“[A] sweeping yet comprehensive overview of some of the most important historical and literary documents from Mexico’s history. The book is great to pull off a shelf and open to any page; consider it your daily lesson in Mexican history and culture. It’s also in English, so you’ve got no language barrier excuses!” — Colazzo Projects blog
“Anyone who has a keen interest in Mexico—in delving deep into the country’s rich history and culture before going there—would be fascinated by this book.” — June Sawyers , Chicago Tribune
“Gil Joseph and Tim Henderson must be commended for tackling the onerous task of compiling a reader entirely devoted to Mexico…. The Mexico Reader presents a diverse, original, and rare collection of primary and secondary texts…. The Mexico Reader is poised to become a highly prized collection of texts that any instructor will want to use and any student of Mexico will enjoy reading.” — Juliette Levy , New Mexico Historical Review
"[The Mexico Reader] could be the foundation of an exciting course. . . . You will not find a more varied or fearless introductory volume to Mexican Studies. . . . The volume is well presented. . . . Translations . . . are expertly done. . . . The most impressive aspect of the volume is the variety of voices it reveals. . . . Remarkable." — Timothy E. Anna , H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews
"[A] careful selection of articles and texts that cover a wide variety of subjects. . . . Originally written in Spanish, these texts have been masterfully translated into English. . . . [T]he collection can be understood as a survey of intellectual culture in Mexico from a historical perspective, allowing readers to understand how Mexican reality has been conformed, transformed, and adapted. Recommended." — M. R. Lara , Choice
"[A]n exciting, comprehensive, truly superior collection of Mexican literature. . . . In all of my reading about Mexico -- and I have read extensively the old and the new -- I have never experienced a better and more thorough collection of works about this mysterious and marvelous country."
— Wayne Greenhaw , Southern Scribe Reviews
"Teachers will find a tremendous wealth of material in this new anthology, allowing them to choose selections supporting a wide range of historical approaches, and at a surprisingly affordable price. . . . [T]his volume will make a thought provoking read for undergraduate students, for vacationers on the beach in Acapulco, or-a professor's spring break fantasy-or both." — Jeffrey M. Pilcher , The Americas
"The volume's main virtue . . . is that it enables the non-Spanish-speaking reader to actually access a number of arguably key Mexican texts that cannot be obtained elsewhere in translation." — Will Fowler , Bulletin of Latin American Research
"There is an impressive, even passionate, commitment to excavating the embedded cultural, political, and economic reference points that arguably constitute something called a Mexican nationalist imaginary. At the same time, the editors have methodologically sought out the contradictions of that imaginary, offering both official, and many unofficial, voices. The result simultaneously exposes and subverts the nation's foundational fictions. . . . [I]mpressive." — Eric Zolov , Hispanic American Historical Review
"This anthology is obviously destined for classroom use and appears to be suitable for supplemental textbook assignments for both survey and two-part courses in Mexican history." — Colonial Latin American Historical Review
"This volume is a most sincere attempt to depict Mexico in all its complexity, an object carried out superbly and in an altogether unprecedented fashion. Very seldom has a reader, an analytically-challenged subgenre by definition, done as much justice to any Latin American country." — Héctor D. Fernández L'Hoeste, The Latin Americanist
"Three layers of introductions-for the volume, for each section and for each text-provide necessary contextual information, while highlighting emerging themes. Thanks in part to these excellent introductions, students and teachers of Mexico will find that this volume could supplant textbook histories, while giving students access to hundreds of pages of primary sources, well-chosen images and two photo-essays." — Patience A. Schnell, Journal of Latin American Studies
”For any journey through Mexican history, politics, social movements, and popular culture, travelers should start with this fascinating collection. Expertly edited and translated, each document adds to the rich landscape and each is cogently introduced to the reader. The perfect source book for any college course on Mexico from the Aztecs and Mayas to the 21st century.” — John H. Coatsworth, Harvard University