Mexico Books

In all practical aspects, the Dominguez and Escalante expedition was a failure. The two Spanish fathers were unable to locate an overland route between the Spanish colonies of Santa Fe, New Mexico and Monterrey, California, and in 1776 it seemed that all the two men had done was wander aimlessly in the north for six months. The lasting impact these two men have had on history (and particularly Utah's history), however, are far greater than they could have known.

The expedition made a map, but it is basically worthless in its inaccuracy. Still, the description they left of their route, and most notably that of Utah Valley, was later a great resource for subsequent explorers of Utah, especially John C. Fremont. Their expedition, failed though it was, nevertheless is important as the first written record of the territory that would later become Utah. In addition, the journal did not outlive its usefulness in 1844, when the second of Fremont's expeditions was completed, or even later when Stansbury, Gunnison, and others surveyed the territory. This journal is important even today, because it provides us with a natural look at the Native Americans of the area, before they were disturbed and corrupted by hordes of encroaching whites. This journal is a great document in Utah's history, both as the first written account and as a fascinating look at Utah more than 75 years before it would be settled by the whites.

Even if this book sucked, I couldn't rate it lower than five stars, if for no other reason than that this book is IT.
It's the only record of this particular part part of the Southwest from before the area was overrun by Spanish and Anglo settlers. It's the book that guided decades of explorers and missionaries, and that has mercifully survived to offer us hints of what life in the West could be like BACK THEN.
It's the story of Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, two Spanish friars, who were tasked in 1776 with the goal of forging a route from a mission in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to a mission in Monterrey, California, and of locating sites for new missions along the way-to convert Indian "heathens," "barbarians," and "infidels."
Domínguez was in his mid-thirties, but Escalante was only about twenty-five years old. The two, with a small group of others, decided to avoid a northern route--out of fear of an Indian tribe rumored to eat light-skinned travelers--and as a result were among the very first to make maps and to record details of the Southwest's rivers and mesas. Their group started late in the year though, a sudden blizzard soon made progress impossible, and when they reached north-central Utah, they decided to head south and work their way back to New Mexico. They ran out of food, lived by eating their horses, and suffered unbearable cold, rebellious group members, and severe, frequent thirst. They reached the Colorado River around present-day Lees Ferry, southwest of where Glen Canyon Dam is now, and worked their way north along the river, looking for a way across.
They passed the often-photographed Castle Rock and Gunsight Butte, chipped steps into the slickrock to allow their pack animals to get down to the shore, lowered their belongings over a cliff with ropes, and after some scouting, found an ancient Ute Indian river crossing, where the water was slow and shallow enough to ride across. That place became known as the Crossing of the Fathers, and is right around where Lake Powell's Padre Bay is now.
Their trip made an approximately two thousand-mile-long circle through mostly unexplored terrain, took nearly six-and-a-half months, and explored more undocumented, unknown land than Lewis and Clark would later in their over two-year-long journey. When the fathers got back to Santa Fe, however, only their failure to reach California mattered much to anyone, along with their apparent waste of funds, horses, and supplies.
Escalante was practically exiled, and died within five years as the result of bad health obtained from his trials in the desert.
Domínguez was demoted, his possibilities of advancement destroyed, and he died anonymously as an old man, never recognized for what he'd done.
If you are interested in the West, or the Colorado Plateau, or Glen Canyon, you need to read this. There's just no way around that. It contains information you will find nowhere else, and it's actually a fairly enjoyable read. (I never would have thought Spanish priests could be so SARCASTIC....)

"Dreams of Freedom" is an amazing anthology of essays by the legendary Mexican radical, Ricardo Flores Magon, who was murdered by agents of the state in the Leavenworth Penitentiary back in 1922. Sadly, the injustices he so passionately wrote about and fought against almost a century ago are still among us today, like: the criminalization of immigrants, the suppression of civil liberties, union-busting, police brutality, the prison industrial complex, imperialist war, the militarization of the US/Mexico border and the violence of white supremacist militias (like the Minutemen). I especially enjoyed his writings on feminism and his committment to bringing issues of racial equality into the labor movement. In sum, "Dreams of Freedom" is a ground-breaking work. Thank you AK Press and Chaz Bufe for keeping alive this vital chapter in people's history!

Dreams Of Freedom: A Ricardo Flores Magon Reader presents a selection of the revolutionary journalist and agitator Ricardo Flores Magon. Born in Mexico in 1874, Magon dared to criticize the injustices of the Diaz military dictatorship that ruled Mexico, in his widely read newspaper Regeneracion. Exiled to the United States, Magon remained an influential agitator behind the Mexican Revolution, earning the wrath of both governments. He was finally murdered in Leavenworth Penitentiary in 1922. Dreams Of Freedom presents Magon's determined and vibrant revolutionary writings in English for the first time, along with a lengthy biographical sketch to place his words in historical context, a chronology, bibliography, and an introduction by Benjamin Maldonado. Most of the individual writings are brief yet passionate and sharply to the point. Highly recommended particularly for students of political science and Mexican history.

