50+ Books About Mexico For Travelers & History Buffs
Are you looking for some great books about Mexico?
What coincidence, so am I.
I am an avid reader studying for the Mexican naturalization exam and I’m always looking for great new books about Mexico. I love history and historical fiction but more recently I’ve gotten into novels, mystical realism, and alternative narrative styles.
Mexico is a complicated place. Anybody who has taken the Mexico City metro at rush hour can attest to the sheer size and complex diversity of this wonderful country. There are 68 officially recognized indigenous languages, a mestizo majority, and a thriving immigrant community.
There is a lot of living history and reading a book about Mexico will make your travels or residency more meaningful. These books about Mexico have been carefully curated to help you better understand some aspects of Mexican history or culture.
An Overview Of The Best Books About Mexico
I wish I had spent more time in the library because I struggled with how to organize this list as it has grown. This is a very personal list because it is what I read in my stream of consciousness. I only write about books that I read, and many times one book would lead me to the next.
For many years, I only read non-fiction. More recently, I have been interested in the shared culture of Mexican literature.
I want to read books about Mexico that a typical Mexican high school student reads. I’m reading more children’s books to my little kids, in both English and Spanish.
My grandmother and my mother helped me build a collection of awesome cookbooks. Of course, I am continueing that collection to include regional Mexican cookbooks.
Travel guides have been a part of my life since high school. I used to buy travel guides to places I knew I wasn’t going to be visiting anytime soon just because I wanted to learn about trekking the Nepal Himalaya or surfing in Indonesia.
Anthony Bourdain was a tragic yet inspirational character who captivated my imagination much like Hemingway did way back in the day.
There is a diverse group of literary genres on this list and I am sure that you will find at least one great recommendation.
Where to find quality literature about Mexico?
I live in Guadalajara which was the UNESCO World Capital of the Book from 2022-2023. We have the largest book fair in Latin America and a lot of independent publishing houses.
If you can, buy your books directly from the author. Getting my cookbooks signed by Nico Mejía, Maru Toledo, and Javier Plascencia after listening to them talk about researching their books was awesome.
We are very fortunate to live in an age of social media where we can interact with our favorite authors and attend their events. Ask them where they sell their books. You might just find a cool restaurant in Tepic or Ameca selling those books.
A note about Audible.com
I have subscribed to audible.com for many years now. I used to drive a lot for work and a good audiobook makes a long drive much more enjoyable. I quickly realized that I can better digest long, complex books in audio format than I can in print format.
Audible has given me access to many pieces of literature that I don’t think I would have finished if they were only available in print. Today, I read and listen to more audiobooks than at any other point in my life. I love being able to talk about classic literature and history with interesting people. Audible will help you read more and make you a more interesting person. You should check it out.
When you sign up for Audible Premium, you get one Audible credit per month plus more free content than you could ever listen to. The audio edition of the newspapers alone is worth the cost of membership. Plus, members get discounts if they want to buy additional credits.
Paul’s Top 10 Favorite Books About Mexico
This is a very personal list of books about Mexico. When I started writing my blog, I also started reading more. These are books that I have enjoyed reading and talking to people about.
It was a tough call to pick just ten, but these are my favorite books about Mexico that I have read thus far. Here it goes.
1. Mexico: Biography of Power by Enrique Krauze
I chose to list this book first because it has become something of a reference for me. As you are reading José Emilio Pacheco, you will want to know more about President Miguel Alemán. As you are reading Nellie Campobello, you will want to know more about Pancho Villa. This book will help you catch a lot of the references that other authors drop in their texts.
Every time I read a new book, I am so excited to have read this one first. I’m halfway through Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna and having a general idea of the presidents of Mexico helped me catch a subtle reference that I had suspected early on and later confirmed.
2. The Hummingbird’s Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea
Luis Alberto Urrea is a Mexican-American author with strong family ties to the characters in The Hummingbird’s Daughter. He was born in Tijuana and grew up in San Diego, attending Mesa College and UC San Diego. His mother is from the United States, and his father was from Sinaloa.
Growing up on both sides of the border gives him a unique perspective for explaining Mexico to an English-speaking reader. Most of his work is non-fiction, history, or poetry.
The Mexican Revolution, hacienda owners, and folk healers are familiar subjects, but Urrea focuses on a very unique character in the era just before the revolution — and the tensions that would bring about a bloody, protracted conflict.
