No comments about A Travel Guide to the Plains Indian Wars.

1 comments about Mexico Insight Guide (Insight Guides).

1. The Insight Guide has awesome pictures and helps you decide which places you want to see. Also nice to keep after the trip to recall the spirit of all the places you've been to.
   If you want a useful book - get Lonely Planet. Their guide for Mexico is really good.
   The best way is to get both I guess...

5 comments about The Best of San Miguel de Allende, Bilingual Edition.

1. Alan Cogan, MexConnect.com, March 2005.
   
   Here's a guidebook with a significant difference - it's fun to read. Harmes gives us several hundred Bests from what is now his home town. Thus we get the items we'd expect, such as Best T-shirt shop, Best seafood, Best colonial buildings, Best day trips, Best bars, Best views, etc.. They're all there - 126 pages of them. And 26 of those are devoted to restaurants and dining. But he also gives us - tongue firmly in cheek - items like Best place to dump a body, Best bathrooms for a quickie, Best grafitti, Best haunted house, Best bargain booze and lots more.
   Harmes, a former Time, Newsweek and People Magazine writer, has managed to include some informative sections on history and culture and all the many events that take place in any Mexican community throughout the year.
   He claims to have personally visited all the listings in his book and that it's up-to-date to November 2004. And a couple more features enhance its value. One is that it's quite handsomely illustrated. The other is it's completely bilingual - English and Spanish.
   If you have any thought of going to San Miguel - one of Mexico's most visited communities - make sure that a copy of "The Best of San Miguel" is prominent in your travel kit.



2. We've been to SMA many times, and have just bought a house there. This is a great, and very accurate, book about all sorts of very useful info for the vacationer, seasonal visitor, or resident. Kudos to the author and many thanks!



3. This book exceeded my expectations. I have visited San Miguel in the past and loved it. Now I am even more excited to return - am going for a week on Tuesday. This guide gave me such interesting tips and chuckles to boot.



4. Besides not liking the format of this book, I found things I definitly disagree with. I have traveled many times to Mexico and have always been told "don't drink the water" and "don't eat from street venders" if you want to keep your tummy in order. This book recomends you eat from street venders. I chose this as an example as it does not effect a place of business or restaurant but there were several I did not agree with...but that is personal opinion, the other is good health.



5. Good book!
   
   Everyone, please, eat food in the street and
   drink water straight from the tap. Then you
   might get sick and puke in the Jardin and
   run all the GWB loving Republican Texas
   idiots back to where they came from and
   they can quit playing the adventurers and
   take their 50k SUV's and their traffic back
   from whence they came.

No comments about Mexico City: A Cultural and Literary Companion (Cities of the Imagination).

No comments about Haiti (Countries & Cities of the World).

No comments about National Geographic Traveler: Mexico (National Geographic Traveler).

1 comments about Nuevo México Profundo: Rituals of an Indo-Hispano Homeland.

1. My 28-year residency in New Mexico ended with my recent move to California. Viewing Miguel Gandert's photographs opened the floodgates of memory in ways I had not anticipated.

   Gandert's images carry the viewer into the most important dimension of ritual: the experiential element. Witnessing these ritual dances, even as a mere spectator, can be a moving experience. A vivid recollection of one New Year's Day at Jemez Pueblo Plaza comes to mind. I sat crosslegged on the ground at the inward-facing edge of the assembly, following the action of the Matachine dancers. A little boy portraying El Torito, the bull, was being chased by a whip-wielding Abuelo, who represents both wise elder and taunting clown. I held my hands over my head, feigning a protective gesture in mock fear, as they ran around me in ever tightening circles. The double-line pattern of the danzantes suddenly shifted and swept over me on both sides with ribbons flying in a swirl of color. In that moment I found all concept of time and structure collapsing into liminality. Afterwards, I became concerned that I might have inadvertently violated ritual space. Upon expressing my feelings to a tribal member, however, I was assured that no such transgression had taken place and that I might have even received a blessing.