Edited by natural historian Richard Stephen Felger and research associate Bill Broyles, Dry Borders: Great Natural Reserves of the Sonoran Desert is an in-depth natural history reference and resource of the Sonoran Desert in southwestern Arizona and northwestern Mexico. Chapters examine the Sonoran Desert's geography, geology, flora and fauna, indigenous people, aquatic life of the adjoining gulf, and much more. An inset selection of color plates a geographic dictionary of place names, and an index round out this comprehensive guide accessible to lay readers, natural history enthusiasts and scientists alike.

I recommend this book for anyone who has any curiosity about desert ecosystems, the Sonora and the Gulf of California. Rarely does one find a book that is both highly authoritative and immensely readable. This one is both.

The book is richly illustrated with photographs, diagrams and tables. The authors personally discuss their journeys of discovery. By the time one goes through this book they have had a first hand tour of the desert, the people of the Sonora and their great personable travel guides.There is also mention of the impact of time and "civilization" on the Sonora.

I recommend this book highly for Sonoran and desert hikers as a field book and those looking for a reference. You can't beat the price.

Las madres embarazadas o dando pecho que puedan comprar solo un libro, sin duda no encontrarán nada mejor. Este es el libro pionero de La Liga de la Leche Internacional, contiene toda la filosofía que ha hecho que la Organización se encuentre en casi todo el mundo y que nos ha convertido en madres amigas y defensoras de nuestros bebés. El libro cuenta con experiencias de madres, así como toda la información técnica que una madre necesita para disfrutar la relación de dar pecho a sus hijos. En resumen es desarrollar nuestra maternidad a través de la lactancia materna.

El libro el arte femenino de amamantar es lo mejor que se ha escrito sobre la lactancia. Este libro incluye desde antes del nacimiento del bebe hasta que el bebe es de tres o cuatro años y se continua lactando. Es un libro bien dificil de conseguir ya que se esta revisando, pero el que lo tiene no lo suelta ya que saben que es un tesoro. Realmente es lo mejor de lo mejor.

About grief and loss, I read it after my uncle died and its the kind of book that you can read over and over again through the years and continue finding new meanings

Everybody at least a few times in a life time will have some lost to cry for. But for how long? How deep is ok to suffer, to mourn for our lost? What if the lost is tremendous, can we recover from it?
Jorge Bucay explains in a very simple way the phases we need to pass through the mourning process. There is hope, there is recovery, there is life at the other end.
If you are suffering because any kind of lost, give yourself a relief by learning how to carry out a sane process of recovery.
I really find this book very helpful because it provides that kind of knowledge that eases the flow of our emotions.

I thought there were only two current Tx authors, McMurtry and DeMarinis. Wrong again. This is a facinating book, a vivid description of the Presidio-Candelaria-Chinati Hot Springs region and the 'I hate law' people who are attracted to it. For those who want to experience it first hand, we can recommend a B&B across the river from Candelaria in San Antonio del Bravo (run by one of Sanderson's Presidio school teachers) where you can enter into local Mexian culture. Hiking in the region is not, however, without some danger from the Mexican Army. The B&B is extremely comfortable, has a 'Toscana' view of the Chinati mountains in the north, and has an excellent cook. Take El Camino del Rio with you and read it there!

Dolph Martinez is a Border Patrol agent in Presidio, Texas, the heart of Big Bend. During a tracking expedition, he discovers a murdered wet, a mojado, and from there begins unraveling the biggest drug scandal in Presidio's history. He discovers not only that both sides of the border are involved but that his friends are as well. As Dolph carries out his regular duties and his investigation, he is vexed by Barbara Quinn, a local nun and suspected curandera who preaches of "pure pain" and of having "mercy, compassion, and grace" for the "poor and dispossessed." She tells Agent Martinez that he should listen to his blood, and it is this dilemma that each character in the novel faces. The brutality of living on the border changes these individuals in both body and in spirit. Their harsh environment alters their perceptions of right and wrong, of what is real, even. El Camino Del Rio is amazing for the complexity of its characters. Happenstance controls these individuals' lives in a place where what is right and wrong are not always clear and where boundaries and rules, set not only by the American and Mexican governments but by the land itself, are everything. The border dictates their existence, and they are left to accept their fate, feeling as though they have no say-so in the outcome of their lives. Some are fortunate enough to escape; they see the harshness of the border and leave. But those who stay are sucked into an emotional numbness that changes who they are and what they believe.