Teresa Urrea is the main character in the book. In real life, she was the author’s great-aunt, so the story is about his own family. The little girl is the illegitimate daughter of the hacienda owner, abandoned by her mother, mistreated by her aunt, taken under the wing of a traditional medicine woman, and eventually recognized by her father. At a young age, Teresa is identified as a healer and given an education in traditional medicine. The descriptions of life on a wealthy ranch in Sinaloa and later in Sonora are so well-researched it is no wonder it took him 20 years to write.
If you are interested in Mexican history and the family stories of Mexican people, you need to read this book. The characters are interesting and well-developed. The book starts out like something we have read before and quickly takes a turn into uncharted territory.
3. Mexico: A Novel by James Michener
This book is not for everyone. Bullfighting is a polarizing topic, and no matter how good this book is, it is not going to please the masses. I think I enjoyed it so much because I have spent just enough time around bullfighters without really understanding where they come from or what they do.
I recognized a lot of names that Michener mentions as the grandfathers and great-grandfathers of bullfighters who are prominent today. In 2010, my roommate’s boyfriend was gored in the ring at Guadalajara’s Nuevo Progreso Plaza. He was kicked out of the hospital for smoking cigarettes in his room and spent two weeks recovering at our house. His bullfighting capes were thrown over a chair in the dining room, and I remember pricking my finger on the spike at the tip of the palillo.
James Michener does an incredible job telling a story. It reminds me a lot of Law & Order, where they take their stories right out of the headlines but give them a twist. There is no chance that all of these things happened in one old mining town, but I found myself Googling the circumstances of the events to find out where they originally took place.
Michener uses flashbacks to tell the stories of the post-WWII industrial period, the Cristero Wars, the Mexican Revolution, the Porfiriato, the second French Intervention, Independence, Spanish colonialism, and the pre-Columbian era. The main character is supposedly half Mexican and half American, but as the story evolves, his identity and perspective shift.
I really enjoyed this book. I slowed down towards the end because I just didn’t want to finish it. There are so many characters that remind me of people I have crossed paths with in Mexico.
4. La Noche Boca Arriba by Julio Cortázar
Spectacular, spectacular, spectacular! I don’t want to say anything else about this short story because I don’t want to ruin anything. If you buy one book on this list, make it this one.
Cortázar is one of the preeminent voices of the Latin American boom, and this text is one of the reasons why he is so revered in Argentina and across the globe.
I read this in college for the first time and have gone back to it at different points in my Spanish language education. Every time I read it, I get more out of it. You will love this story about Mexico.
5. Agave Spirits: The Past, Present, and Future of Mezcals by Gary Paul Nabhan & David Suro Piñera
I have been spending a lot of time in the Tequila Valley over the last few years, and what I thought I knew about agave spirits was just a drop in the bucket. The exhaustive research that Gary Nabhan and David Suro have done on the culture of agave spirits is magnificent.
Rather than a list of good mezcals to buy at the store, the authors set out to look at the people and the plants that bring so much enjoyment to the world. They spend a lot of time discussing the time and complexity involved in making a mezcal, but it could serve as an allegory for the Mexican people. David Suro is a close friend of journalist and author Alfredo Corchado. They spend a good deal of time discussing Mexico’s development after the fall of the PRI and its integration into the global economy.
The agave holds a special place in any discussion of Mexican culture. This book examines both the ecology and the culture of agave spirits in modern Mexico. If you enjoy drinking tequila or mezcal in cantinas in Mexico, buy this book. It will make you a more interesting person.
6. All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
An amazing coming-of-age story that was far more violent than I was expecting, given that title.
As someone who loves road-tripping through Mexico, the story of two young men traveling to Mexico on horseback in 1949 was enthralling. I couldn’t put it down.
The main character’s world is falling apart. His grandfather dies, his parents divorce, his mom is going to sell the family ranch, and he doesn’t know what to do with his horse. The description of cowboy life in mid-century Texas is beautiful. Cormac McCarthy is an eloquent wordsmith with a unique vision of the world.
John Grady Cole and his buddy decide to spend a few months traveling through Mexico on horseback looking for work as cowboys. They get drunk in a thunderstorm, land jobs at a historic hacienda, and learn about the Mexican Revolution. They also get into a lot of trouble.