   The event described above could, no doubt, be interpreted quite differently from another standpoint and through another's eyes. Similarly, this book can be appreciated on many different levels. It's relevancy to universal elements and ritual may resonate with a widely diverse audience. Gandert and four knowledgeable essayists create a compelling cultural admixture of polarity and paradox. The resultant images emerge through layers of time, space, and history like so many bubbles from some deep, ancient well. This book is truly a verbal and visual treasure.

   Readers interested in expanding their knowledge of the Matachines tradition will also find a valuable resource in The Matachines Dance: Ritual Symbolism and Interethnic Relations in the Upper Rio Grande Valley by Sylvia Rodriguez.

No comments about Driving the Pan-American Highway to Mexico and Central America: A Complete Guidebook for Do-It-Yourself Planning, Preparing For, and Driving Through Mexico and Central America.

No comments about Rock Climbing New Mexico (Regional Rock Climbing Series).

4 comments about Survivors in Mexico.

1. This book, which is an assemblage of fragments Rebecca West intended to form into a book, but never completed, is a very enjoyable and provocative read. I think we get more insight into the mind of West than into her subject, which is the people and country of Mexico, but since she thinks a lot about the world, and the intersections of history, art, religion, and politics, one comes away having learned a lot. Although some might consider West opinionated, she has an engaging style, and forms judgements only after examining an issue from several angles, so one might disagree with her conclusions, but still enjoy the internal debates she conducts with herself. She dwells on several topics which interest her, including Aztec society, the historical encounter between Cortes and Montezuma, the relationship between native people, Europeans and the mixed culture, and individual historical figures that have lived in or passed through Mexico (Kahlo, Rivera, Trotzky, Zummarago). West seems especially interested in Encounters between very different people and cultures, and what those encounters reveal. This book gives the reader the sense of being present at several occasions, partly with vivid detail, as well as because West has familial connections with some of the individuals, and so can give an insider's view. The introduction is also very interesting, giving a sense of who Rebecca West was, as well as the struggle she faced in trying to write a book that could live up to the success of her earlier book, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon.



2. Professor Schweizer, I don't know how I reached the age of 64 without being aware of Rebecca West. I purchased this book on a whim hoping it would help me to understand Mexico. I spent the overseas years of my foreign service career in Asia and ignored Europe. Upon retirement nine years ago I set out to understand how the Roman Empire (cum Christendom and Christendom in the New World) has molded our lives and minds. I vowed to visit the outlines of the Roman Empire and certainly many of those places where great things happened. I have largely accomplished this.

   Next month and in Feb I'm going to make my fourth and fifth trip to Mexico. I have read Krause's history of modern Mexico and several books on Hernan Cortez (e.g. Conquest). However Rebecca West's reflections on Mexico seem to be the most insightful of the lot. With every page I grasped a clearer image of something that I had only imperfectly understood. How (why?) does a non specialist come to such a clear vision that seems to elude those who are better prepared?

   Her thoughts on the Aztec religion and Montezuma had me saying, "Of course, that is the way it must have been." Also I am under a social cloud for rather admiring Hernan Cortez for his historic accomplishment all the while acknowledging his less than savory side. I say this because not only does West's estimation of this man equal mine but because her's is an approach (or an attitude) toward this and other things that I wish were mine.

   The question is: What does that say about me?

   I finished the book early on yesterday's flight from Orlando to Reagan Airport in Virginia. Such a lofty perspective is just the place to re-read your fine introduction.

   Thank you for bringing this book to publication.




