Cogan’s Reviews 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 […]
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Cogan’s Reviews While I was writing this review, in May 1998, some 9,000 bush fires were said to be burning across Mexico. I don’t know how anyone ever counted that number, but I wasn’t going to argue. One night we sat on our terrace and counted twelve of them on the other side of Lake […]
Continue ReadingCogan’s Reviews I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guidebook specifically on Guadalajara and the surrounding area. There are plenty of such books on the Lake Chapala region, serving the many tourists, retirees and ex-pats who find their way down here. But I just don’t recall seeing a specific English text on Mexico’s second largest […]
Continue ReadingCogan’s Reviews This one is an extremely interesting collection of articles about various facets of Mexican life which we gringos probably don’t hear about in the normal course of events. Perhaps if we read Mexican newspapers we’d be more familiar with some of the stories you’ll find here. It’s an odd mixture of very positive […]
Continue ReadingCogan’s Reviews Here’s a rather unusual volume that certainly took me by surprise. It’s a book about, of all things, ferns. However, as you get into it you soon find out it’s about much more. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about ferns but I have to add that I read this book in one sitting […]
Continue ReadingCogan’s Reviews This is one of the most enjoyable fiction “reads” I’ve had in a long time. It’s simply good straightforward storytelling complete with interesting and likeable characters and a good basic plot situation. It is founded on an actual incident in relations between the U.S. and Mexico when, in 1916, Pancho Villa’s bandidos, led […]
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Cogan’s Reviews I’ve been heard a couple of times lately saying out loud: “What an absolutely amazing country this is!” We were in Patzcuaro a short time ago one Sunday morning when the town’s market was in full swing. An incredible variety of goods were on display. And with all that colorful activity around us, […]
Continue ReadingCogan’s Reviews It’s hard for a reader to know exactly what to make of this one. Is it fiction? Or is it biography? Or is it something in between? In an author’s note Ms. Mujica states: “Although events in Mexican history and in Frida’s life provide the general framework, many incidents and characters portrayed here […]
Continue ReadingCogan’s Reviews I started to read this book expecting to hate it. However, I’m not going to end up saying I read it, and then loved it. Despite some pretty obvious problems, it was a bit better than I expected. The good thing about “Mexico” is that Michener has done enormous research in order to […]
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Cogan’s Reviews This isn’t a book about Mexico. Rather, it’s about Mexicans in California right now. It explores the issue of illegal immigration by examining the lives of four characters – two very well-off Californians, Delaney Mossbacher, a nature writer, and his real estate agent wife, Kyra, and a Mexican couple, Cándido Rincón, and his […]
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