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First Stop in the New World (08) by Lida, David [Paperback (2009)]
First Stop in the New World (08) by Lida, David [Paperback (2009)]
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First published June 12, 2008
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August 18, 2021
So unfortunate. I started reading this book really excited about a description of my city by a so-called fan of Mexico City. An american who fell in love with MX and tries to narrate it? Sounded great! But it was completely deceiving and, sometimes, even offensive. Generalisation and prejudice are the key words here. Lida just decided that a megalopolis of some twenty million people should be reducted to a very shallow description of behaviors and social groups. And he was never able to see the city from a point of view other than an american (or even a new yorker) judging a foreign city. Is it real what he relates? It is. Does that happen? It does. But it is true as well that I got robbed in New York, and that I saw beggars and homeless in London, but I cannot tell that new yorkers live off robberies or londoners are beggars, unless I decide to base my impressions of these cities merely on my experience in Queens or the East End, ignoring everything else. He decided to stick (as many uncultured foreigners) to certain group of chilangos, in certain areas, and "digest" the city with a completely prejudiced mind. He, as many foreigners, just cannot consider anything that barely resembles "white" or modern to be mexican. That is maybe the reason he refers to mexicans as those "brown", poor and uncultured people, and automatically assumes that anything different cannot be mexican. Is every american a red skin? Are all italians gigolos? Obviously not. And what I found most surprising is the fact that, in a book that pretends to have a real and huge research, many things are so unaccurate and simply not right. I won't mention all the examples but as a mexican and a chilango, having lived in Mexico City for more than 4 decades, I was so amazed that almost in every page I found errors and even lies. I hope people will take this book as a portrait of a part of Mexico City, but will be intelligent enough to get further information in order to get an accurate and more open image of this wonderful city. I'm so frustrated to have lost my time reading it, and even when I bought it used (in Amazon) and it was only 12 cents, I still think I got robbed.
March 1, 2013
Couldn't get through his writing. Though his style is fine, I couldn't help but gag at what he thought relevant to write about.
June 4, 2009
This was a really fascinating read for me, and I would recommend it to anyone who plans on visiting or living in Mexico City. Lida has lived in the D.F. for something like 20 years, and talked to a wide variety of its inhabitants in order to write this book. He shares the stories of street vendors, burlesque dancers, entrepreneurs and politicians. Although he is critical of the lack of upward mobility, corruption, and gender inequality that plague the capital, he is basically sympathetic toward his adopted city. His arguments about economic development and the effects of globalization seemed fair to me. His chapters on relationships and sexuality in the D.F. were enlightening. He explained a lot of the cultural practices I have observed and wanted to know more about in an engaging, higly readable style.
April 2, 2013
Disclosure: David Lida is a friend and an almost-neighbor. My impression of his book is certainly colored by the fact that I find him to be a very decent person.
There are dozens — if not hundreds — of books by Americans about Paris. Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough even wrote a 500+ page tome about Americans in Paris. And yet, prior to 2008 there was not a single English-language book dedicated to the world's third largest metropolis, and the capital city of America's southern neighbor. As Richard Feinberg writes in his review of First Stop in the New World:
Then, in 2008, David Lida published his first English-language book, which is built on nearly two decades of journalistic work in and around Mexico City. The following year John Ross, a self-described "rebel journalist" published El Monstruo. And in 2011, Daniel Hernandez published Down and Delirious in Mexico City, which I reviewed here.
Why this explosion of English-language books about Mexico City by Americans after decades of disregard? Ironically, it has much to do with the city's cultural and economic rise over the past five to ten years. I say 'ironically' because none of the three above-mentioned authors chart the city's progress. Rather, they romantically portray the city as still stuck in the past: old men falling over in sepia-tinted cantinas, mariachis roaming back alleys, burlesque shows struggling to stay in business with the rise of US-style strip clubs. All three men make it their mission to preserve the 20th century capital that is slowly disappearing without paying much attention to the impressive social, economic, and urban planning progress the city has made over the past ten years. The result gives readers a glimpse of Mexico City through an Instagram vintage filter: exotic, seductive, but not the full picture.
Hernandez's Down and Delirious in Mexico City is written in a vibrant, experiential prose that perfectly captures the energy and angst of the Mexico City youth that are making up a new set of social mores informed by new economic opportunities and greater global connections. David Lida, by comparison, has a more understated, mature voice that leaves much to be interpreted. Occasionally he falls victim (as we all do) to ranting about the worst aspects of the city, but in his defense, as Andrew Paxman writes in his review:
Throughout the book, Lida proves himself a skilled ethnographer. His descriptions of daily life and the city's collective psyche are astute, yet rarely do those first-hand accounts seek sociological explanation. Lida is less interested in explaining why Mexico City is like it is (for that, I would recommend Mañana Forever and Why Nations Fail ). Rather, he offers readers a compelling portrait of the city through the eyes of a longtime foreign resident. (The one exception is his chapter on sex, which is the most insightful analysis of Mexican sexuality that I have encountered.)