3. Survivors is a delightful read full of incisive observations made by a brilliant woman. It is also splendidly organized by its editor, Professor Bernard Schweizer. It is simply that its historical content and other factual, cultural, onomastic and toponymic information cannot be trusted. Please do not get me wrong. I'm thankful to Dr Schweizer for bringing this book to print, and it is a good book in spite of its idiosyncracies and flaws. However, as a Mexican whose historian mother hammered down Zumárraga, I couldn't overlook the spelling of the good padre's name. Likewise, I had breakfast daily next to Xipe Totec, a prominent member of my family's pre-Columbian art collection, and a Dr. Atl painting hung in my room. In addition, I am the granddaughter of a Mexican intellectual and cabinet minister partially responsible for the anti-clerical legislation Mexico is known for (and whose Ph.D. disertation mentor at Columbia was John Dewey, the same man who headed the inquest into Trotsky's treason trial in NY). Also, it was Amalia Hern?ndez (not someone called Eva, as West states and Schweizer lets stand), who was the artistic director and overall genius behind the Ballet Folcl?rico and who really, really and avidly pursued my eligible bachelor Dad in their salad days. And to top it all off, my childhood friend was Nora Volkow, daughter of Seva Volkow Bronstein, whom I felt betrayed by this book, so I felt I had to write this review.
   
   In the Introduction, Schweizer states: "... I have silently corrected obvious grammatical mistakes, rectified factual errors, and introduced more consistent punctuation. I have further added accent marks to reflect contemporary spelling of Spanish names: Zummaraga is spelled Zummáraga, [sic] for instance, Cortes is Cortés, and so on." For all of the editor's good intentions, there are several spelling mistakes (Zummáraga should be spelled Zumárraga; Chulela, Cholula; Xochomilco, Xochimilco; Xipe Toltec, Xipe Totec, inter alia) and even though the editor did well in adding diacritics, their use is not consistent across the text. Unfortunately, in spite of the editor's efforts in rectifying factual errors, a good number of them are still to be found.
   
   I came across what at first glance looked like a miracle. On page 96, line 8, West states: "Her [Isabella's] only son died at nineteen and her posthumous son died at birth..." Huh? A woman giving birth posthumously? Shucks! after the only synapse I have left clicked, I knew that this was not a miraculous birth, just a case of sloppy writing. What West tried to say was that Prince Juan died when his wife Marguerite was pregnant, and then the baby (his, not his Mom's) died soon after birth.
   
   I kept on reading: "...of her four daughters one died in childbirth and the child survived only a couple of years, another was the insulted first queen of Henry the VIII of England, another was insane." Isabella did have four girls, but West accounts for only three of them: Isabel, Catalina (Catherine) and Juana. For the record, the fourth one was Mar?a, married to her dead sister Isabel's husband, Manuel I of Portugal. With all due respect for the editor, both the mistake and the omission really stared me in the face.
   
   On the chapter on Lev Davidovich Bronstein, whose nom de guerre was Leon Trotsky, West opted for not mentioning this fact. This is a little awkward, for she does mention later in the chapter that it was well-known that Trotsky was Jewish, something one cannot deduce from the pseudonym. Trotsky's assassin is identified in the book as Jacson Mornard, a name no one in Mexico ever used; we know him either as Jacques Mornard or, most commonly, as Ram?n Mercader. But most surprising is that even though West had an informal chat with Trotsky's grandson, she identifies him in the book incorrectly as "Seva Trotsky." His name is Esteban (Seva) Volkow Bronstein (son of Trotsky's eldest daughter Zina). Esteban's second daughter Nora Volkow Fern?ndez is the current director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Bethesda, MD. I now think that West never figured out that Trotsky was a pseudonym, and forgort that Seva was a son of a daughter who bore her husband's name.
   
   In the chapter on Chapultepec II West states "A Mexican anti-clerical may spit on the pavement when he sees a priest (nuns he cannot see, for they are forbidden by law)." A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. First of all, from the time of Sor Juana there have always been nuns in Mexico (most of them were involved in education, although there were a few colorful ones, like the erstwhile nuns Catalina de Erauso who dabbled in cattle herding and soldiering, and the Madre Conchita, who dabbled in murder). Second, an anti-clerical person would never be able to spit on the pavement when seeing a priest in Mexico, for he/she would not be able to know that the man was a priest as, by law, clergy could not wear religious garb in public (Cf. Article 130 of the Mexican Constitution of 1917).
   
