Can't make it to Mexico? Enjoy these books on Carla Cohen's
insightful list of reading suggestions for her travel group
participants.
It is challenging trying to understand the mix of factors that has
created modern Mexico. I have listed a variety of books that will help
you begin to sort out this diverse and deep nation.
Art
Frida, the classic biography of Frida Kahlo, is by Hayden Herrara
(Harper, $24.95). This richly detailed and quite balanced book,
admittedly big, is a lot of fun to read when we see and hear a lot
about Frida. Like all good biographies, Frida's life is described
against the history of her times, in this case modern Mexico. Diego and
Frida's involvement with left wing politics and their close association
with Trotsky makes the biography more than just a series of
descriptions of the paintings (although Herrara does that well).
This gem of a book, Mexican Painters, was published in 1941. Because it
is in the public domain and republished by Dover, it is only $14.95.
The author MacKinley Helm lived in Mexico in the '30s and interviewed
most of the painters. It's an intimate description of their lives and
their work. There are many illustrations but unfortunately, all in
black and white. This book is also a good choice to help deepen our
understanding of Mexican art in the '30s.
A book that is a great guide to and souvenir of the Mexican art
experience is Mexican Muralists: Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros (Chronicle,
1998, $29.95). This gorgeous paperback has all color photos of the
greatest of the murals.
Finally, there is a book of photos of Oaxaca that will give you a
flavor of that remarkable city, Oaxaca: The Spirit of Mexico by Judith
Cooper Haden (Artisan, $30). This is to inspire you and for you to
remember afterwards.
History and Politics
Two New York Times correspondents, Julia Preston and Samuel Dillon,
collaborated on a book called Opening Mexico (FSG, $15). They covered
the end of PRI rule after 50 years and the new government under Vicente
Fox. They may have been more optimistic about the changes wrought as a
result of Fox's election when they wrote the book than they would be
now, but I thought the book was a great summary of modern Mexican
politics.
The Buried Mirror by Carlos Fuentes (Houghton Mifflin, $29.95). This
book by Mexico's brilliant novelist, historian and diplomat explores
the continuing tensions between the culture of the Spanish conquerors
and that of the Indians, four centuries after conquest. This is a rich
cultural history and an incredibly beautiful book. (More on Fuentes
below.)
Stolen Continents: 500 Years of Conquest and Resistance in the Americas
(Houghton Mifflin, $17) draws parallels between five native cultures in
North and South America: Aztec, Maya, Inca, Cherokee and Iroquois. The
book is organized by periods: Invasion, Resistance, and Rebirth in
which the actions of each culture are discussed. This is a superb
history of the conflict between the conquerors and the conquered. The
author, Ronald Wright, is an English historian now living in Canada.
Fiction
The book that I love is Harriet Doerr's 15-year-old Stones for Ibarra
(Penguin, $14). It's a touching evocation of a North American's efforts
to understand Mexico. Recommended for everybody who travels in Mexico.
The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea (Back Bay, $14.95) is a
lush and lovely evocation of the realities and the myths of Mexico. The
story takes place before the Mexican Revolution and tells about a
liberal rancher, Don Tomas Urrea (a relative of the author), who is
forced to move to a more distant state to escape the brutal
dictatorship of Portofirio Diaz. The hummingbird's daughter is
Teresita, Don Tomas' illegitimate daughter, whom he recognizes and
protects. Teresita has remarkable healing powers and becomes a figure
revered by the Indians.
Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros (Vintage, $13.95) is a story of a
Mexican-American family. Each summer the Reyes family returns to Mexico
City to visit the extended family. Cisneros uses the young Ceyala's
voice to tell the stories of the family on both sides of the border.
The leading Mexican writer who is translated is Carlos Fuentes. The
Death of Artemio Cruz (FSG, $15) is considered to be his masterwork,
but there are other shorter books that are less daunting.
Graham Greene wrote The Power and the Glory (Penguin Classics, $14)
after spending only a few months in Mexico in the late 1930s, but he
completely captures the feeling of the land and people. This marvelous
book tells about the whiskey Priest, who somehow survived the efforts
in anti-clerical Mexico of the '30s to eliminate all clergy, and how he
manages to find and bestow grace among the angry and confused people.
Travel Memoirs
On Mexican Time by Tony Cohan (Broadway, $14.95) is a must when
you travel to the Colonial cities. Cohan and his wife moved to San
Miguel in the late '80s and their description of that town and others
will be especially evocative to travelers to the same places. Cohan
tells enough about himself to keep the reader's interest, but the
observations of life and Mexico are the heart of the book. His
descriptions of the rhythms and layers of Mexico are excellent.
Survivors in Mexico by Rebecca West (Yale, $17). This ambitious
work was begun by West as an effort to do for Mexico what she did for
Yugoslavia in Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. But it was not completed and therefore not published until 2004.
Travel Guides
The Lonely Planet ($27.99) is the best guide to Mexico. It is
heavy, admittedly, but it is full of terrific information: good
history, guides to the places we will be visiting. The new edition is
better than ever.
Fodor's ($21.95) is much improved and very reliable for food. There are much shorter descriptions of the sites and less history.
If you want to take a smaller volume, you might want to use the Moon guides, which are very good as well. For example, Handbook to Oaxaca ($17.95) has excellent descriptions of the archeological sites and the museums.
Unfortunately, there are no small guides to Vera Cruz because fewer tourists go there.