Mexico City: A Cultural History

by Nick Caistor

Mexico City is a place of superlatives. The oldest city in the Americas, it is now the world's largest urban area. Formerly the center of the Aztec and Spanish empires, this vast modern metropolis is home to over fifteen million people, mirroring Mexico's mixed cultural identity. Rapid growth and industrial expansion have created dramatic environmental problems, turning Mexico City into what has been called the first "post-apocalypse" city. Polluted and congested, it is slowly sinking into the lake on which the Spanish founded their symbol of conquest. Nick Caistor explores this city of extremes, revealing its turbulent past and chaotic present through its urban landscape. Looking at Aztec ruins, baroque monuments and modernistic complexes, he traces the history of a volatile and vibrant city, where conquest, revolution and natural disaster have left their marks. • The city of artists, writers and Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, Octavio Paz and Carlos Fuentes, Zapata, Villa and Trotsky • The city of indigenous the living legacy of the Aztecs' Tenochtitlan; museums, festivals and markets; modern indigenous culture • The city of skyscrapers, highways and flyovers; the stock exchange and industrial sprawl; where the Third World meets the First.

Genres: Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Nick Caistor is a British journalist, non-fiction author, and translator of Spanish and Portuguese literature. He has translated Cesar Aira, Paulo Coelho, Eduardo Mendoza, Juan Marsé, and Manuel Vázquez Montalban, and he has twice won the Valle-Inclán Prize for translation. He regularly contributes to Radio 4, the BBC World Service, the Times Literary Supplement, and the Guardian. He lives in Norwich, England.

Reviews

[Juju · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright, and occasionally illuminating. Worth the read for a better understanding of the founding of Tenochtitlan, the Mexican gay boy perception of the Mexican male's "metaphysical bisexuality, and for introducing me to the work and wit of Astrid Hadad.

[Umar Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

a lot of really useful historical information for anyone traveling to Mexico City.

[Homerun2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned a little about my new hometown!