Mexico Books

"Secrets" reminds me of Annie Dillard's classic "An American Childhood," though "Secrets" is written in a cozier, less formal style, reading much like a letter from a cherished friend or cousin. Both books take mundane aspects of childhood and turn them into compelling narrative. Both books describe childhood families deliciously different from your typical Ozzie and Harriet scenario. The Scary Story about wolves, forest fires and volcanoes on a family picnic especially resonated for me. What child hasn't put her own spin on things she heard, and kept the resulting terror to herself? My tummy lurched as I rode along up and down the "dippy road" to Santa Fe, and my knee screamed with fiery sympathy pains after she bailed out of the swing in response to a dare. Her chicken pox story pulled me right into the warm bosom of the close-knit Embry family, where the older kids watched out for the younger. Secrets -- not just the technical ones connected with her father, but the ones she shared with friends like Dixie around the matter of the sheets, and the secret club that didn't quite happen beneath another friend's house.

This upbeat memoir would lift my spirits and enlighten me about a child's view of a historic era and place even if I knew nothing about growing up in Los Alamos. In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I did grow up in Los Alamos, arriving there four years after the Embry family. We lived in another part of town and my path didn't converge with the Embrys' until high school, where her sister Pat was a classmate. Kristin has done a terrific job of telling it exactly like it was, plain and simple. From the description of the front gate and five o'clock whistle to grade school woodshop, terror of Zia, the skating rink and canyon wars, every child of the Secret City will find something to remember. She has done a magnificent job of sticking to her focus of including only stories that emphasize connection with time and place and not allowing herself to drift into deeply personal memories or topics relevant primarily to her family.

I recommend this unpretentious account of an unexplored aspect of the dawning nuclear age for readers everywhere, and look forward to a sequel about her junior and senior high school years.

SECRETS! is a delightful, intriguing book. The writing is crisp and snappy and very humorous and the story pulled me in from the very first page. I practically read the entire book in one sitting. We get a wonderful glimpse into the lives of a family during the years of the Cold War in the secret city of Los Alamos where atomic bombs were made and tested. Told through the viewpoint of a young girl whose father worked at the national laboratory at a time when nuclear war was a very real threat and school kids hid under their desks when the sirens went off, there are two parallel stories in this book. First, the unique experiences growing up during the 1950s and the secret games of childhood while living in a gated, locked city where everyone needed a special pass to get in or out, and second, the secret life of her father since he could never discuss the work he was doing at his job at the labs - and he always has a funny story to explain where he's been or what he's been doing whenever his family asks. An enjoyable and interesting read!

Seema's Show is an engaging, informative, and easy-to-read biography of a strong, complex woman whose life has so far spanned 100 years. Sara Halprin moves seamlessly back and forth as an interviewer/chronicler and a friend. Halprin artfully frames each chapter in Seema's rich life in a way that is both enlightening and entertaining. Through Halprin's keen eye, we come to learn what life was like for a female photographer and activist during the 20th century. Halprin's work as therapist lends an intimate understanding of human behavior, and her experience in film-making provides a richness and depth not seen in most biographies. If you're asking yourself, "Who's Seema Weatherwax?" then this is the book for you. Halprin won't let you down.

Sara Halprin has given us a book deftly navigating between biograpy, memoir and oral history. Her subject, Seema Weatherwax, celebrated her 100th year last summer. Halprin introduces us to a woman's woman, an accomplished photographer who exhibited her photographs at her first public showing when she turned 95. While her artistry with a camera was present from an early age, it was honed while working as Ansel Adams' master printer at Yosemite. It shows in the photographs she took while visiting the dust bowl labor camps with her husband author, Jack Weatherwax and their friend Woody Guthrie in the late 30s's. Her compassion for the subjects of her photographs represent her lifelong effort to seek a more just society. And for her this was always a matter of connecting people with people -- her way of going beyond ideology, especially that of the Communist Party. For Seema, the connection between art and working for social justice is a seamless one. At 100 she continues that work and I highly recommend Halprin's book introducing us to this remarkable woman, an elder and mentor for our times.

Magnífica obra que muestra con fotografías y lúcidos textos las obsesiones de una de las artistas más importantes del s. XX Frida Kahlo, quien a pesar de su atormentada vida supo con el color y la gracia de su indumentaria legarnos una alegría y pasión por la vida admirables. En las notables fotografías del fotógrafo Pablo Aguinaco descubrimos la inusitada faceta de una artista excepcional. Las imágenes logradas con un gusto y acierto exquisito, nos conducen por la Casa Azul, morada de Frida y despliegan colores, texturas y luces, para todos aquellos interesados en esta gran artista.

