Books

Books

Contemporary Histories

A number of journalists have made important contributions to the literature on historical and contemporary Mexico. Pulitzer Prize-winning Miami Herald Latin American correspondent Andres Oppenheimer's Bordering on Chaos: Mexico's Roller-Coaster Journey to Prosperity (1996) chronicles two of the most tumultuous years in recent Mexican history. The book investigates the country's descent into turmoil following the 1994 Zapatista uprising, two shocking 1994 political assassinations, the presidential elections, and the 1995 peso crisis. William Langewiesche's Cutting for Sign examines life along the Mexican-U.S. border, and Los Angeles Times correspondent Sam Quiñones's True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino, and the Bronx (2001) recounts engaging stories about everyday Mexican people that manage to reveal the complexities and peculiarities of Mexico's social, economic, and political situations.

Contemporary Literature

The late poet-philosopher Octavio Paz was the dean of Mexican intellectuals. His best works are Labyrinth of Solitude, a thoughtful, far-reaching dissection of Mexican culture, and Sor Juana, the biography of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a 17th-century nun and poet. For more on Sor Juana, including her own writings, see Alan Trueblood's A Sor Juana Anthology. Other top authors include Carlos Fuentes (The Death of Artemio Cruz and The Old Gringo are among his most popular novels), Juan Rulfo (his classic is Pedro Páramo), Jorge Ibarguengoitia (Two Crimes, The Dead Girls), Elena Poniatowska (Dear Diego, Here's to You Jesusa, and Tinisima, among others), Rosario Castellanos (The Nine Guardians and City of Kings), Elena Garros (Recollections of Things to Come), Gregorio López y Fuentes (El Indio), Angeles Mastretta (Mexican Bolero), and José Emilio Pacheco (Battles in the Desert and Other Stories).

Recent biographies of the artist couple Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera (by Hayden Herrera and Bertram D. Wolfe, respectively) provide glimpses into the Mexican intellectual and political life of the 1920s and '30s. Laura Esquivel's recipe-enhanced novel Like Water for Chocolate captures the passions and palates of Mexico during the revolution. Edited by Juana Ponce de León, Our Word Is Our Weapon contains writings by the Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos. They range from communiqués made on behalf of the Zapatista movement to Marcos's own stories and poetry.

D. H. Lawrence's The Plumed Serpent is probably the best-known foreign novel about Mexico, although its noble-savage theme is quite offensive. Lawrence recorded his travels in Oaxaca in Mornings in Mexico, also in a rather condescending tone. A far greater piece of literature is Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano. Also noteworthy is John Steinbeck's The Log from the Sea of Cortez, and his novel The Pearl, about a pearling community, which he wrote after traveling to La Paz. The Reader's Companion to Mexico, edited by Alan Ryan, includes material by Langston Hughes, D. H. Lawrence, and Paul Theroux. The characters of Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy weave back and forth across the Texas-Mexico border in the 1940s. The prize-winning Sky Over El Nido, by C. M. Mayo, is a collection of contemporary short stories.

Ethnography

Excellent ethnographies include Oscar Lewis's classic works on the culture of poverty The Children of Sanchez and Five Families; Juan the Chamula, by Ricardo Pozas, about a small village in Chiapas; Mexico South: The Isthmus of Tehuantepec, by Miguel Covarrubias, which discusses Indian life in the early 20th century; Gertrude Blom's Bearing Witness, on the Lacandones of Chiapas; and Maria Sabina: Her Life and Chants, an autobiography of a shaman in the state of Oaxaca. Beginning in the early 1970s, Carlos Castaneda wrote a series of philosophical, controversial books beginning with The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge. Each book recounted the author's purported apprenticeship with the wise old shaman from northern Mexico, Don Juan.

Food

Perhaps one of the most unusual and delightful books published on Mexican cookery in recent years is Recipe of Memory: Five Generations of Mexican Cuisine (1995). Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning food journalist Victor Valle and his wife, Mary Lau Valle, this book reproduces recipes the couple found in an antique chest passed down through the Valle family and in the process weaves an intriguing family and social history. Patricia Quintana's lushly photographed cookbooks, which capture the culinary history and culture of Mexico, include The Taste of Mexico (1993). Diana Kennedy's culinary works are also wildly popular, including her classic The Art of Mexican Cooking (1989) and The Essential Cuisines of Mexico (2000).

Chef Rick Bayless is another staunch champion of Mexican regional cuisine; his books include Mexico: One Plate at a Time (2000) and Mexican Kitchen (1996). Marita Adair's The Hungry Traveler Mexico (1997), with descriptions of Mexican foods and their origins, goes beyond the typical food list. Frida's Fiestas: Recipes and Recollections of Life with Frida Kahlo (1994) is a cookbook memoir by the artist's stepdaughter, Guadalupe Rivera Marin. It assembles photos, a personal account of important events in Kahlo's life, and recipes for more than 100 dishes Kahlo used to serve to family and friends.

Pre-Columbian & Colonial Works & Histories

The Cave Paintings of Baja California: Discovering the Great Murals of an Unknown People, by Harry W. Crosby, offers a thorough description of cave paintings in Baja California, including lesser-known sites, accompanied by intriguing photographs. A History of Lower California, by Pablo L. Martínez, is a very complete history written by a Baja California native who is said to have spent decades researching this text. More-specialized titles that are worth reading include The Lost Treasures of Baja California, by James Donald Francez, about the Baja California missions, and Edward W. Vernon's Las Misiones Antiguas: The Spanish Missions of Baja California, which deals with the same subject, mission by mission, with succinct text and color photos. For decades, the standard texts on Mexican history in general, written by scholars for popular audiences, have been A History of Mexico, by Henry B. Parkes; Many Mexicos, by Lesley Byrd Simpson; and A Compact History of Mexico, an anthology published by the Colegio de México.

Travelogues

A. Michener's novel Mexico captures the history of the land and the personality of the people. Probably the finest travelogue-cum-guidebook is Kate Simon's Mexico: Places and Pleasures. Into a Desert Place, which chronicles Graham Mackintosh's 4,800-km (3,000-mi) trek on foot along the Baja coast. James O'Reilly and Larry Habegger have edited a diverse collection of articles and essays by contemporary writers in Travelers' Tales Mexico. Ron Butler's Dancing Alone in Mexico: From the Border to Baja and Beyond recounts the author's capricious travels across the country. Cartwheels in the Sand: Baja California, Four Women, and a Motor Home, by Ann Hazard, tells of the author's adventures with friends up and down the Baja peninsula. Award-winning author C. M. Mayo's Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles Through Baja California, the Other Mexico is a beautiful account of Baja California's people, geography, history, and culture through the author's own journeys on the peninsula. The Forgotten Peninsula: A Naturalist in Baja California, by Joseph Wood Krutch, celebrates the plants, animals, and geography that the author explored in Baja California.