All the Pretty Horses convinced me that I need to learn how to ride a horse. Equestrian culture transcends nations. A cowboy is a cowboy no matter where he was born. I wasn’t a fan of the Western genre before this one, but it hooked me completely.
More books by Cormac McCarthy
- No Country for Old Men
- Blood Meridian
- The Crossing
- Cities of the Plain
7. The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade by Benjamin T. Smith
I have been studying the drug trade for nearly 20 years, and this is one of the best books I have read about the conflict on the US-Mexico border.
The security situation on the US-Mexico border — and how it relates to immigration, drugs, and guns — is one of the most important political topics of our time. This book reminds me of Enrique Krauze’s Mexico: A Biography of Power in its linear narrative about 20th-century Mexico, explaining how each successive administration organized drug policy.
The level of incompetence and corruption by government actors on both sides of the border directly affects our current situation. The history of drugs in North America cannot be understood by looking at just one country. The United States, Mexico, Canada, China, France, Thailand, and Colombia each played a unique role in supplying the insatiable demand for drugs.
8. Tijuana Straits by Kem Nunn
I can’t believe I was 40 years old before reading my first Kem Nunn novel. I just saw the title and thought that anything about Tijuana was going to be interesting for this list.
Kem Nunn is the father of the “Surf Noir” genre, and that is exactly where Tijuana Straits lands. The characters are hard-boiled and fascinating. He did a lot of research about Tijuana and the intersection of the United States and Mexico.
The book was written in 2004, which was a major turning point in US-Mexico border history. Things changed enormously in the post-9/11 era, but Nunn goes back much further to examine the development of the Zona Río and the Centro Cultural Tijuana and the displacement of marginalized communities that those projects caused.
I really enjoyed this book, though I understand it is not for everyone. I had a lot of nostalgia about growing up surfing near Playas de Tijuana. I can’t wait to read more of his work.
9. The Fabulous Life Of Diego Rivera by Bertram Wolfe
An honest look at the life of one of Mexico’s most polarizing personalities. Diego Rivera had a critical yet optimistic vision of the world. His personal experiences and politics colored buildings far and near. Whether you agree with his politics or not — and Bertram Wolfe, a one-time communist himself, includes an interesting note on Diego’s particular brand of communism — you have to admit that Diego Rivera lived a fabulous life.
10. Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo
Juan Rulfo’s classic novel Pedro Páramo is one of the most important texts in Latin American literature. It is widely considered the foundational work of magical realism. Gabriel García Márquez borrowed heavily from it for his epic novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.
At only 124 pages, the novel is short but a difficult read. I really struggled to get through it. I started reading it in Spanish and decided to also buy the English translation as well as the audiobook. It was worth it. Juan Rulfo writes like a poet — each paragraph is sculpted to create a vivid image in the reader’s mind. People say that Rulfo’s background as a photographer shaped his writing style, and his travels shaped his subject matter.
No matter how much time you put into Pedro Páramo, the effort will be rewarded. This is the kind of book that will leave you thinking for weeks. You may even find yourself picking it up a second time.
Non-Fiction Books About Mexican History
I had spent a lot more time reading The Economist than I had reading novels until the pandemic of 2020. Having studied economics and finance in college, those were the topics that I most wanted to stay on top of.
It is important to know about the institutions that exist and their histories. The oil industry in Mexico, for example, is a part of the national identity and is still an important part of the central government’s annual budget.
These history books about Mexico will give you a better understanding of the country’s past, so you can understand the present.
11. Mexico: A 500-Year History By Paul Gillingham
It was a tough decision figuring out whether this book belonged in the top ten or not. I loved it and appreciated the modern thinking and acknowledgment of past misconceptions. That said, I think this book will be appreciated more by scholars than by the general public. I chose to keep Biography of Power as my number one because I think it is the perfect introduction.
The Gillingham book is a more enjoyable read for someone who has already heard a few different versions of the conquest of Mexico, because he discusses how perceptions of events differ depending on the point of view. The author acknowledges that Cortés shaped one reality in his letters to the King of Spain, another for his soldiers, and yet another for Malintzin. Today, we have access to records that were originally written in Náhuatl or had been hidden in Spanish royal archives for centuries.
The best part of this book is thinking about how our collective memories have been shaped over the centuries for political motivations. The weakest sections cover the 19th and 20th centuries, which felt too brief. Gillingham was either running out of space or time — he could have filled another 500 pages with fascinating details about Mexico’s modern development. The 20th century in particular moved too quickly.