Apparently in 1954, the year Frida passed away, Diego Rivera had her dressing room and bathroom at the Casa Azul locked, with the stipulation that it could be opened 50 years later. In 2004 the day came to unlock the room, and discover its contents. This book explores those contents, which included many of Fridas clothes, hair ribbons, medical devices, linens, etc. Its an amazing archeological discovery of sorts. A time capsule that reveals much about the day to day life of what has become one of the most influential women artists in history. Lavish color photographs of her clothing, paired with photos and paintings in which they appear; a treasure for those passionate about the life, art and fashion of Frida Kahlo. Really destined to become a personal favorite.

I purchased this book for my sister's birthday. We used to sing this when we were young and I thought it would bring back great childhood memories, and it did. great book

Manders energetic and humorous paintings enliven a long-time favorite of Spanish-language audiences for a new generation of English-speaking children. It opens:

Oh, Senor Don Gato was a cat.
On a high red roof Don Gato sat.
He went there to read a letter,
Where the reading light was better
'Twas a love note for Don Gato.

Manders depicts the portly gentleman perched on a chair on a steep tile roof, sipping from a teacup and drinking in the words of a sweet lady cat, who assents to wed him.

Alas, or more appropriately, "Ayyy-Caramba!!!" Don Gato takes a tall tumble, and "in spite of everything the doctors tried, poor Don Gato up and died." A rare occurrence on the way to the cemetery, however, provides Don Gato with, if not eight additional lives, at least one more opportunity for happiness with his lovely betrothed.

Using a palette rich in red, gold and brown tones, Manders evokes a Spanish colonial town, with church tower and balconied homes lining narrow cobblestone streets-all timelessly tucked away in sun-drenched hills.

Manders uses the long-known English translation, with its spry rhyme and clever lyrics, loosely based upon the traditional Mexican song. Unfortunately, the authorship of both the original and the translation have been lost to history.

I loved the stories- they crossed the cultural divide with adaptations of stories most of us heard as children.

The Governor of Spanish New Mexico is a troubled, lonely man, caught between his Spanish subjects, the increasingly restless Pueblo peoples, the Apache marauders, and a fanatical Catholic church that is becoming ever more repressive. One day in 1680 twelve Indian prisoners are brought into town, accused of plotting against the Spanish government. Turns out, one of the "plotters" is a beautiful young woman and gifted storyteller, Serafina.

The Governor strikes an odd bargain with this Serafina. For every night that she entertains him with a story he will free one of the prisoners. Sounds like the Thousand And One Nights, but with some unusual twists. Not only are the lives of the prisoners at stake, and that of Serafina, but the future of the territory. Can the Spanish colonials and the native peoples cross their cultural divide and live in peace? Can the stories of the gifted Serafina bring them together? Or is it already too late?

Well, you simply have to read this book. Author Rudolfo Anaya writes in a beautiful, heartfelt style, sprinkling his clear, simple English with Spanish words and phrases, to create a vivid impression of the old Southwest. Loosely based on actual historical events, the story is as meaningful as ever in a time when peoples and cultures are struggling to coexist. The stories are so well done that they become more than stories. They speak to the reader personally. This book is easily read but will move you deeply. I recommend it most highly. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

Students and enthusiasts of photography and its history have long considered Peter Bacon Hales's SILVER CITIES indispensable. First released in 1984, it was one of the first, most readable, and most visually interesting, of a crop of new histories of photography that saw the medium as part of a larger sphere of cultural history. This new edition is really welcome-- much longer, even more lavishly illustrated, dramatically revised, beautifully redesigned. Hales has incorporated many of the ideas and discoveries of writers since the book was first published; he has added many new illustrations and changed the old ones, and he has pushed the book well into the 20th century, treating photographers like Walker Evans, James VanderZee, and Edward Steichen. The writing is better, too-- more conversational and fluid, easier to read. If you have a copy of the old SILVER CITIES, you'll have to buy this one, too. If you don't, this is a real eye-opener of a book.

"One may view this book as a study of American attitudes toward the city as revealed in one of its most important media or as an ongoing history of an urban art form," writes Hale, a professor of art history and director of the American Studies Institute at the U. of Illinois - Chicago. The nearly 250 photographs relating to American cities from the pre-Civil War decades to the eve of WWII are roughly divided into the four stages development, maturity, transformation, and diffusion. Earliest photographs from the 1830s and '40s capture plainly the crude, clustered buildings sprouting up in open spaces, as in uncomprehending witness to what was unfolding. Photographs from the latter 1800s reach into the impoverished, fragile, hectic lives of immigrants flooding into the cities. Jacob Riis's photographs figure prominently in this period. Into the 20th century, the photographs again change in subjects and perspectives to go along with modernism's tenets of Promethean, prodigious, growth, large-scale enterprises, and celebration of technology and design. Springing from the "discipline [of] American cultural history," this revised and expanded edition of the 1884 publication not only contains additional photographs, but also related added text reflecting the growth of government sponsorship, mass-market reproduction, the place of women and African-Americans, and the diminished presence of "individual studio practice." Yet despite this last new topic, Hale also in one part brings out the "photographic studio as itself [in italics in original] a part of the developing American urban fabric." Like the earlier edition which has now become a collector's item, this revised edition is patently the leading study on photography as it took cities as subjects and reflected evolving attitudes toward them.

