Child heroes and Mexico myths
Mexico has many myths but this was a wonderful truth, six military academy cadets, in defiance of Gen. Nicholas Bravo's order to retreat, choosing to fight to the finish. They were lieutenant Juan de la Barrera, 20, Agustin Melgar, Vicente Suarez, Francisco Marquez, Fernando Montes de Oca and Juan Escutia. One by one they were struck down.
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The Zapata interview
In 1916, an intrepid reporter, Guillermo Ojara, was assigned by his paper, El Demócrata, to go south to seek and interview Emiliano Zapata. After harrowing incidents with hundreds of Zapatistas in the mountains, valleys, even The Hill of the Scorpions inhabited by thousands of those deadly creatures, Ojara was finally brought to his subject
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Mexico's famous historical people - a chronological list of Mexican makers of history
This chronological listing of Mexico's famous and infamous historical figures puts you only a click away from reading more about their victories, lives and loves.
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Did you know? Mexico City's charwoman-businessman: Conchita Jurado
A charwoman-actress once captivated Mexican high society in her alter ego as Don Carlos Balmori.
An elaborate tomb in Mexico City's main cemetery, the Panteón Civil de Dolores, is a lasting reminder ...
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Did You Know? Mexico tried to prevent Americans from migrating to Texas
Mexico once tried hard to prevent Americans from migrating to Texas.
In recent years, considerable attention has focused on the U.S. government's efforts to stem the flow of Mexicans migrating north o...
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Did You Know? The Hero of Nacozari
November 7, 2007, marks the centenary of the death of Jesús GarcÃa, the "Hero of Nacozari."
The small town of Nacozari occupies a valley nestled in the foothills of the Western Sierra Madre (Sierra ...
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Mejico: The Conquest Of An Ancient Civilization
This is the beginning of the end….
Ruffo Espinosa, Sr., the author of this remarkable historical novel, was born in Mexico in 1907, although he spent most of his adult life in the United States. He ...
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Listing of Mexico's Presidents and Heads of State
MEXICAN PRESIDENTS & HEADS OF STATE
INDEPENDENCE PERIOD and EARLY REPUBLIC
Emperor AgustÃn de Iturbide
AgustÃn Itúr...
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Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919
Born August 8, 1879, in Anenecuilco, Morelos. Was a mediero (sharecropper) and horse trainer. Conscripted into the army for seven years attaining the rank of sergeant. As president of the village ...
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Pancho Villa as a German Agent...
To most of us, the term "German agent" conjures up the image of a heel-clicking Bundist swilling beer and sieg heiling as he attends his monthly meeting at Camp Siegfried. If his vintage is pre-WW...
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A History of Mexico by Henry Bamford Parkes
A very straightforward, unbiased, factual account of Mexican history from the times of the Indians, the Mayas and Toltecs and Aztecs up to the 1960s.
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Benito Juarez, an enigma
"The evil men do lives after them, the good is often interred with their bones." These words of Shakespeare may well describe the future of U.S. President Bill Clinton, but in writing about Mexican Pre...
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Zapata by John Steinbeck
In 1952, John Steinbeck won an Academy Award nomination for his screenplay of the movie, Viva Zapata! Many years later, however, a manuscript was found in UCLA Library in which it was discovered he had...
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The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes
The story is based on the mysterious death/disappearance of the American writer Ambrose Bierce who, at age 71, went into Mexico in 1913 during the Revolution and vanished. Bierce is the author of such works as "The Devil's Dictionary" and "Incident at Owl's Creek Bridge." He was a contemporary of writers like Bret Harte and Mark Twain. He was also a newspaper reporter, employed at the time of his death by the San Francisco Chronicle, which was part of the William Randolph Hearst empire. Bierce had also seen distinguished service in the Civil War.
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Aztec by Gary Jennings
I found this novel to be a total winner. In fact, it just kept on getting better and better and I can’t recommend it highly enough. A couple of people described it as "that gory book" when I mentioned I was reading it. Yes, it’s gory, because it describes a society that was rather big on human sacrifice and a people who were rather beastly to neighboring tribes. But they had worthy things going for them, too. They built a wonderful city and produced great artists and created a viable civilization. My hat is off to Gary Jennings.
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Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes and the Fall of Old Mexico by Hugh Thomas
This must surely be one of the great adventure stories of all time – how Hernan Cortés and about 500 conquistadores conquered a settled and established civilization in three short years, from 1519 to 1521. Distinguished scholar and historian Hugh Thomas has made good use of recently discovered archival material in both Spain and Mexico to produce a feast of reading for history buffs. Cortés must have been an incredible leader – as well as being a total bastard.
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Border Crossings by David L. Fleming
The book is ased on an actual incident in relations between the U.S. and Mexico when, in 1916, Pancho Villa's bandidos, led by Antonio Salazar, raided the small town of Columbus, New Mexico. The border between the two countries in those times was a more tense and seemingly less well-defined place at the beginning of the century. Certainly there was less coming-and-going between the two countries then.
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The Underdogs (Los de Abajo): A Novel of the Mexican Revolution by Mariano Azuela
This novel is described in several places as a classic of modern Hispanic literature and it really is a powerful book. Novelist Mariano Azuela knew what he was writing about, having served as a doctor in Pancho Villa's army and having participated in several key engagements in that conflict.
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Las Pozas: Edward James' fantasy stands tall in a jungle in Mexico
The Surrealist poet, self-styled architect and arts patron Edward James liked to put his ideas into concrete form before they got away
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The Post Classic Period ( 900 - 1521 ) Part 1
While data on early Mesoamerican cultures has been deduced primarily from archaeological evidence, historians have utilized the written records of later cultures to produce the final chapters of pre-hi...
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