As of February 2026, I have about 30 minutes left to listen to, but I am going slowly because I don’t want it to end. I loved this book and will probably listen to it again while taking notes, because there are so many stories I want to explore on a deeper level.
12. Fire & Blood: A History of Mexico by T.R. Fehrenbach
An exhausting read — or listen. The audiobook is 34 hours long, but it attempts to tell the story of Mexico from prehistory through the 1990s. There are some genuinely interesting sections, but you may find yourself wondering what sources the author consulted, particularly in the passages where he claims to know how historical figures felt.
Mexico has seen a lot of conflict, and the author does a good job identifying those conflicts and dramatizing them into a three-act structure: he introduces the setting, explains the conflict, and explains the resolution. Some of the generalizations feel like a stretch or an oversimplification of more complex issues. The book is written for readers who are not from Mexico and don’t know much about the country.
The section about the Mexican-American War in the mid-19th century is clearly written from the perspective of a Texan who believes the conflict was inevitable and therefore justified.
The way he covers the native populations evolves from pre-Hispanic times through the 20th century, and it reminds me of a Mexican saying: “Indio muerto y indio vivo” — highlighting the difference between reverence for the great native cultures of the past and the denigration of Indigenous people in everyday life. The opening chapters about the height of Aztec civilization are enthralling. I am less convinced by his perspective on the so-called Indian problem of the 19th century.
While the book is aimed at the novice Mexico enthusiast, some background knowledge will help you question a few of the assertions.
13. Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo by Hayden Herrera
There are many books written about Frida Kahlo, but Hayden Herrera’s 1983 work is the gold standard and has stood the test of time. It is the definitive biography that guided the film adaptation and much of the contemporary thinking about the artist.
Is it a bit clichéd? Yes, but so is Frida. She is considerably more popular in the United States than in Mexico, particularly within the Chicano community. Even so, the book is genuinely interesting. Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera were at the center of some of the most dramatic world events of the 20th century.
One of my favorite parts is the technical analysis of Frida’s evolving style. She was still a young woman when she got together with Diego, and her painting was greatly influenced by him as her mentor. There are examples where she is clearly trying to paint like him, but she eventually discovers that her strengths were very different from his.
This is a book better suited to hardcore fans than casual observers.
14. Frida in America: The Creative Awakening of a Great Artist
I originally bought this book because I wanted to know more about Diego Rivera’s time in San Francisco. I finished it, having fallen in love with Frida Kahlo’s artistic journey. While much of the book covers the couple’s time in the United States, there are a number of flashbacks that put their first trip in context.
Frida Kahlo was 23 years old and a relative unknown in the art world when she first traveled to the United States with her famous husband. She used the experience to develop and promote her own work, and over the years has eclipsed her husband’s fame entirely. If you enjoy either artist’s work, this book is well worth reading.
15. My Art, My Life: An Autobiography by Diego Rivera
I’m not entirely sure whether this belongs in the non-fiction or fiction section. What I am sure of is that Diego Rivera could tell a wild tale. The man was a natural storyteller who wove fiction and fact together to make his point. He was present for many of the greatest stories of his day and had a spectacular vantage point on what happened to the world in the 20th century.
16. The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico by Miguel Leon-Portilla
I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I started this book, but I came away with a much more human view of the original people of Mexico. I hadn’t realized how much had been written in Náhuatl during the 16th century about the conquest of Mexico.
The Broken Spears is an essential companion to the works of Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Make sure to read the prologue to understand where these texts came from. I had been expecting something closer to historical fiction or speculation, and was pleasantly surprised to discover how much had actually been recorded in Náhuatl during and immediately after the conflict.
17. Conquistador by Buddy Levy
It is hard to believe these are true stories. Drawing largely on the firsthand accounts of Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Conquistador follows Cortés from his mutiny against the governor of Cuba, through his establishment of a settlement in Veracruz, to his conquest of the Valley of Mexico.
Most of us have heard bits and pieces of this story, but you have to hear the whole thing. The naval battles on Lake Texcoco — at 9,000 feet above sea level, between Aztec canoes and Spanish brigantines — are a particular highlight.
I especially enjoyed listening to this audiobook after visiting Mexico City. Many of the municipalities that make up the city today were villages that have existed since pre-Hispanic times.