   Then there's more problems with names. In the chapter on Frida and Diego, West mentions (and Schweizer lets it stand) the "Company of Jesuits," and when speaking about the burning of the effigies of Judas, she claims that they are burned in "...the fiesta of Gloria...". Both West and Schweizer should have availed themselves of a good translator, for La Compa??a de Jes?s is rendered correctly into English as "The Society of Jesus" and "S?bado de Gloria" has no good official name in English(as a translator I have found Easter Saturday, Holy Saturday and Easter Eve), but in simple terms it is the Saturday after Good Friday and before Easter Sunday, but call it what we may, it is most certainly not a fiesta at Gloria's house.
   
   But it must have been at a fiesta in somebody's house where Rebecca West fell prey to the Prince of Xochimilco story. The way the prank works (usually perpetrated by upper class Mexican guys to impress beautiful, gullible, American women) is that you tell the foreigner that your last name, whatever it may be (West was fed Andrada [sic], Cano, Sotelo and Miravalles) proves that you are a direct descendant of Moctezuma and also of Spanish nobility and, as such, you are entitled to use the title of Prince of Xochimilco.
   
   This book is West's experience in the Land of Volcanoes, and reading it made me smile a number of times. It proves my native land and my people were cunning enough to, more often than not, take an exceedingly bright woman for a good long ride. But then again, it is also evidence that an exceedingly bright woman could often manage to see through the many layers we Mexicans try to hide under. This book has horrendous flaws, but I'd still tell you to give it a go.
   
   Verónica Albin



4. West's travelogue is the perfect companion for a non-Mexican visitor to this most wonderful country, as her wit and insight provide a very nice overview of some of the key elements of Mexican culture and history.
   
   West was one of the first to write of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, long before they became the pop culture figures that they are today. Her insights into the concept of Mestizaje are insightful; she sees that it has been to Mexico's benefit and detriment that its society is not merely some variant of Europe and SPain but is instead an entirely new society of both European as well as Pre-columbian/ indigenous social attitudes and mores. Her discussion of the Revolution of the early 20th century is brief but also very telling of the background to that event, and her criticism of the inept US ambassador during that time, HL Wilson, is biting.
   
   West is capable of writing with insight about persons as well as events, notwithstanding that Mexico can be a notoriously difficult country to sound; yet she does so in a fashion that is clear, witty and quite intelligent. She never insults either her reader or the personages about which she writes.
   
   DOn't be put off by reviews which pick holes in West's research or even her spelling. Any errors herein are likely more a result of the difficulty for any non-native person to truly understand and know all that there is about a place. West is not a sloppy or lazy writer by any means. But neither is she a Mexican, and so I think that any intelligent reader will be more than pleased with what they find herein. And of course, this book is not the FINAL word on Mexico and the Mexicans!
   
   Travelogues written by non-natives bring out a special difficulty of writing about places and societies. Those who are native to a place often are blind to much of the Genus Loci, as they have lived in their midst forever; yet their insights can also be deeper, as the spirit is in their bones. An intelligent and perceptive visitor on the other hand can often see behind the daily facades that natives ignore, and thereby arrive at truths which even the natives would be surprised by. West's book here is an admirable mix of both of these, and I recommend this book to all who are interested in learning more about the Mexico that exists away from the sandy beaches and high rise tourist hotels. For example, all the crazy gringos who go to Chapala or San Miguel without speaking the language and without knowing who Juarez, Diaz, Villa or Zapata are, should really read this book. Hopefully, this will inspire more of them to pay a little closer attention during their visits to Mexico profundo.... y mientras estoy en mi casita Queretana, hablando con Dr. Atl de chocolate y las plumas verdes y brillantes del Quetzalcoatl...