Chilangos (as residents of Mexico City are known) constantly complain about their city, but they are notoriously sensitive to an outsider's criticism. I sympathize with the frustrations of young Mexico City change-makers that have done so much to improve their city and yet are consistently ignored by international writers that focus on violence or a nostalgia for the past. But that doesn't mean Mexicans should ignore Lida's writings. Just as many Americans revere Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Mexicans too can benefit from outsiders' perspectives without taking insult.
For a book titled First Stop in the New World, it's ironic that Lida's only mention of the city's future comes in the book's final pages. He juxtaposes two alternative futures for the city, one utopian, the other dystopian. In the dystopian version, the city's urban sprawl continues in all directions, eventually encompassing Cuernavaca, Puebla, Queretaro and Toluca to create a mega-mega-metropolis of 40 million people that spend all their day in gridlock traffic behind bulletproof glass while choking on pollution and fighting for the diminishing access to water. In the utopian version, the city begins to grow upward rather than outward. Public spaces are recovered, and development becomes more inclusive. Access to public services expands throughout the city. Levels of contamination reduce year after year. Public transit and bicycle paths extend throughout the city. Entrepreneurs and independent designers create new alternatives to the big monopolies.
The past ten years have made significant progress toward the utopian vision. But that story is yet to be told — both in English and Spanish.
There are dozens — if not hundreds — of books by Americans about Paris. Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough even wrote a 500+ page tome about Americans in Paris. And yet, prior to 2008 there was not a single English-language book dedicated to the world's third largest metropolis, and the capital city of America's southern neighbor. As Richard Feinberg writes in his review of First Stop in the New World:
If Mexico City were located in western Europe, it would be a must-see tourist destination in the same league as London, Paris, and Rome. The metropolis' extraordinary museums, architectural masterpieces, vast cultural scenes, and extravagant restaurants are world-class; many Mexican elites are refined and erudite, their dinner conversations unsurpassed displays of verbal virtuosity.
Then, in 2008, David Lida published his first English-language book, which is built on nearly two decades of journalistic work in and around Mexico City. The following year John Ross, a self-described "rebel journalist" published El Monstruo. And in 2011, Daniel Hernandez published Down and Delirious in Mexico City, which I reviewed here.
Why this explosion of English-language books about Mexico City by Americans after decades of disregard? Ironically, it has much to do with the city's cultural and economic rise over the past five to ten years. I say 'ironically' because none of the three above-mentioned authors chart the city's progress. Rather, they romantically portray the city as still stuck in the past: old men falling over in sepia-tinted cantinas, mariachis roaming back alleys, burlesque shows struggling to stay in business with the rise of US-style strip clubs. All three men make it their mission to preserve the 20th century capital that is slowly disappearing without paying much attention to the impressive social, economic, and urban planning progress the city has made over the past ten years. The result gives readers a glimpse of Mexico City through an Instagram vintage filter: exotic, seductive, but not the full picture.
Hernandez's Down and Delirious in Mexico City is written in a vibrant, experiential prose that perfectly captures the energy and angst of the Mexico City youth that are making up a new set of social mores informed by new economic opportunities and greater global connections. David Lida, by comparison, has a more understated, mature voice that leaves much to be interpreted. Occasionally he falls victim (as we all do) to ranting about the worst aspects of the city, but in his defense, as Andrew Paxman writes in his review:
Mexico City is often so infuriating and so riddled with injustice (I speak as a former resident), it would have been easy for Lida to stray into sermonizing, but he never does … The tone is chiefly celebratory, at times meditative, often playful, as befits a city with an endless capacity for improvisation, in defiance of many predictions of collapse.
Throughout the book, Lida proves himself a skilled ethnographer. His descriptions of daily life and the city's collective psyche are astute, yet rarely do those first-hand accounts seek sociological explanation. Lida is less interested in explaining why Mexico City is like it is (for that, I would recommend Mañana Forever and Why Nations Fail ). Rather, he offers readers a compelling portrait of the city through the eyes of a longtime foreign resident. (The one exception is his chapter on sex, which is the most insightful analysis of Mexican sexuality that I have encountered.)
Chilangos (as residents of Mexico City are known) constantly complain about their city, but they are notoriously sensitive to an outsider's criticism. I sympathize with the frustrations of young Mexico City change-makers that have done so much to improve their city and yet are consistently ignored by international writers that focus on violence or a nostalgia for the past. But that doesn't mean Mexicans should ignore Lida's writings. Just as many Americans revere Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Mexicans too can benefit from outsiders' perspectives without taking insult.