18. Hernán Cortés by Juan Miguel Zunzunegui
This was a recommendation from my wife’s aunt at a family dinner. The book is written in Spanish, and I haven’t come across a translation yet. It is aimed at a Mexican audience and is intended to clarify some of the official story.
This is the fourth time I have read the story of the conquest of Tenochtitlán, but this is a particularly important version. There are so many details that get glossed over in other accounts.
The background on what was happening in the world when Cortés was a boy proved very important. When the Ottoman Turks took Constantinople in 1453, they closed off access to the Silk Road, forcing Europeans to search for another route to Asia. They were desperate to reestablish trade.
Zunzunegui also spends considerable time on Doña Marina — Malintzin, or La Malinche — and her contributions to the conquest. Cortés was one of the first people in the New World to advocate for a mestizo identity. He had children with Marina who spoke both Spanish and Náhuatl, and who were recognized as Catholics by the pope despite being born out of wedlock.
Cortés is a polarizing figure in Mexican history, and different factions have used him as a symbol for their own purposes. But in doing so, they miss the bigger picture.
I recommend reading this book after Conquistador by Buddy Levy and Fifth Sun by Camilla Townsend.
19. Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs by Camilla Townsend
The Aztec people built one of the greatest cities in the world on a lake in the Valley of Mexico. It is a shame that until recently, almost all of the English-language analysis came from Spanish chronicles of the era.
This is an important book about the peoples and cultures of the Valley of Mexico and how the Aztecs became the dominant power on the lake and in the valley.
One of the most compelling chapters is about La Malinche, Doña Marina, or Malintzin. Cortés wrote very little about her contributions to the conquest in his letters to the King of Spain, but her role should not be underestimated. Beyond serving as a translator, she was more of a strategist — convincing large groups of Indigenous people to organize a war effort and form a new society.
In addition to translator, she was more of a manager convincing large groups of Native people to organize a war machine and form a new society.
The son of Malintzin and Hernán Cortés, Martín Cortés, would go on to be an influential figure in both Spanish and Indigenous societies, before suffering a torturous fate.
This is an essential book. If you choose to read Conquistador by Buddy Levy, it should be followed up with Fifth Sun.
20. Spain: The Centre of the World 1519-1682 by Robert Goodwin
Spain was the center of the world in 1519 largely because of the wealth being seized by the conquistadors and shipped back to the motherland.
After listening to Buddy Levy’s account of the conquest of Mexico, I was left wondering: how did Cortés get away with it — not militarily, but politically? He was a mutineer. Founding a city, cutting out the governor of Cuba, and reporting directly to the Spanish crown should have been punishable offenses. But King Charles was fighting his mother, Juana the Mad, for the throne and desperately needed money. The gold Cortés sent could not have arrived at a better time.
Understanding what was happening in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries is essential to understanding how Spain treated its colonies. Having some background on the Habsburg dynasty also adds an interesting layer when reading about the 19th-century French intervention in Mexico. The idea of imposing another Habsburg monarchy on Mexico three hundred years later is genuinely mind-boggling.
21. A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico by Amy Greenberg
As someone who grew up in a territory that was taken from Mexico, this is a topic I had avoided for some time. I think it is important to reflect on the past so that we do not repeat the mistakes of history.
The majority of this book is dedicated to the political situation in the United States that led to the election of James Polk and the expansion of slavery across North America. Polk is often cited as one of the most successful presidents in US history because he accomplished the four pillars of his campaign and stepped down after only one term.
The means by which he accomplished his goals were Machiavellian, to say the least. The invasion of Mexico by a group of privateers fighting alongside the US Army was wicked and cruel.
I read this book after finishing Blood Meridian and saw a lot of similarities between the Indian Wars and the Mexican-American War. It is a shameful chapter of US history that has been glossed over in elementary school textbooks. This is the real story.
22. The Last Emperor of Mexico by Edward Shawcross
Edward Shawcross has written several articles on the best books about Mexico, and that is how I came across this one. While I was vaguely aware of the story of Maximilian and Carlota, I had no idea who the two people really were. There is a lot more to the story than the Cinco de Mayo social media posts suggest.
Ferdinand Maximilian Josef Maria von Habsburg-Lothringen was a tragic figure — the liberal younger brother in an arch-conservative family of Habsburg royalty, who grew up in the shadow of his older, jealous brother.