Grant Shepherd tells the fascinating history of his family and their involvement in Batopilas from first hand knowledge. As a packer who runs horse trips to Batopilas I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially the chapter recreating a trip out of the Sierra over trails we still ride. The writing style is sometimes a bit slow but well worth wading through. Great contribution to history of an important silver mining town with human insights that would otherwise be forgotten.

As a member of the eco-tourism project to re-establish the old Silver Trail leading into Copper Canyon, this book was invaluable. It is a rare glimpse into a long forgotten history and a very good read.

A favorite of mine. My first introduction to this book was on a trip to Albuquerque many, many years ago. Since then, I have purchased 6 of these books and given 5 as gifts. Great recipes.

One thing that I particularly like about this book, which may be a surprise to some, is that not all the old fashioned *fat* ingredients have not been taken out of the recipes, and the book not entirely updated to reflect low fat "healthy" foods. I like to eat healthy but once in a while a good, old fashioned recipe with the yummy bad ingredients is just plain good. You can easily eliminate fats yourself but I enjoy the authentic recipes. I can modernize them myself.

Love this book.

I purchased this book several years ago from the Jr League of Albuquerque. I am now ordering one for my daughter. It has lots of great regional dishes from New Mexico and lots of other great dishes as well. I collect cook books and this is a great one.

Today, when we think of art, we can't imagine a work without the artist's signature or some identifying mark, but in the 1930s, many women and men of New Mexico and southern Colorado worked without credit or recognition. Hispano and Hispana (men and women) worked "sin nombre," literally "without name." But they worked for the love of producing beautiful paintings and murals, fabric and textile art, tin work, and wood carving and furniture. And the love and knowledge of fine crafting shows in everything; much of this cultural legacy appears here in photographs for the first time. This book is a permanent monument to Southwestern Art and the people; it is a cultural and community achievement. The author, or central energy behind the project, Tey Marianna Nunn, has given us her own work of love and persistence--evidence of the will power necessary to recover the names of these nearly lost artists of the New Deal Era.

In May 2001, at the Moroles Art Center in Los Cerrillos, (south of Santa Fe), I had the luck to attend a gathering of the remaining New Deal artists and workers of the Civilian Conservation Corps who told their stories. I feel sure that this revival of interest in the surviving New Deal and WPA artists came about because of Tey Nunn and her book. Thank you so much for the joy this book has brought over the years.

A few years ago, a brilliant and talented student found a gap in the recent art history of New Mexico. She went out and conducted the research, raised the money, wrote the PhD thesis, and then was curator for an exhibit at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe that identified and saluted the artists whose names had been lost in the dusty archives of our Great Depression and the resulting New Deal. The exhibit changed the lives of the artists still living and assured artistic credit for those who are no longer with us. How many of the thousands of PhD theses produced since Dr. Nunn wrote hers have had any impact, let alone a major impact on the lives of people? This beautiful book is climax to Dr. Nunn's efforts.

Most people will never have the opportunity to be charmed and enlightened by a Dr. Nunn lecture. This book is a wonderful introduction to what a committed individual can do to make modern art history come alive. It is also a very useful introduction to the art of New Mexico created by the true artists of New Mexico, not the visitors (temporary or permanent) from other parts of the country. The Hispana and Hispano artists of the New Deal look straight at us from the pages of this book not for our approval but with pride in the art that they have created. Fortunately for us, Dr. Nunn, the Museum, and the University of Mexico Press have taken the time to reproduce this art to let us share in their joy of creation.

