|
| First Stop in the New World: Mexico City, the Capital of the 21st Century | 
 enlarge | Author: David Lida
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $15.93
You Save: $10.02 (39%)
New (25) Used (9) from $14.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 37286
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 1594489890
Dewey Decimal Number: 972.53084
EAN: 9781594489891
ASIN: 1594489890
Publication Date: June 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new Item. CD, DVD, Book, VHS more than 400 000 titles to choose from. ALL days Low Price !
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
A panoramic literary portrait of Mexico City a vibrant, seductive, paradoxical city now commanding the worlds attention and showing us the way to the future of urban life.
David Lida moved to Mexico City fifteen years ago in search of a kind of culture, energy, and spontaneity that he thought had been lost in his native New York City. What he found was a thriving, miraculous urban center comprising centuries of living history, even as its rapid development was making it a prominent force on the world stage. Through the eyes of an American who has become an insider, First Stop in the New World is a street-level panorama of contemporary Mexico Cityfrom the high arts to the sex industry; from the dense jungle of urban politics to the interactions of everyday commerce; from one end of this five-hundred-square-mile city to the other. Lida expertly captures the kaleidoscopic nature of life in a city defined by pleasure and danger, justice and lawlessness, ecstatic joy and appalling tragedyin limbo between the developed and developing worlds.
While London and Paris have become more homogenous, less captivating, and less surprising since the days when Dickens and Balzac wrote about them, Mexico City points to our urban futureif Manhattan was, as posited by Rem Koolhaas, the urban Rosetta Stone of the twentieth century, Mexico City will play that same role in the twenty-first. And with his personal, literary-journalistic account, David Lida will serve as the ultimate chronicler of this exciting city at a vital moment in its history.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Buy this poka madre book along with Mexico: An Opinionated Guide July 15, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Ever motivated by his affection for Mexico City, David Lida presents First Stop in the New World, about the people and places that have shaped his own conclusion on what it means to live in the labyrinth that is el Distrito Federal. First Stop is written in the style you would expect from someone with years of experience in journalism, with a witty and authentic voice that can inform us about Mexico City like any lifelong capitalino, and still remain refreshingly apolitical. He is not afraid of clarifying the truth behind the "Wal-mart next door to the Pyramids" rumor, or the exaggeration of the frequency of kidnappings. Want to know the truth behind these two sensational stories? Read this book to find out.
Lida's literary style comes through his investigative narrative, (and evokes his other career as a short story writer), filled with characters that are fodder for stories in their own right, as he admits. He recounts details as varied as Mexico City herself - how the the culture drives the sexuality of the inhabitants; how the city inspires ingenious ways for people to become entrepreneurs; and how the urban landscape even affects what people eat and how they eat. Lida is clearly in love with the city he calls home, and like a passionate lover, the City can sometimes hurt the one who loves her: readers will be jarred by Lida's composed, calm testimony about his ordeal as a victim of an "express kidnapping". It would have been easy for anyone to write about this with certain bitterness, but Lida did not let this experience keep him away from el D.F.
As a chilangofile myself, I am happy to find that as joyously overwhelming as Mexico City is, Lida's book is not improvised like the very lives and urban sprawl he writes about; it is carefully composed with ringside accounts of someone who has been there, and stayed to tell the stories, without the insular judgment of an infrequent tourist "surviving among the natives." The book reads less like generic publications on Mexico and closer to literary journalism, which makes First Stop in the New World a book worth reading multiple times, both for its smooth prose and the startling metropolis it chronicles.
The Real Thing July 8, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've lived in Mexico City for over ten years and find David Lida's perspective on urban life to ring true. The book nicely combines investigative journalism with an entertaining, personal voice, giving it a 'you-are-there' feel.
Jim Johnston, author of 'Mexico City: an Opinionated Guide for the Curious Traveler'
A street-level panorama...indeed! August 7, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
David Lida's vivid and fascinating word portraits provide a sense of intimate clarity for the myriad sights and scenes of La Capital. He has a real feel for the big picture of such an immense and tumultuous metropolis, as well as an adroitness for rendering closely observed D.F. moments and depicting the divers characters that inhabit its streets and colonias.
A hilarious yet poignant account of an afternoon spent in the company of a group of borrachos in a cantina is just one among several highlights, as is the chilling tale of his own kidnapping.
He presents a vision of Mexico City that is affectionate yet unsentimental. His love for the place is clear-eyed and his knowledge is hard-earned. He manages to cover it all: from Tepito to Polanco, from discussions of various art[s] scenes and popular culture to distinctive local religious practices and social/sexual mores, from Carlos Slim to faded night club singers. Lida is a true urban cicerone.
Chris Humphrey's "Moon Mexico City" and Jim Johnston's "Mexico City: An Opinionated Guide..." are both fine books and excellent aids for the English-speaking visitor trying to cope with Chilango-land. "First Stop in the New World..." is indispensable as a means of more deeply understanding it and will be a permanent addition to the city's literature.
 Fun! Go to Mexico City! Maybe You Won't Even Die! August 11, 2008
2 out of 20 found this review helpful
The bland homogenization of NYC may make for a boring holiday (unless you like the homey convenience of the Starbucks next door to the Duane Reed next door to the Chase Bank), but at least you won't have to worry about being kidnapped. Typical daily news from D.F., and not just in Alarma!:
"Fernando Marti, the son of a prominent businessman, was snatched on a Mexico City street in June and found dead last week, even though his family paid the ransom his captors demanded.
Several policemen have been detained for questioning in the death. Prosecutors believe they may have supplied kidnappers with information about the victim.
Last week, thieves robbing a bus on a highway north of Mexico City got mad when passengers didn't hand over possessions quickly and shot and killed a 5-year-old boy."
Charmed, I'm sure! Mexico is great!!
Excellent, funny, compassionate, careful, experienced guide July 14, 2008
I travel a lot for work, and I've been to Mexico City several times, staying in several different parts of the city. It's a fascinating, confusing, scary, delightful, and overwhelming place I've wanted to understand better. And you couldn't ask for a better guide than this book.
When describing the parts of the city I'm familiar with, Mr. Lida manages to capture the flavor and rhythm of life with an observational ability bordering on brilliance, often illuminating or contextualizing with a bit of history or a personal anecdote so that even the familiar becomes new. He also seems to be remarkably free of any particular ideology, describing the lives of salesmen, addicts, artists, street vendors, and anyone else he meets with a unusual mix of humble curiosity and deep compassion.
Few people are so conversant with the entire sprawling city and its manifold culture, or so lighthearted and urbane in its description. Something here will surprise or amuse virtually any visitor. Highly recommended!
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
