Cogan’s Reviews I wonder what a library cataloguer will make of Jerry Hesser’s book. Is it biography? Autobiography? Is it concerned with travel? Is it history? Is it a description of modern day Mexico? Is it an attempt at a cultural commentary on this country? Or is it simply a record of one man’s efforts […]
Continue Reading
Cogan’s Reviews The two cultures – Mexican and U.S. – come together in a thoughtful way in this interesting novel, which is set in both countries. The story concerns a group of Mexican illegal immigrants who travel north in May each year to work in the cherry orchards in northern Michigan. They are from the […]
Continue ReadingMolly McHugh’s recently published Viva La Baja! Relocation and Real Estate Guide to the Baja California Peninsula provides concise, easy to use information for anyone interested in north or south Baja. It is obvious that McHugh’s objective is to provide an excellent product that will be useful for people of all ages and from all walks […]
Continue ReadingLIVE BETTER SOUTH OF THE BORDER, by “Mexico” Mike Nelson. (USA: Roads Scholar Press, ISBN 1-889489-02-6, 2nd ed., 1997, $16.95) Available from Amazon Books: Paperback SPAS & HOT SPRINGS OF MEXICO, by “Mexico” Mike Nelson. (USA: Roads Scholar Press, ISBN 1-889489-26-3, 1997, $16.95) Available from Amazon Books: Paperback Visiting Mexico is one thing. Living here is another. Basking amid […]
Continue ReadingCROSSING OVER: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail, by Rubén Martínez. Metropolitan, 330 p., $26. (October 2001) Amazon Books Great books are the hardest kind to review. There’s just too much temptation to toss out the usual lauds and accolades which make for fine back cover blurbs. And then there’s the trap of comparison […]
Continue ReadingFrankly, most “how to live in Mexico” books — from Ken Luboff’s Live Well in Mexico: How to Relocate, Retire, and Increase Your Standard of Living, John Howells and Don Merwin’s Choose Mexico, 8th: Travel, Investment, and Living Opportunities for Every Budget, and Mexico “Mike” Nelson’s Live Better South of the Border — spout the same line. Even the most recent […]
Continue Reading
As far as I can tell, there is only one campground guide for Mexico, and this is it. Luckily, it is a good one, recently revised in 2001. I have seen one other book on camping in Mexico, but it did not have information on specific campgrounds. We used this book for a recent RV […]
Continue Reading
Cogan’s Reviews When I first heard of the availability of this novel I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. It sounded like such a good read. I eventually did pick one up, of course. And I just wish that I could report that I found it all that entertaining. Rather, it was […]
Continue Reading
Cogan’s Reviews Although it’s about Mexico, this one starts off in Ecuador in the 1960s where the author was doing doctoral fieldwork for a dissertation on haciendas in that country. His work took him to a remote research station on the side of a mountain seventy miles from electricity, running water, telephones, etc. One day […]
Continue Reading
Cogan’s Reviews This is the story of a group of men who have become known as the Yuma 14. They are the fourteen illegal immigrants who died attempting to cross the Arizona border in May, 2001. And what a terrible and upsetting story it is. Unknown numbers of these illegal immigrants die every year making […]
Continue Reading