Leslie Jermyn
1 A Good Taste of Mexico
In the book "Cultures of the World Mexico", authors Mary Jo Reilly and Leslie Jermyn provide a very good taste of Mexico; its society and culture. This book is part of the series "Cultures of the World" which summarize the highlights of societies and cultures for the majority of countries around the world. After a successful first edition this book is one of the early books in the second edition, which has been revised and expanded. Various political changes such as the North American Free Trade Agreement are noted and related to those aspects of society and culture that they affect or influence. The book also contains many vivid colour photos which help increase awareness of the flavour of Mexico.
One technique which the authors use particularly well is to take time to explain things that many readers might bypass as obvious. In the Environment Chapter, new to the second edition, they note that air pollution in Mexico City area has not decreased even though the Mexican Government has designated 'No Driving Days by license plate numbers to restrict vehicle use.
How can this be? Simply because the vast majority of Mexican drivers are wealthy, rather than middle class, so they purchase a second vehicle to circumvent the restrictions, something that many readers might overlook.
Although the book "Mexico" and the series "Cultures of the World' are officially listed as 'juvenile literature' that should not scare others away. This book, unlike some juvenile literature, does not talk down to the reader. While it does not delve into depths of Mexican philosophy or ideology, such topics are quite different requiring quite different kinds of books. Aside from secondary school students, the book can be useful to travellers, both pleasure and business, as well as enjoyable to anyone seeking an overview of Mexico.
Perhaps the authors could have expanded discussion of Mexico's pre-Columbian civilizations somewhat including notation that several different cultures had written languages as discussed by Andrew Robinson in the book "Lost Languages" but unknown to many.
The only substantial suggestion I could offer concerns the large size and somewhat high price of the book. If the publishers produced a smaller size paperbook edition, many more readers could buy the book, carry it with them, and appreciate it