I watched the movie, Il Postino, a few days ago. Curious about the movie's inspiration, I read Burning Patience and found myself intrigued by the several departures from the movie. Of course, the book is fuller and more complete, as the politics of the Allende years and the beliefs of Pablo Neruda take an equal footing with Neruda's wonderful poetry. The dignity of the simple person in the face of uncontrollable events is an inspiration.

I highly recommend the book!

Desde hace años sabía sobre la novela El Cartero de Neruda y de la película basada en ésta. Sin embargo, no fue hasta terminar de leer El Baile de la Victoria, la más reciente novela de Antonio Skármeta, que me interesé en leer otras obras del autor. Que la novela incluyera entre sus personajes a Pablo Neruda, el vate latinoamericano y del mundo, en una recreación poética ficcional, fue el poderoso gancho, para devorármela de una sentada.

Mario Jiménez es un joven cartero en Isla Negra, Chile, que logra establecer una relación amistosa con el único de los habitantes del lugar que recibe correspondencia: el poeta Pablo Neruda. Paulatinamente, Mario logra que Neruda le enseñe algo de poesía y lenguaje. Después de conocer a Beatriz, una joven mesera, Mario le pide a Neruda que le enseñe a conquistarla, pues ha caído tan rendido a sus encantos que no le salen las palabras.

Con el nombramiento de Neruda como embajador de Chile en Francia, Mario se convierte en su conexión con Isla Negra, su mar y su gente. Mientras tanto, la situación política de Chile se va deteriorando en escasez de alimentos, paros sindicales y violencia.

Con la muerte del Presidente Salvador Allende, Neruda, quien durante la narrativa gana el Premio Nobel de Literatura, regresa enfermo a su Isla Negra. La muerte de Neruda, no pone fin a su relación con Mario, quien luego es detenido para ser interrogado por la nueva autoridad militar.

Skármeta impregna la novela con chispazos líricos dignos del bardo chileno, y sumerge a Mario y a Beatriz en pasiones seductoras, que logran balancearse delicadamente con las convulsiones políticas por las que estaba pasando Chile.

Este libro me peracio facinante. Es una historia que refleja mucho de nuestros problemas y posibles solitiones ... pero cuanto nos costaran esas soluciones? y que quedran los Overlords con la humanidad?

En este libro se combinan dos especulaciones clásicas de la ciencia ficción: Cómo será nuestro primer encuentro con otra raza inteligente, y el futuro de los seres humanos (como especie).

Los visitantes de otro mundo, en este libro, son benévolos y llevan a la humanidad a una edad de oro... Pero este es sólo el principio para un salto mayor aún.

Además de este drama que se desarrolla a lo largo de décadas, varias historias individuales se despliegan y agregan color al total.

Es un libro que yo disfruté mucho, un buen argumento (incluso con un poco de suspenso), y con un regusto de melancolía por la infancia que dejamos atrás.

I've always had a great respect for Ms. Steel's ability to bring life situations to life.

In "Silent Honor" she has hit the top, in ability to live someone else's life. The research, or the knowledge, that she has displayed in this heartbreaking story of a courageous Japanese family is overwhelming.

I lived right here in Sacramento. I was the same age as Hiroka, but I'm Causcasian. I'd been away from Sacto, then back again when I first read her accounting of this family's horrible experience at being interned. I've just finished reading it a second time. Since she was the same age, I identify, but I was, myself, far removed from her experience. I didn't even know too many Japanese at Sacramento High School. I was too young and inexperienced to be "reacting" in anguish at what was happening to the Japanese on the West Coast.

Plus, I married September of 1942 and went to Monroe, Louisiana = further removed from their troubles.

I realize that it took many years before anyone who'd experienced the much worse problems in Germany, or being an interned Californian, could have the desire to speak out. I was humbled when I heard, in Cincinnati, a man speak about his knowledge of Germany's death camps. Thank heavens, in recent years, folks have realized that it is important to put down in history the true words about the facts -- so that upcoming generations can not be fooled by some "poo-pooers" and "naysayers."

I deeply commend Danille Steel for her excellent writing of "Silent Honor."

I just fell in love with this book. I believe it is one of her best novels yet. It is the perfect story of love and romance. I would recomend it for anybody who loves a good romance.

Rulfo shines as a "cuentista" and I think this collection of
stories establishes him as northern Mexico's poetic voice. The desolation of Mexican life here is truly haunting yet somehow beautiful. I recommend these stories over his novel "Pedro Paramo", even though the novel is quite interesting.

I read this book in Spanish for the language, then in English for extra clarity. It is beautifully sparse, much like a black and white photograph - its surface is dark and bleak and colorless, yet the texture which can be read and felt beneath the surface is absolutely breathtaking. Rulfo creates a world I am both entranced by and afraid of.