dollars waiting for him when he got out of prison. Now Eric wants revenge and he intends to find the evidence to give to Dan that will send his former employer to jail for life. Dan has a lot of problems with this scenario including the fact that he likes Billy and is in love with Eric's wife who is divorcing him.

The hero doesn't realize why he is out in the field after years behind a desk, but that doesn't stop him from solving the case in a very unique manner, helping the FBI find the real drug dealer and falling for his sister's best friend. Though relationships make solving the case harder on Dan's conscience, the story line is exciting and action packed. Susan Slater's new series is compelling and will lead the audience to want to read the next installment as soon as possible.

Harriet Klausner

As a native Lagunero (Torreon, Coah) this is one of the best books I've read about the Comarca. It is a must to understand where do we come from.

The Laguna Region has been mis-understood by many; not so a fellow from Australia and this William K. Meyers and some others, including Reed. How strange, that it will take "strangers" to document this part of Old Mexico, and then, so sweet... the Laguna was made by foreign peoples, not only of other States; Zacatecas would probably announce a good part of the population!

The Iritilas lost, of iniquilation due to sickness, and no monument to them: But the "river people" are richly disclosed by Meyers and adds a scholarship bibliography to the history of The Laguna.

If you have ever wondered how it is that the many peoples that inhabit this Region are so jelous of one another, this book could enlighten you. And, if ever you drank a drop of Lagunero water, not only will you recognize the value of IT in a desert, but she (the Laguna) will demand you to return it!

I, a Lagunero, am intriged by the many writtings that this book of Meyers uncovers, and finally come to rest on the "why's" and "porque's".

This scholarly discussion of the origins of the Mexican Revolution in the Laguna region of northern Mexico not only makes plain the complex strands of human interaction that ignited the Mexican conflict but goes far to explain how revolutions arise and dissolve generally. Meyers's style is direct and careful. And he really knows and loves Mexico. (By the way, that LA should be La.

For anyone interested in Native American pottery, this volume is a must-have.

We are lucky enough to have met Florence Chavarria Browning of the Santa Clara pueblo, and to have purchased one of her spectacular black pots.

These particular pots are not glazed, but fired specially to create the pure, colt black of black onyx, darker than coal, and softly glowing. Very few artists have skill enough to burn these amazing pots, and this book, introduces readers to the best of them.

almost every piece of pottery I have is represented in the book!

This is a wonderful detailed book of the the finest potters to be found in the southwest. This new expanded edition provides great family trees of the finest of Pueblo potters. If you're planning a visit to the Southwest and hope to meet some of these potters, it is the perfect companion book to The Native American Indian Artist Directory that will actually provide phone numbers and mailing addresses for many of the potters found in this outstanding edition.