The Centenary of Siqueiros' birth was in l996, and this book makes an outstanding contribution to a celebration of Siqueiros' life and works. It is a full political biography of the artist-citizen-socialist fighter, as well as an "art book" with 72 pages that present 134 photos and reproductions. These are discussed and explained in the text along with Siqueiros' theories about art and new realism. Philip Stein discloses for the first time the extensive FBI files meddling in the affairs of Mexican citizens. Siqueiros: His Life and Works has an extensive bibliography of the writings, exhibits and lectures of Siqueiros as well as background bibliography. (Reviewer's Bookwatch, January 1995). - "I am a citizen artist, not a Bohemian.I don't believe in a world where each artist is a little god, each one with his own philosophy, each one with his own little kitchen to fry his abstract ham and eggs. The only bad painting is the one dominated by the individual ego. Easel paintings whisper to the private few. Murals shout to the public." These words by Siqueiros embody the militant stance on art taken by one of the most forceful painters of the 20th century. Together with Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco, this triumvirate was the phalanx that led to the founding of the Mexican mural movement, the most significant advancement in art since the Italian Renaissance. This and much more is the subject of this book by Philip Stein an artist who spent a decade working with Siqueiros. It is a work of painstaking research and personal knowledge that is not only a biography of Siqueiros (l896-1974) but also a political history of the 20th century Mexican revolution and its aftermath. This book is a powerful argument for social commitment in art, a valuable source of education for all artists, yuoung and old. (Norman Goldberg, artist-critic). - This magnificent biography is a comprehensive study digging deeply into the historical roots and tempestuous conflicts that shaped Siqueiros into an agressive leader, including his Indian and Mexican heritage, union struggles, military action, political conflicts and his role in organizing cooperative groups of artists who would put their collective endeavors to the service of humanity. This biography is a remarkable work of art with a beautifully felt poetic prose. It is a wonderful restoration of the life of a complex artist. Documentation has a scholarly completeness, color photographs aid us in grasping some of the magnificence of his painting and mural accomplishments. This a biography of enormous importance and beauty, so rich one will go back to it again and again. (Anthony Toney, artist). Stein's marvellous book is a meticulous and inspiring study of a great artist. But more than that it is a cultural achievement in its own right. Throughout its pages Siqueiros is brought powerfully alive. Stein himself writes with the perception and sensitivity of an artist and presents a fascinating account of the artist's technique and methods. This is definitely not a "coffee table" book; nor is it aimed at the art expert. The style is always readable and accessible to the general reader. At times "Siqueiros" even has the pace and excitement of a novel. (Julian Holt, professor of literature, Lancaster, England).

The Centenary of Siqueiros' birth is in 1996, and this book makes an outstanding contribution to a celebration of Siqueiros' life and works. It is a full political biography of the artist-citizen-socialist fighter, as well as an "art book" with 72 pages that present 134 photos and reproductions. These are discussed and explained in the text along with Siqueiros' theories about art and new realism. Philip Stein discloses for the first time the extensive FBI files meddling in the affairs of Mexican citizens.Siqueiros: His Life and Works has an extensive bibliography of the writings, exhibits, and lectures of Siqueiros, as well as background bibliography. (Reviewer's Bookwatch, January 1995) --"I am a citizen artist, not a Bohemian. Idon't believe in a world where each artist is a little god, each one with his own philosophy, each one with his own little kitchen to fry his abstract ham and eggs. The only bad painting is the one dominated by the individual ego. In Europe a private market has determined a private art. Here (Mexico) our art is for an audience of millions. Easel paintings whisper to a private few. Murals shout to the public." These words by Siqueiros embody the militant stance on art taken by one of the most forceful painter of the 20th century. Together with Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco, this triumvirate was the phalanx that led in the founding of the Mexican mural movement, the most significant advancement in art since the Italian Renaissance. This and much more is the subject of this book by Philip Stein, an artist who spent a decade working with Siqueiros. This is a work of painstaking research and personal knowledge. It is not only a biography of Siqueiros (l896-l974) but also a political history of the 20th century Mexican revolution and its aftermath. This book is a powerful arguement for social commitment in art, a valuable source of education for all artists, young and old. (Norman Goldberg,artist-critic). This magnificent biography is a comprehensive stiudy digging deeply into the historical roots and tempestuous conflicts that shaped Siqueiros into an aggressive leader, including his Indian and Mexican heritage, union struggles, military action, political conflicts and his role in organizing cooperative groups of artists who would put their collective endeavors to the service of humanity. This biography is a remarkable work of art, with a beautifully felt poetic prose, comprehensively organized. It is a wonderful restoration of the life of a complex artist. Documentation has a scholarly completeness. Black and white and many color photographs aid us in grasping some of the magnificence of his painting and mural accomplishments. This is a wonderful biography of enormous importance and beauty, so rich one will go back to it again and again. (Anthony Toney, artist). Stein's marvellous book is a meticulous and inspiring study of a great artist. But more than that it is a cultural achievement in its own right, and an act of solidarity with the artist and the working people who were his subjects. Put another way, it is itself a work of socialist realism. The biography is written with a moving affection for Siqueiros who is brought powerfully alive through its pages. Stein himself writes with the perception and sensitivity of an artist and presents a fascinating account of the artist's technique and methods, his pioneering experiments with new materials and the numerous practical problems posed by murals and frescoes of the size and complexity of Siqueiros' creations. This is definitely not a "coffee table" book; nor is it aimed at the art expert. The style is always readable and accessible to the general reader. At times, "Siqueiros" even has the pace and excitement of a novel. (Julian Holt, professor of literature, England).