Bruce Berger is an excellent guide to the Baja. He’s been going there since the mid '60s, having driven the length of the peninsula at least three times when that meant travelling more than 1,000 kilometers of single lane dirt road. One could drive for a day and meet only one other car. And you would never dream of leaving without taking plenty of food, water and gasoline plus whatever extras and spare parts you might need to fix auto problems along the way. read more

Revolution is the ultimate test for survival of the fittest. In times of stormy social change, intense competition is generated among leaders of forces seeking that change and, inevitably, one man emer... read more

History of Oaxaca Part 1 - Pre-hispanic Era By Maria Diaz Her Bio Her email: maria@oaxacalive.com In three installments we will present a history of Oaxaca, its pe... read more

Because of the many fables he wrote, there are those who may wish to compare José Joaquin Fernández de Lizardi to La Fontaine. Such a comparison fails to do justice to both writers. Apart from the Co... read more

Sealed off by mountains to both the East and West, and arid, desert-like land to the North, Mexico’s central altoplano, for eons was home to Nahua, Otomi, Huichol, Cora, Tepehua and Coyutec Indi... read more

Lázaro Cárdenas, the most left-wing president in Mexican history, became an international bogey man but a national hero by expropriating the foreign oil companies in 1938. Though even such political ... read more

The election that brought Miguel de la Madrid's successor to power was clearly fraudulent. On July 6, 1988, when the first results began to arrive at the interior ministry's office on Avenida Bucareli,... read more

The Cruz Roja Mexicana functions 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Like the American and Canadian Red Cross, it assists at disasters, but additionally acts as an Emergency Medical Service. By Mexican la... read more

Since it is the near unanimous verdict of authorities on American history that Abraham Lincoln was our greatest president, it has become a facile formula among historians of other nations to describe t... read more

It is time that women discover the Aztec Indian woman called Doña Marina by the Spaniards and La Malinche by her fellow Indians and demand recognition of her as a true heroine. She certainly had as gr... read more

Here's Fuentes at it again, publishing short stories and novellas under a single title and trying to interlink them into a cohesive whole as he tried to do in The Crystal Frontier. The connection here is the orange tree, the symbol of Spain. read more

Mexconnect writers explore the many faces of Francisco "Pancho" Villa, a key figure in the Mexican Revolution. read more

1998 witnessed the passing of such diverse figures as Frank Sinatra, legendary boxer Archie Moore, two-term Florida Governor Lawton Chiles, cowboy star and entrepreneur Gene Autry, and Clayton ("Peg Le... read more

This is an odd volume. I originally bought it because it advertises itself as "a gathering of some of the best travel writing ever" about Mexico. However, you quickly find as you dip into it that not all the articles are about travel. Also, very few of them have been written in recent times. Indeed, a couple were written about 100 years ago. However, that's not a criticism. read more

Carlos Fuentes was an internationalist from birth. Though one of Mexico's best-known citizens, he was born on November 11, 1928, in Panama, where his father represented the Mexican government. Mexico p... read more

Tenochtitlán, the great island city, capital of the Mexica empire, lies cloaked in darkness. An eerie silence pervades the vast ceremonial center — the Teocalli or Templo Mayor — spreading out over Moctezuma's splendid palace, with its botanical gardens and well-stocked zoo, across the market places, canals, aqueducts, and within each of the humble abodes in the residential wards. For five full days, activity in the normally bustling metropolis has ceased. read more

Readers of these reviews may remember that I was a big fan of Jenning’s previous work, Aztec. I gave it my highest accolade – five stars. And here comes the sequel, which is almost as good. The action in this one takes place 12 years after all the goings on in Aztec and concerns the adventures of 18 year old Tenamixtli, the son of Mixtli, the hero of the former novel. Indeed, in the first chapter, Tenamixtli witnesses an execution, a burning at the stake publicly carried out by Spanish troops. Later, he discovers that the executed man was his father. How’s that for getting a story started? As you can imagine, revenge plays a big part in the plot. read more

The Maya Civilization Historical Conflict Part 2   (To Part 1) "Just because of the crazy times, because of the crazy priests, is it that sadness overtook us, that 'Christianity' o... read more

History has rarely furnished a more striking example of high-profile-low-profile than that of the first presidents of the United States and Mexico. George Washington was and is the quintessential house... read more

Como pan caliente - "like hot bread"- is the expression used in Mexico to indicate something that is popular, best selling, or in demand. And indeed, going for hot bread is one of the daily culinary ro... read more

There is no truth in the words of foreigners. Chilam Balam of Chumayel The news arrives every day: accusations of menacing maneuvers by the Mexican army in Chiapas, proclamations an... read more

The chief function of the colonies in the eyes of the Spanish Hapsburg kings — who ruled until 1700 — was to make Spain stronger, richer and more self-sufficient. Raw materials brought home from th... read more

No sooner had the Spanish conquistadores vanquished the Aztec Empire militarily, than the spiritual conquest of Indian Mexico began. The Spaniards were devoutly Roman Catholic. It should be r... read more

The fall of the Aztec Empire and capture of its ruler Cuauhtémoc (1521), left Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in charge of a vast and largely unfamiliar land. By 1522 his sovereign, Car... read more

At the start of the Mexican Revolution (1910) painting in Mexico had reached an all-time low. The then President, Porfirio Diaz had been in power for more than 30 years and in the words of famous Ameri... read more