For a book titled First Stop in the New World, it's ironic that Lida's only mention of the city's future comes in the book's final pages. He juxtaposes two alternative futures for the city, one utopian, the other dystopian. In the dystopian version, the city's urban sprawl continues in all directions, eventually encompassing Cuernavaca, Puebla, Queretaro and Toluca to create a mega-mega-metropolis of 40 million people that spend all their day in gridlock traffic behind bulletproof glass while choking on pollution and fighting for the diminishing access to water. In the utopian version, the city begins to grow upward rather than outward. Public spaces are recovered, and development becomes more inclusive. Access to public services expands throughout the city. Levels of contamination reduce year after year. Public transit and bicycle paths extend throughout the city. Entrepreneurs and independent designers create new alternatives to the big monopolies.
The past ten years have made significant progress toward the utopian vision. But that story is yet to be told — both in English and Spanish.
January 3, 2013
For much of the 1980s and 90s, U.S. professionals relocating to Mexico typically arrived with Alan Riding’s Distant Neighbors in their luggage: the book did an excellent job of explaining the country to the gringos. Though narrower in scope, profiling the capital rather than the nation, David Lida’s collection of reportage and vignettes makes a worthy successor. It’s a scintillating guide to the biggest city in the Americas, at once impressionistic and thorough, underpinned by historical understanding and cultural sensitivity. It also fills the key void in Riding’s work: showing why a foreigner might well enjoy living in this muddled but warm-hearted metropolis.
Best of all, First Stop in the New World benefits from Lida’s seemingly endless capacity to connect with his interviewees, from the high-society gossip queen to the dawn-til-dusk street vendor of newspapers who dreams of opening a convenience store. With his wide cast of characters, Lida fleshes out the paradox of how a place that is home to the world’s richest man – telecoms magnate Carlos Slim – is also home to several thousand street kids like Montse, the glue-sniffing 13-year old girl the author befriends in the city park that is her home.
Rather than pausing for sociological debate, the book builds an explanation for the city’s inequalities through a skilful interweaving of themes. Chief of these is racial difference. Mexico’s socio-economic hierarchy is to a great extent measurable in gradations of skin tone, and Lida perceptively reiterates how physical appearance opens doors to some – including expatriates such as himself, he readily admits – and narrows options for the darker majority.
Happily, this also is a city of bustling parks, handsome plazas, and flea markets of wondrously improbable merchandise. Its cantinas double as museums; its masked wrestlers act out macho fantasies. There is magnificent architecture, bombastic art, and, in the peripheral zones, floating gardens dating from Aztec times and passion plays showcasing Mexico’s gaudy Catholicism. All are captured with evocative detail and judiciously contextualized within the wider culture. Only on occasion does the survey seemed rushed: fiction, film, TV, and the gutter press, for example, are crammed into a single chapter.
Mexico City is often so infuriating and so riddled with injustice (I speak as a former resident), it would have been easy for Lida to stray into sermonizing, but he never does. He recreates the late 1990s plague of taxi drivers robbing their passengers with droll irony. Even the gargantuan presence of Wal-Mart gets balanced treatment. The tone is chiefly celebratory, at times meditative, often playful, as befits a city with an endless capacity for improvisation, in defiance of many predictions of collapse. As such, the book counters the apocalyptic vision of the city found in films like Amores Perros and in the equally entertaining work of journalism-cum-history El Monstruo, by the late John Ross.
Best of all, First Stop in the New World benefits from Lida’s seemingly endless capacity to connect with his interviewees, from the high-society gossip queen to the dawn-til-dusk street vendor of newspapers who dreams of opening a convenience store. With his wide cast of characters, Lida fleshes out the paradox of how a place that is home to the world’s richest man – telecoms magnate Carlos Slim – is also home to several thousand street kids like Montse, the glue-sniffing 13-year old girl the author befriends in the city park that is her home.
Rather than pausing for sociological debate, the book builds an explanation for the city’s inequalities through a skilful interweaving of themes. Chief of these is racial difference. Mexico’s socio-economic hierarchy is to a great extent measurable in gradations of skin tone, and Lida perceptively reiterates how physical appearance opens doors to some – including expatriates such as himself, he readily admits – and narrows options for the darker majority.
Happily, this also is a city of bustling parks, handsome plazas, and flea markets of wondrously improbable merchandise. Its cantinas double as museums; its masked wrestlers act out macho fantasies. There is magnificent architecture, bombastic art, and, in the peripheral zones, floating gardens dating from Aztec times and passion plays showcasing Mexico’s gaudy Catholicism. All are captured with evocative detail and judiciously contextualized within the wider culture. Only on occasion does the survey seemed rushed: fiction, film, TV, and the gutter press, for example, are crammed into a single chapter.