With the outbreak of the US Civil War, Napoleon III was persuaded by conservative factions of the Mexican government to install a European monarch in Mexico. Maximilian was nothing more than a puppet. He was too liberal for the Mexican conservatives and the Church, who wanted a strongman like his brother to restore the Church property that Juárez had appropriated.
Ultimately, Maximilian was completely unprepared for the task at hand. The financial terms that Napoleon III imposed on Mexico were unrealistic even for a capable leader, and Maximilian spent much of his time touring the country and pursuing his interest in natural history. He was simply not equipped to handle the challenges facing his empire.
This is a fascinating story. Maximilian was an interesting and tragic figure who remains misunderstood to this day.
23. El Norte by Carrie Gibson
You can think of El Norte as a collection of short stories celebrating the shared history of Spanish America. In an era of increased border walls and hardening political divisions, Carrie Gibson wants to remind us how much culture the two sides of the border have in common.
I listened to this audiobook while driving from Guadalajara to San Diego through Baja California. I was especially interested in the history of the Spanish missions in what is today the United States. California mission history is commonly said to begin at San Diego, while El Norte traces things further back to Cortés’ voyages to Baja California and the early Jesuit missions in Baja California Sur.
If you happen to be traveling through Baja California, I highly recommend listening to this audiobook along the way.
24. The Bear and the Porcupine: The U.S. and Mexico by Jeffrey Davidow
I was given a copy of this book by Ambassador Davidow in 2008 while volunteering at the Institute of the Americas. It was shortly before I first moved to Mexico for graduate school, and the Ambassador was highly influential in my decision to go. During my time at the Institute, I had the opportunity to meet and hear presentations by Ernesto Zedillo, Josefina Vázquez Mota, and Beatriz Paredes Rangel, among many others.
The relationship between the United States and Mexico is complex and multifaceted, touching on politics, trade, and culture. Few people understand that relationship as well as Ambassador Davidow. He was a career diplomat who served as ambassador to Mexico under both Democratic and Republican administrations — something that would be nearly unimaginable today.
This book will help you get your head around the complexities of one of the world’s most important binational relationships. It is just as relevant today as it was when it was published in 2004, and many modern journalists still reference the image of the prickly relationship between the bear and the porcupine.
25. El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency by Ioan Grillo
It takes a great deal of courage to be a journalist in Mexico writing about organized crime. When you start putting the names of powerful people into print — whether criminals or politicians — you will always have to look over your shoulder.
Scrolling through the comments section of almost any article about Mexico, you will find the armchair analysis of self-proclaimed experts who have never set foot in the country or read this book.
Ioan Grillo has a unique perspective and had access to key witnesses with inside knowledge of the financial workings of various criminal organizations. Rather than relying on the Scarface model to analyze the situation, it is far more useful to think in terms of the multinational corporate model to understand what really drives the violence that makes international headlines.
If you want to have an informed opinion about violence in Mexico, read this book first.
26. El Traidor by Anabel Hernandez
Anabel Hernández is a courageous reporter who has spent decades documenting the connections between government officials and organized crime. Some of the people she implicates are still active in government.
The collaboration between crime and the state is one of the most disturbing things I can imagine. That said, about halfway through, the story starts to feel repetitive. It follows a pattern familiar to anyone who has watched narco dramas on Netflix or read about Colombia — the same cycle repeats itself, and it begins to feel tiresome.
On the positive side, this is an excellent audiobook for practicing your Spanish. It is not written at an advanced level, making it accessible for intermediate learners.
27. The Devil’s Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
I love everything I have read by Luis Alberto Urrea. The man writes like a poet, and he is extraordinarily well-read. The way he employs the second-person narrative style is reminiscent of Carlos Fuentes’ Aura — he puts you directly in the shoes of his characters.
Although the events of this story took place in 2001, they are just as relevant today. Urrea brings in perspectives that many of us are simply not familiar with. The Border Patrol agents are the heroes, the coyotes and politicians are the villains, and the people crossing the border are human beings.
The amount of research that went into this book is extraordinary. I don’t get emotional often, but I cried while listening to it. The Devil’s Highway is one of the most important books about Mexico written in the modern era. It is a must-read.
