No comments about Mobile road atlas and trip planning guide--United States, Canada, and Mexico: 1989.

No comments about ADC The Map People Arizona / New Mexico Pocket Map.

1 comments about The North American Sketches of R. B. Cunninghame Graham.

1. R.B. Cunninghame Graham's books are the sort of non-fiction that can almost be passed off as fiction. Desolate but fascinating wastelands, journeys over the silent terrain of the Americas, encounters with the bare edges of existence -- all make his works so engaging that I can't think of any writers to compare with him except his friends Joseph Conrad and W.H. Hudson.

   Culled from his thirty or more books, Graham's "North American Sketches" were written between 1880 and 1925. They form the companion volume to his stunning South American and Scottish sketches also edited by John Walker. Here, we travel with the eccentric Scottish gaucho and radical MP for Menteith to the Mexican frontier and the Texas borderlands.

   It is a savage world oscillating between barbarity and loneliness Graham describes for us. Time is punctuated with bloodshed, pointless cruelty, man's inhumanity to man, but also with hope and awe of this still wild land. "A Hegira," perhaps the most powerful sketch, depicts Graham's repeated encounters with six fugitive Mexican Apaches escaping from "the law" as he and his wife head north from Mexico City to their San Antonio ranch. "Silent and stoical the warriors sat," he describes them in the first encounter, before their flight, "not speaking once in a whole day, communicating but by signs; naked except the breech-clout; their eyes apparently opaque, and looking at you without sight, but seeing everything." These figures from two worlds meet up again. "Days followed days as in a ship at sea; the waggons rolling on across the plains" as Graham's party continually spies traces of the Apaches fleeing to their homes in the north, pursued by Mexican Indian hunters who, over a week, track down and kill them all. Nothing during his journey inspires in him so much fascination as those "stoical," silent "indios bravos": "I wondered what they thought, how they looked upon the world."

   There is in these sketches a profound sense of disenchantment with civilization as practised, with "progress" as conceived. The American and Mexican public, he writes, doubtless believe in the problematical "Uncle Sam's Justice [sic]," the "poetical justice" of slaughtering Indians. Nevertheless, Graham does not completely scorn "civilization"; far from it. "We might have taught [the Indians] something, they might have taught us much, but soon they will all be forgotten, and the lying telegrams will speak of 'glorious victories by our troops.' " Some sketches, in fact, exhibit Graham's great admiration for the Anglo and Mexican societies he in other places condemns. "A Chihuahueño" is a wonderful portrait of Miguel Sáenz, a mestizo from Chihuahua. Full of Sáenz's witty proverbs, the sketch shows Graham's fascination with folk sayings. "Trust not a mule nor a wench", Sáenz quips; and "Among soldiers and prostitutes all compliments stand excused."

   Graham's portraits of Mexico and Texas are every bit as fascinating as his awesome South American Sketches. If you like W.H. Hudson and Joseph Conrad, you'll love R.B. Cunninghame Graham.

No comments about Rand McNally Road Atlas: United States, Canada, Mexico, 1996 (Rand McNally Road Atlas: United States/Canada/Mexico).

No comments about Mexico & Central American Handbook 1997 (Serial).

1 comments about Fodor's Cancun, Cozumel, Yucatan Peninsula 16th ed..

1. Just back from three weeks exploring the Yucatan (I had a Blast!). I took this book and the Lonely Planent guide. Overall I found LP the more usefull of the two, mainly because it had more info on the ruin sites and the little out of the way places. This is not to say Fodors was not helpful, I did like its hotel grading system and the maps. The biggest problem with this guide is it is getting dateed (pub in 2002) and things can change fast in Mexico. If you can get an updated edition I would recomend this guide, in addition to LP's.
   
   Also recommended: iNCICDENTS OF TRAVEL IN YUCATAN

No comments about Mexico (Birnbaum's Travel Guides).

No comments about FODOR-MEXICO'93 (Fodor's Mexico).

3 comments about The Rough Guide to Central America 2 (Rough Guide Travel Guides).

1. I have been traveling around the world for a while and this is the worst guide book I have ever used. The maps are inadequate. The information is far from complete. The descriptions seem to be more political propaganda than a picture of Central America. This book tells you what to think instead of letting you know what to expect. It took the joy out of traveling and it's lack of information put my safety at risk.



2. I found this book adequate for my needs of traveling from country to country in Central America over four months. It was lacking in some detail at points, but I enjoyed its easy to follow format and thought the maps were great. If you're spending just a bit of time in each country this is a great book to consider. If you are going only to one or two countries in the region, consider buying books specific to those countries. The format was easier to follow than lonely planet's central america guide.



3. I found this book adequate for my needs of traveling from country to country in Central America over four months. It was lacking in some detail at points, but I enjoyed its easy to follow format and thought the maps were great. If you're spending just a bit of time in each country this is a great book to consider. If you are going only to one or two countries in the region, consider buying books specific to those countries. The format was easier to follow than lonely planet's central america guide.

No comments about Woodall's Far West Campground Guide, 2009 (Woodall's Far West Campground Guide).