Mexico City is often so infuriating and so riddled with injustice (I speak as a former resident), it would have been easy for Lida to stray into sermonizing, but he never does. He recreates the late 1990s plague of taxi drivers robbing their passengers with droll irony. Even the gargantuan presence of Wal-Mart gets balanced treatment. The tone is chiefly celebratory, at times meditative, often playful, as befits a city with an endless capacity for improvisation, in defiance of many predictions of collapse. As such, the book counters the apocalyptic vision of the city found in films like Amores Perros and in the equally entertaining work of journalism-cum-history El Monstruo, by the late John Ross.
March 28, 2014
Lida aims for a pretty comprehensive account of DF, but in trying to do so falls into massive generalisation. He wants to turn a city of 20 million people into a uniform essence. He wants to argue that chilangos all eat, live and fuck in the same way. While he has a great amount of experience and knowledge from which to draw, his portrait lacks subtlety. His observations are too generalised to mean that much.
For all his engagement with the city, there are things Lida includes which he doesn't seem to know much about. His exploration of lucha libre lacks much insight; rather than examining the rites, myths and symbols of it all, he relies on generalities drawn from Octavio Paz - and not particularly useful ones at that. Noting that wrestlers wear masks, as Paz said all Mexicans did, doesn't tell us much. The process of de-masking would have made for an interesting exploration, but he doesn't pursue this very far.
Despite having lived a long time in DF, Lida's perspective still comes across as undeniably American, and perhaps more specifically as a New York perspective. He at times assesses DF based on NYC criteria, looking not at what the city has, but at what it lacks in comparison to other major metropolises.
He notes some very interesting phenomena, such as that foreigners in DF tend to do well for themselves; they form an upper echelon of society, even if they arrive with very little. At the same time, though, he on occasion shows a woefully inadequate understanding of some big concepts. Arguing that globalisation is a phenomenon that only affects the upper classes seems absurd, especially when he has mentioned, for example, the immense impact of NAFTA on Mexico, and of foreign imports on local markets.
A worthwhile read for an overview of the city, but ultimately pretty disappointing as an in-depth, street-level exploration.
For all his engagement with the city, there are things Lida includes which he doesn't seem to know much about. His exploration of lucha libre lacks much insight; rather than examining the rites, myths and symbols of it all, he relies on generalities drawn from Octavio Paz - and not particularly useful ones at that. Noting that wrestlers wear masks, as Paz said all Mexicans did, doesn't tell us much. The process of de-masking would have made for an interesting exploration, but he doesn't pursue this very far.
Despite having lived a long time in DF, Lida's perspective still comes across as undeniably American, and perhaps more specifically as a New York perspective. He at times assesses DF based on NYC criteria, looking not at what the city has, but at what it lacks in comparison to other major metropolises.
He notes some very interesting phenomena, such as that foreigners in DF tend to do well for themselves; they form an upper echelon of society, even if they arrive with very little. At the same time, though, he on occasion shows a woefully inadequate understanding of some big concepts. Arguing that globalisation is a phenomenon that only affects the upper classes seems absurd, especially when he has mentioned, for example, the immense impact of NAFTA on Mexico, and of foreign imports on local markets.
A worthwhile read for an overview of the city, but ultimately pretty disappointing as an in-depth, street-level exploration.
Read
October 7, 2024Far be it from me to pass up a CDMX book, and this one was...fine, I guess? Lida's style is very readable; he talks to some interesting people; it seems like a lot of the things that he loves about Mexico City are the same things I love about Mexico City (the bustle! the improvisation! the sense of being coddled by the streets themselves!). Parts of the book felt dated, but then it was published in 2007 and a lot has changed since then. But mostly, the book just felt kind of hubristic--Lida has a lot of confidence that he really understands the city and its people and what makes them tick. Setting aside the fact that Lida is from the US and adopted CDMX as an adult (which is of course fine and good), I think Juan Villoro's approach in El vértigo horizontal: Una ciudad llamada México/Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico--writing about CDMX from the premise that it is too big and too full of people to fully grasp in a lifetime--is more appealing, and more true to the city's delightful inexhaustibility. (Lida also writes with plenty of scorn for foreigners and wealthy chilangos who don't take the time to get to know the "real" CDMX, beyond Polanco/Roma/Condesa etc. And I understand this scorn! But 1) his social circle is obviously mostly foreigners and wealthy chilangos who live in these neighborhoods, and 2) he seems to subscribe to the idea that poverty is more "authentically" Mexican, which is a weird & racist way to critique wealthy people and the spaces that they build.)
Which leads me to my main complaint: it is extremely tedious to read about social inequality from a non-leftist perspective. Lida does not seem to understand that poverty and wealth both come from the same process of exploitation and plunder, which means that his analysis of both is shallow. At one point, he writes that "If your struggle to survive is not much improved from that of your ancestors of a hundred years ago, you probably despise ‘old Mexico’ and dream of supermarkets" (104), as if the supermarket were inherently superior to the tianguis, and, more to the point, as if the supermarket-generating process of globalization is not the same one that is causing people to struggle to survive. Lida also projects his apolitical worldview onto not only the people of Mexico City, but everyone "in countries where the great majority of the population is cash-strapped," insisting that, in such countries, "politics have nothing to do with ideology" (338). ?????? Lida does not seem to think that when people "negotiate their loyalty on a rational basis, measuring where they perceive their greatest interests lie," these understandings of their own greatest interests count as ideological. It is hard to fathom what he thinks drove, say, any communist or socialist revolution in history. (Alternatively: Lida as a much better materialist than I??)
