Job Discussion Forums

[Phil_K]

For those who are interested in the history of your adopted country, I recommend two excellent books, both massive!

First, a scholarly account of the conquest - La Conquista de M�xico by Hugh Thomas (nearly 1100 pages) and an excellent and widely applauded novel - Azteca by Gary Jennings (866 pages). (Not either of the sequels, Oto�o Azteca or Sangre Azteca - I've heard they are not as good).

If your Spanish is not up to it, they can be found on Amazon by their respective titles, The Conquest of Mexico and Aztec. Or maybe in the American Bookstore in DF.

[Gary Denness]

I found both Azteca and Aztec Autumn to be ok, but nothing more than that...my personal favourite of the series was Aztec Rage.

[Guy Courchesne]

I loved Azteca...especially reading it while in Mexico City. I sent my father a copy of the book this month. I wasn't very big on the sequels though.

[Milenka]

[MO39]

I read Azteca years ago and was not impressed. Though it was obvious that the author had done some reading on Aztec history and culture, he seemed to have taken all the most sensational aspects he could find, to which he added elements concocted by his lurid imagination, and composed a pot-boiler of a novel.

[Phil_K]

[sweeney66]

Another not-very-good but enjoyable book of highly fictionalized Mexican history is Regina by Antonio Velasco Pina. It recasts the events leading up to October 2nd, 1968 as a kind of hippy fantasy of Mexico's "New Age."
Crazy as hell but a good story. Wondering if any of it was even slightly true led me to Poniatowska's non-fiction Noche de Tlateloco, which is very good and terribly sad.
I'm not sure if either are available in English

[MO39]

[deeb]

[notamiss]

Am I allowed to recommend books I haven't read yet? Recently while looking for something completely different, I stumbled across this oral interview with pioneering anthropologist George M. Foster, and I was hooked. http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=kt7s2005ng&brand=calisphere&doc.view=entire_text (This is book-length). In summary, Dr. Foster studied cultures all over the world but his principal field was Mexico. He visited the village of Tzintzuntzan yearly from 1958 to 1990.

The point is that as I read this biography, several of his books jumped onto my wishlist, particularly Culture and Conquest: America's Spanish Heritage in which he analyzed which parts of Mexican culture came from Spain, and which parts of Spanish culture were and were not transmitted to Mexico; the books that arose from his decades-long study of Tzintzuntzan; and his study of a theme that has driven many of us crazy one time or another, �no?: Hippocrates' Latin American legacy: "hot" and "cold" in contemporary folk medicine .

For a list of George M. Foster's books: http://tinyurl.com/gmfoster-books.

[Samantha]

There is a new book almost ready, called Gods, Gachupines and Gringos that you might not want to miss.
http://editorialmazatlan.com/Gods%2C-Gachupines-and-Gringos.php

Those who follow the blog, Mexfiles, will know Richard Grabman (and others will know him from this forum a few years back).
http://mexfiles.wordpress.com/

[MELEE]

Another historical fiction work that I really enjoyed was Malinche by Laura Esquivel. If you are a fan of hers it's a must. I read it in Spanish, but of course there is an English translation available.

My husband is a huge fan of Antonio Velasco Pina and has read all his books several times. The only one I've read is a really thin one, I think called Olmeca or something.

[Gary Denness]

I have an absolute stack of books gathering dust, and am always on the lookout for bargain books to read.

Has there never been a 'Book Exchange' meeting of sorts? Would a Book and Beers get together interest anyone. I must confess many of the books I have to exchange are fiction novels (Grisham/Jennings/Baldacci etc) but I have a fair number of more 'high brow' titles to offer too...

[Phil_K]

On the Aztec theme, I've also spotted one called "Isabel Moctezuma", about the favorite daughter of said "huey tlatoani", Techuichpo, who was christianized and given the name "Do�a Isabel". She also had a child with Hern�n Cort�s. Has anyone read it?

[MO39]

Sounds interesting, Phil. Do you recall the author's name?