Fray Angelico Chavez takes us on a tour de force ride through the landscape of the Southwest and especially of New Mexico. This is a magical romp through history of the New World as pertaining to the New Mexico, which is the land, where Fray Angelico Chavez feels at home in. This is a fictionalized historical account, which seems fantastic at time, and it is very addictive read, considering that it deals with history, but does so in very entertaining, and magnetic way. Anyone interested in the Southwest should read this book as it will enlighten, and educate. It contains classical, biblical, and native american allusions, references, and influences. The brethen of Don Quixote also make appearance, and seem very much at home in the strange landscape of the new world. Penitentes walk through bearing their crosses. Read it, and you will never look at the Southwest in quite the same way again.

to prepare our family (pre-teen and teenage children) for a trip to central america, we began to read aloud this book at dinner. it describes the adventures of early explorers and colonists and the mayan culture as a storyteller might. it's a wonderful resource "to set the stage", to spark the imagination and curiosity for knowing more about this civilization. it incorporates information from recent research and successfully imparts this to young adult readers without a lot of scientific googly-goo but sufficient scholarly material. this book is a gem - it never talks "down" to the reader; in fact, it's almost as if you are invited to share in the enthusiasm and appreciation felt by these authors for the maya.

I homeschool my 11 year old son. He chose to do a project on the Maya and came across this book at the library. What a great book! The pictures are beautiful and the style of writing is very friendly.

You can tell that Peter loves his job of researching and writing. I highly recommend this book. I know that I am heading out to find more written by Peter!

Blessings,
Debbie

heartily recommended to all serious students of the history and politics of revolution. would the author consider expounding further on the lecture circut?

The editiorial reviews available on this fine publication only hint at its value to preservationists, architects, and anyone involved with architectural design review boards. Wilson provides a concise history of Santa Fe and the cross-cultural influences that have shaped its architecture. Most importantly, the author examines the influence that early 20th century historic preservation philosophies had in formalizing what has ultimately become the "Santa Fe Sytle." This is essential material for anyone interested in examining how historic preservation can impact, both positively and negatively, contemporary architectural aesthetics.

The book comes with two essays which I found very good to understand the contemporary position of mexican architects. The book shows the work of approximately 30 architects ranging from the famous T. Gonzalez de Leon and latest AIA winner Ricardo Legorreta to internationaly unknown designers. The projects shown are excellent and provide a strong insight of contemporary mexican design. Among the designers you will find Norten, Broid, Landa, and the promising Mexico City firm LBC and many others with the same design skills.

The author of the book did an excellent job in choosing the projects. The photography is very good. I wish there was more diversity since most of the projects are in Mexico City. I hope there will be a volume two coming out soon.

A very interesting book written by sociologists takes a look at Mexico's current affairs from the political, cultural and social perspective. This book is part of the work made to celebrate 15 years of the Centro de Estudios Sociológicos (Sociology Studies Center) of El Colegio de México (Mexico's College). The majority of the topics included in its pages show the areas of study the Center dedicates itself to, such as: the power in contemporary Mexico, politics modernization, sindicates conflicts, national security, the problem of demographic growth, the crisis in the education system, women's role in society, and more.

As an artist/designer, I found it absolutely indispensable! You will never get tired of looking at the beautiful photography!

In the mid 1980s I bought the first edition of this book. It was a much smaller yet still beautiful edition. When the new edition came out in '94 I was quick to pick that one up. This new version is much expanded and elaborated. So what is this book? It is a combination of a travel guide, an ethno-historical book and a book on local botany, Indians and geology sprinkled heavily with gorgeous photographs. Richard Fisher has put decades of his life into making this flawless account of the area. Whether you are visiting the national parks of Mexico by road, off-road or railroad, you will need this book. I have used this book many times to research an area before going there. The book will take you to lost mission churches, huge waterfalls, off-world looking landscapes and everywhere in between.

This book is simply essential for libraries belonging to poets, historians, pre-columbian and otherwise, -- art and otherwise, -- plain literary types . . . (why purchase some dud modern "poet" with only a few jewels in the mud when you can have an entire culture's fragments in one thin volume? -- the real poetry of this book is what isn't read, what is felt beyond, the lost worlds of the Maya, the Toltecs, the Aztecs, and so on . . . all the poems, songs, stories that didn't survive). Some of the most beautiful poems, or as they are called in a few of the selections, "flower-songs", I have ever read anywhere, and from any time, are to be found here. Yes, "I was absolutely riveted . . . ." That these selections are rendered into familiar and comfortable (to modern Western poetic sensibilities) and yet faithful to the original form is more than just a service of the anthropological-historical kind, it is a high literary success by Mr. Leon-Portilla and all those others involved in this project. There is no world like the New World, which is still New to us that have taken up the task of finally "discovering" it after all these centuries following its conquest instead of obscuring it, masking its enchanting past, -- found in histories, stories, memories become dreams, and vice versa, which escaped the conqueror's destructive hand -- in our own kind of lies and reflective interpretations like a great cultural of our own filth muddying their magical waters . . . no less atrocious a crime not just to them but to all men than the ugly graffiti of the American flag on the moon . . . if you want to go digging in the rubble for some real treasures, read this book . . . it's light, -- like gold should be, and, you know, you won't drown with it in your pocket if you take it on travels crossing waters . . . I mean that this is the real gold that the Spanish missed when they tried to annihilate not just a cultural tradition but an essence of mind, an essence of man, which we can certainly make a good go of recapturing, or at least see in the nearing distance, by reading their poetry and song . . . find this book, -- find a real "lost civilization" that isn't lost at all except by our own losing of it. Now how can you throw away an entire world?