But I digress. I had a good time reading this book because I love reading about CDMX. I also had a bad time reading this book because Lida's perspective was cocky and uncritical and irritating. I took the liberty of going back through the list of books I've read in the past few years and collecting the titles of all the books about CDMX that I think are better than this one. Here they are:
All-time favorites:
- Periferia (Narrativa)
- Feral
- Caramelo
Honorable mentions:
- Tengo que morir todas las noches
- Ceniza en la boca
- Los mariachis callaron: Una distopía tragicómica sobre el México del 2026.
- La Calle (not a book but lots of good CDMX content)
Enjoyed:
- El vértigo horizontal: Una ciudad llamada México/Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico
- Las batallas en el desierto/Battles in the Desert
- Casas vacías
- The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City Chronicle
- La historia de mis dientes/The Story of My Teeth
Tolerated:
- Down and Delirious in Mexico City: The Aztec Metropolis in the Twenty-First Century
- Historias del Metro
Which leads me to my main complaint: it is extremely tedious to read about social inequality from a non-leftist perspective. Lida does not seem to understand that poverty and wealth both come from the same process of exploitation and plunder, which means that his analysis of both is shallow. At one point, he writes that "If your struggle to survive is not much improved from that of your ancestors of a hundred years ago, you probably despise ‘old Mexico’ and dream of supermarkets" (104), as if the supermarket were inherently superior to the tianguis, and, more to the point, as if the supermarket-generating process of globalization is not the same one that is causing people to struggle to survive. Lida also projects his apolitical worldview onto not only the people of Mexico City, but everyone "in countries where the great majority of the population is cash-strapped," insisting that, in such countries, "politics have nothing to do with ideology" (338). ?????? Lida does not seem to think that when people "negotiate their loyalty on a rational basis, measuring where they perceive their greatest interests lie," these understandings of their own greatest interests count as ideological. It is hard to fathom what he thinks drove, say, any communist or socialist revolution in history. (Alternatively: Lida as a much better materialist than I??)
But I digress. I had a good time reading this book because I love reading about CDMX. I also had a bad time reading this book because Lida's perspective was cocky and uncritical and irritating. I took the liberty of going back through the list of books I've read in the past few years and collecting the titles of all the books about CDMX that I think are better than this one. Here they are:
All-time favorites:
- Periferia (Narrativa)
- Feral
- Caramelo
Honorable mentions:
- Tengo que morir todas las noches
- Ceniza en la boca
- Los mariachis callaron: Una distopía tragicómica sobre el México del 2026.
- La Calle (not a book but lots of good CDMX content)
Enjoyed:
- El vértigo horizontal: Una ciudad llamada México/Horizontal Vertigo: A City Called Mexico
- Las batallas en el desierto/Battles in the Desert
- Casas vacías
- The Interior Circuit: A Mexico City Chronicle
- La historia de mis dientes/The Story of My Teeth
Tolerated:
- Down and Delirious in Mexico City: The Aztec Metropolis in the Twenty-First Century
- Historias del Metro
Read
January 5, 2009Read the STOP SMILING reivew of First Stop in the New World:
On page 180 of his 336-page book about Mexico City, First Stop in the New World, David Lida writes, “At one torta stand near my apartment, I can almost finish the newspaper between placing an order and being served.” It’s the first mention of where Lida has actually lived in his 18 years in Mexico City; even then, he doesn’t think to mention where in the metropolis his apartment is located. First Stop in the New World is written on the strength of Lida’s long residence in Mexico City as a journalist, and on his self-described “idiosyncratic gaze,” through which descriptions of the city are filtered. But the ghostly absence of the gazer himself makes the book curiously unsatisfying, despite its being larded with consistently interesting information.
Read the reivew...
On page 180 of his 336-page book about Mexico City, First Stop in the New World, David Lida writes, “At one torta stand near my apartment, I can almost finish the newspaper between placing an order and being served.” It’s the first mention of where Lida has actually lived in his 18 years in Mexico City; even then, he doesn’t think to mention where in the metropolis his apartment is located. First Stop in the New World is written on the strength of Lida’s long residence in Mexico City as a journalist, and on his self-described “idiosyncratic gaze,” through which descriptions of the city are filtered. But the ghostly absence of the gazer himself makes the book curiously unsatisfying, despite its being larded with consistently interesting information.
Read the reivew...
