There's A Word For It In Mexico by Boye Lafayette de Mente


Flawed but extremely useful


Published in 1998 by McGraw-Hill Education

I read There's a Word for It in Mexico the way it was not intended to be read - straight through, rather than using it like a dictionary. It can get a bit repetitive as the author tries to fully explain how Mexico's history has caused their culture to react certain ways and to see things as they do. I must have read the sordid history of the Conquest of Mexico and its exploitation by both Church and Spain 25 times.

The cultural elements are well-explained, very informative and usually well-written. FREQUENT spelling errors mar the book as do occasional historical errors. His math facts concerning the growth of the Mestizo population in Mexico also conflict with one another, depending on the entry you read.

Was the book valuable? Yes, and not just to the traveler to Mexico. If you live near or work with Hispanics in the United States it will also be of considerable value.

Despite the flaws that I mentioned above, I am still giving this book 4 Stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: There's a Word for It in Mexico.

Reviewed on July 14, 2004.

Comments

Popular posts over the last 30 days

THE PRICE YOU PAY (Peter Ash #8) (audiobook) by Nick Petrie

WELCOMING the STRANGER: JUSTICE, COMPASSION, and TRUTH in the IMMIGRATION DEBATE by Matthew Soerens and Jenny Yang

THE FEARLESS BENJAMIN LAY: THE QUAKER DWARF WHO BECAME the FIRST REVOLUTIONARY ABOLITIONIST (audiobook) by Marcus Rediker

SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL by Kurt Vonnegut and Ryan North.

THE CORROSION of CONSERVATISM: WHY I LEFT the RIGHT (kindle) by Max Boot

BRIAN EPSTEIN: A LIFE from BEGINNING to END (kindle) by Hourly History

THE ORIGINAL (audiobook) by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal

Murder at the National Gallery (Capital Crime Mysteries) by Margaret Truman

THE BIG EMPTY (Elvis Cole/Joe Pike #20) (audiobook) by Robert Crais

SUICIDE RUN: THREE HARRY BOSCH STORIES (kindle) by Michael Connelly