October 21, 2017
I'm obsessed with Mexico, again. This comes up every few years. This time it was because I just finished teaching a class at Leader where 3 of the clients were from Mexico. It's like every time I have anything to do with anything from Mexico, I get hooked again.
Anyway, the author is a journalist who's lived in Mexico City for a long time. Although obviously I don't live in Mexico and can't assess whether the things he says are true or not, they have the ring of truth, like if I was writing about Tucson. He tackles the culture, crime, art, food, business, and sex and relationships (this last was the best chapter, IMO). He is a very entertaining as well as informative author, and his book had the effect of making me want to go to Mexico RIGHT NOW. I wonder how long I'm going to long to go to Mexico before I actually go?
Anyway, the author is a journalist who's lived in Mexico City for a long time. Although obviously I don't live in Mexico and can't assess whether the things he says are true or not, they have the ring of truth, like if I was writing about Tucson. He tackles the culture, crime, art, food, business, and sex and relationships (this last was the best chapter, IMO). He is a very entertaining as well as informative author, and his book had the effect of making me want to go to Mexico RIGHT NOW. I wonder how long I'm going to long to go to Mexico before I actually go?
December 12, 2020
I'm sure the specific information provided is largely fairly dated by now; however, I suspect the main ideas still stand today.
Reads as a series of compiled magazine articles, rather than a smoothly flowing narrative. Some of them I found rather a downer, such as crime and justice (no real surprise there), but the ones on food and the arts helped balance that. I felt it was worthwhile spending the time on it, dated though the information may be, to get a realistic idea if one hasn't visited Mexico City previously (like me).
Solid journalism, but not really worth tracking down a copy at much expense or effort.
Reads as a series of compiled magazine articles, rather than a smoothly flowing narrative. Some of them I found rather a downer, such as crime and justice (no real surprise there), but the ones on food and the arts helped balance that. I felt it was worthwhile spending the time on it, dated though the information may be, to get a realistic idea if one hasn't visited Mexico City previously (like me).
Solid journalism, but not really worth tracking down a copy at much expense or effort.
December 7, 2023
Cool read!
March 24, 2010
From http://weeksnotice.blogspot.com/2010/...
I read David Lida's First Stop in the New World: Mexico City, The Capital of the 21st Century (2008), which is well worth your time if you have any interest in Mexico. Lida is a journalist who has lived in Mexico City for quite a few years. This is not an academic book, but rather a knowledgeable romp through all aspects of the city, from the rich to the poor, good and bad cuisine, crime and safety, high and low art, and of course to politics. It is like a good non-fiction accompaniment to Paco Ignacio Taibo II (who inexplicably is not mentioned in terms of fiction focusing on Mexico City).
What comes out is a city whose inhabitants are constantly innovating, adapting, and persevering. It is the ultimate in rational choice theory, such as this commentary on voting:
Most chilangos negotiate their loyalty on a rational basis, measuring where they perceive their greatest interests lie. In Mexico City, no one votes at the point of a pistol. You may show up at a rally because someone will give you a sandwich, but that is not a guarantee of your vote if someone else will give you two (p. 318).
The book has many chapters but not much structure, which might just be appropriate because the city itself has millions of people and almost no structure. Lida provides a sampling of just about everything, so you can even read different chapters that interest you more.
I read David Lida's First Stop in the New World: Mexico City, The Capital of the 21st Century (2008), which is well worth your time if you have any interest in Mexico. Lida is a journalist who has lived in Mexico City for quite a few years. This is not an academic book, but rather a knowledgeable romp through all aspects of the city, from the rich to the poor, good and bad cuisine, crime and safety, high and low art, and of course to politics. It is like a good non-fiction accompaniment to Paco Ignacio Taibo II (who inexplicably is not mentioned in terms of fiction focusing on Mexico City).
What comes out is a city whose inhabitants are constantly innovating, adapting, and persevering. It is the ultimate in rational choice theory, such as this commentary on voting:
Most chilangos negotiate their loyalty on a rational basis, measuring where they perceive their greatest interests lie. In Mexico City, no one votes at the point of a pistol. You may show up at a rally because someone will give you a sandwich, but that is not a guarantee of your vote if someone else will give you two (p. 318).
The book has many chapters but not much structure, which might just be appropriate because the city itself has millions of people and almost no structure. Lida provides a sampling of just about everything, so you can even read different chapters that interest you more.
August 30, 2008
Nice breezy introduction to some of the more on the surface as well as below the surface aspects of life in el D.F. The book is structured around 20 or so very short to medium size essays. I got this book for Izyalit (who spent her first 5 years there) but I read it first. And having spent a decent chunk of time there myself some of the essays present pretty basic information while others (on the art scene, the suburbs, malinchismo) were more interesting. Mexico City is one of the world's great cities. I'm glad to see someone take on its many stories in English.
November 12, 2009
I read this book before coming to Mexico City, and I am very glad that I did. Lida paints a great picture of what you can expect from the city and the people who live in it. It's part tourist guide, part cultural overview, and part memoir, told mostly in the context of specific experiences that he has had as a journalist living in the city. If you're visiting the city or just curious about life there, I would highly recommend this book. I didn't give it five stars because I think he could have done much more with it, given the size and diversity of Mexico City.
April 5, 2018
Great intro to an amazing city. Obviously in an overview like this, there are going to be some generalizations but the author does a good job acknowledging that. Each chapter could be a book on it's own, but with this book, you truly get a little bit of everything (including explanation of key chilango lexicon, which I enjoyed very much). The style is that of a journalist, making it a quick and easy read. Was hoping to go back to DF or now "#CDMX" in early 2019, and now I can't wait to make my plans!
December 22, 2008
One of the best collection of travel essays that I've ever read. Lida gives such a interesting perspective of Mexico City. It's a very realistic perspective but still is wrought with humor and sadness. As a traveler, it gave me a better understanding of the people and culture of D.F. Truly, a great book.
March 30, 2009
I lived in Mexico City for almost 3 years and David Lida has confirmed so much of what I noticed (and wasn't sure I believed) and has explained so many more things about this wonderful/terrible city. I'm anxious to go back and explore Lida's Mexico. Rich fodder for my own novels. Thank you David Lida!
December 4, 2012
I think the author did most of his research on Mexican culture by hanging out in bars and interviewing hookers. I'm married to a Mexican from Mexico City and much of what the author says just doesn't fit with what I've seen myself.
April 3, 2017
There is a lot of fun and sad material here. After reading this book, despite all the bad things, I really want to see this grandiose city.
May 20, 2015
Great insight to the culture and history! Seriously I have no idea why other people would rate it less than 5!
June 17, 2020
I heard of Lida while reading an article by the food critic Michael Ruhlman entitled "A Food Snob's Food Tour Conversion". In that article, Ruhlman had taken a food tour with Lida and been entranced by his knowledge of the city. Based on that, I had hoped that a full book by Lida would be an introduction to the authentic wonders - good and bad - of this really intriguing city.
Sadly, I don't think this book is worth the time, mostly because of the tone. I did get some benefit from it. I have a better sense of Mexico City; its hugeness, and the variety of its neighborhoods. However, as much as Lida professes to love Mexico City he seems endlessly negative. He doesn't seem to like wealthy people or neighborhoods; they're not the 'real' Mexico City. Fair enough. But then, he's critical of everyone else as well. In his telling, all of Mexico City seems to be either narrow minded, working on some hustle, or having an affair - sometimes all three at once.
After a while it's just depressing. I'll try again with another book but if you haven't read this yet I think I'd skip it.
Sadly, I don't think this book is worth the time, mostly because of the tone. I did get some benefit from it. I have a better sense of Mexico City; its hugeness, and the variety of its neighborhoods. However, as much as Lida professes to love Mexico City he seems endlessly negative. He doesn't seem to like wealthy people or neighborhoods; they're not the 'real' Mexico City. Fair enough. But then, he's critical of everyone else as well. In his telling, all of Mexico City seems to be either narrow minded, working on some hustle, or having an affair - sometimes all three at once.
After a while it's just depressing. I'll try again with another book but if you haven't read this yet I think I'd skip it.
May 27, 2023
I thought "First Stop in the New World" was referring to Mexico City, but clearly it must have been a commentary on how much Lida has gotten around. He uses unqualified superlatives and describes as uniquely Mexico City things you'd find in many a city around the world. Most chapters I assume are just rehashes of things he wrote about for magazines and often rely on just one or two sources - which does not stop him from making broad generalizations, such as that all Mexicans lie and that's only natural because they had to cheat their colonizers. On the plus side, there's a few anecdotes about things I wouldn't have seen on a casual visit to the city that make me not totally the regret the time spent reading it.
September 6, 2024
An easy and pleasant read. The author presents a cornucopia of stories about life in the city, sometimes framed with statistics or political/historical context. Perhaps the main tidbit for me was learning about a new religious image called "Santa Muerte." But I also learned more than I knew before about how Carlos Slim Helu amassed his fortune. I think I may have read previously about the property in the Xochimilco wetlands had hundreds of toy dolls hanging from posts and such. One of the stories is about Lido and his then wife getting detained and robbed by their taxi driver. Interesting and not overblown. I did have to skim the parts about sexuality and sexism, but for the most part, I read all the words.
February 25, 2018
Oh that every place in the world had a book like this written about it! This is a compilation of essays written by an American who has lived in Mexico City for decades. The essays are insightful and interesting, covering a wide variety of aspects of the city, from politics to safety to shopping and markets to sex workers to food to economic inequality and economic realities. So many things that are helpful to understanding what is really making a place function. My main regret is that it is ten years old at this point, so some information and observations are out of date.
April 10, 2022
This was an interesting collection of stories about DF. It definitely makes we want to visit Mexico sometime soon.
I enjoyed the anecdotes about artists and art installations or movies from Mexican actors and producers.
I enjoyed the anecdotes about artists and art installations or movies from Mexican actors and producers.
July 22, 2017
Informative, fun, and well-written, though perhaps slightly out-of-date, since it was published almost ten years ago (in 2008). Definitely check it out before traveling to Mexico City.
December 29, 2018
Not too memorable. I forgot I read the book when I googled the cover
June 14, 2022
Although a bit dated, a lot of valuable insights about the ever changing metropolis of Mexico City. Well written with some rich details.
July 26, 2019
An easy, simple, pleasant read.
August 8, 2010
I stayed in Mexico City (D.F.) for a week and wanted to read up on it while I was there. I wanted to start with a U.S. perspective on the place. I had heard U.S. journalist John Ross speak about his new book, “El Monstruo,” which captures his 20-odd years of living in Mexico City, but decided not to bring it because of its unwieldy size and weight as a new hardcover. Lido’s book was recommended to me, so I took it instead. His story is similar to Ross’ -- he’s an American journalist who’s lived in D.F. for over 20 years. After a bit of searching on the Internet, I discovered that this book is widely hailed as the greatest book on the subject.
My interest on this particular trip to Mexico City was simply to have a solid walking tour of the historic center and some of its countless neighborhoods. I wanted to get a sense of the city’s appearance, layout, and rhythm. Lido’s book was a perfect traveling companion. In the best sense possible, it is an excellent travel guide; sort of a beginner’s guide to the capital and Mexican culture in general. It manages to arrange themes and facets of the city into chapters combining history, vignettes, and pieces of conversations he’s had with natives and visitors. I was happily surprised to encounter curiosities (a bizarre collection of mannequins in a business’ window; 100+ pound wedding cakes at a famous bakery) while walking that I had read about in the book the night before. I also drew satisfaction from the sort of surface-level cultural fluency that the book gave me--being able to identify types of dishes being served on the street or recognizing famous intersections.
Lido is enjoyable to read because it’s so obvious that he’s enjoying the city and his task of conveying it. While Lido does an impressive job tackling a variety of themes, he’s really in his element when he’s describing the contemporary art scene. I also found his chapter on Mexican gender and sexuality to be incredibly perceptive.
For the most part, Lido maintains a sort of journalistic distance from judgement, with the occasional exception of a complaint about poor development decisions in the place of smart urban planning, or the hopeless corruption among elected officials. While I enjoyed the author’s journalism, I am nonetheless left with an interest in knowing his more critical outlook. The curiosity I’m the most left with, however, is a treatment of the book’s subtitle, “The Capital of the 21st Century.” Lido manages to never really address the title, and I’m left wondering what he means by it. Presumably he intends to say that the future is increasingly urban and that Mexico City’s pattern of development is a prediction of how other cities are to follow. But because Lido doesn’t talk about it, I’m left with the conclusion that the publisher chose the title to attract attention.
My interest on this particular trip to Mexico City was simply to have a solid walking tour of the historic center and some of its countless neighborhoods. I wanted to get a sense of the city’s appearance, layout, and rhythm. Lido’s book was a perfect traveling companion. In the best sense possible, it is an excellent travel guide; sort of a beginner’s guide to the capital and Mexican culture in general. It manages to arrange themes and facets of the city into chapters combining history, vignettes, and pieces of conversations he’s had with natives and visitors. I was happily surprised to encounter curiosities (a bizarre collection of mannequins in a business’ window; 100+ pound wedding cakes at a famous bakery) while walking that I had read about in the book the night before. I also drew satisfaction from the sort of surface-level cultural fluency that the book gave me--being able to identify types of dishes being served on the street or recognizing famous intersections.
Lido is enjoyable to read because it’s so obvious that he’s enjoying the city and his task of conveying it. While Lido does an impressive job tackling a variety of themes, he’s really in his element when he’s describing the contemporary art scene. I also found his chapter on Mexican gender and sexuality to be incredibly perceptive.
For the most part, Lido maintains a sort of journalistic distance from judgement, with the occasional exception of a complaint about poor development decisions in the place of smart urban planning, or the hopeless corruption among elected officials. While I enjoyed the author’s journalism, I am nonetheless left with an interest in knowing his more critical outlook. The curiosity I’m the most left with, however, is a treatment of the book’s subtitle, “The Capital of the 21st Century.” Lido manages to never really address the title, and I’m left wondering what he means by it. Presumably he intends to say that the future is increasingly urban and that Mexico City’s pattern of development is a prediction of how other cities are to follow. But because Lido doesn’t talk about it, I’m left with the conclusion that the publisher chose the title to attract attention.
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