28. Midnight in Mexico: A Reporter’s Journey through a Country’s Descent into Darkness by Alfredo Corchado
I put this one off for a long time, but it left a strong impression. The subject matter is difficult to sit with. I first moved to Mexico in 2009 and thought I knew a great deal about the topics covered in this book, but Alfredo Corchado has a perspective that is truly his own. Few people have such an intimate understanding of both the United States and Mexico — and by both, I mean not just the two countries, but the full spectrum from rural poverty to urban power. He does a remarkable job of showing how the PRI and the PAN shaped daily life in rural Durango as much as in urban Mexico City.
The best part of the book is his account of Vicente Fox’s path to the presidency. Corchado followed him through the Central Valley of California while he was campaigning among Mexican migrants. When Fox won, Corchado secured the first interview with the new president — a remarkable front-row seat to a historic moment. He conveys his own hopes and aspirations for Mexico with real honesty and emotion.
But the book takes a dark turn. Corchado is unflinching about Felipe Calderón’s drug war and what it cost the country. At one point, a death threat was put out against the author himself for his reporting.
This is not an introductory book about Mexico. The reader needs a solid understanding of Mexican history and politics to fully appreciate it. I would also caution that the thesis of this book could easily be misrepresented by those looking to justify US military intervention in Mexico.
Mexican Fiction Books By Mexican Authors
Most of these books were originally published in Spanish. For those of you residing in Mexico, reading in Spanish is one of the best ways to improve your vocabulary.
For difficult texts like 100 Years of Solitude or Pedro Páramo, I will read the book in English first to get an idea of what is going on. I read one chapter in English, then I read that same chapter a second time in Spanish.
Keeping a notebook of vocabulary words that you look up will help you retain those words.
29. The Battles in the Desert by José Emilio Pacheco
If you are an intermediate Spanish speaker I highly recommend attempting to read the Battles in the Desert in the original Spanish. José Emilio Pacheco is known as a poet and his novels have a beautiful cadence to them because of it. There is an English translation but it is worth the effort to try it in Spanish. It is not a difficult read.
Everyone that I know loves the Colonia Roma in Mexico City and this book will make you love it even more. There are music videos by Café Tacuba, movies, and all sorts of references in popular culture to the book, it is somewhat of a cultural icon.
The story is about a young boy who develops a crush on his friend’s mom. The backdrop is the crony capitalism of President Miguel Aleman and a period of rapid development. The neighborhood is changing, values are changing, and old family prejudices are on display.
I highly recommend reading the chapter on Miguel Aleman in Enrique Krauze’s Biography of Power to better understand the setting of Mexico in the 1940s.
30. Aura by Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes is one of Latin America’s most treasured authors and not just Mexico’s. He grew up the son of a Mexican diplomat who traveled the world studying at elite institutions. He ended up as a Mexican ambassador and the head of cultural relations. Fuentes shot to stardom with the publication of his first novel, Where the Air Is Clear which helped to usher in the Latin American boom in literature. He was considered a leading figure in this reorientation along with Julio Cortázar and Gabriel García Márquez.
Aura is bar far the most easily accessible work by Carlos Fuentes. It reads more like a short story that can be finished in one sitting and is commonly included in the bibliography of most introduction to Latin American literature courses. If you have any interest in visiting Mexico City’s historic downtown, I highly recommend reading Aura before you go.
The story follows a young man who responds to a help-wanted advertisement in the newspaper that he feels was written just for him. An elderly lady wants to edit her late husband’s notes into a memoir and needs someone who can speak French. The description of the old house and the old part of town that is built on top of the former Aztec capital is eloquent, to say the least. The narrative style employs the second-person perspective which gives the reader the feeling of involvement in the story. You ride the bus, you look for the change in your pocket, and drink a coffee.
Aura is a great story and an easy place to fall in love with the world that Carlos Fuentes paints. After Aura, have a look at The Old Gringo, The Death of Artemio Cruz, and The Years with Laura Diaz.
31. The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes
I had higher expectations for this one. The premise is fascinating.
One of the United States’ most famous authors and journalists, a Civil War veteran, goes to Mexico to get first-hand experience about the Mexican Revolution and disappears.
Nobody knows what happened to Ambrose Bierce but Carlos Fuentes invents a story about the author in his final days. The idea is to try and show the differences between Gringos and Mexicans but the comparisons are dated and somewhat cliche.
The descriptions of sex between different characters are trying to come off as philosophical and related to a power struggle but the situations just come off as gross.
MORE BOOKS BY CARLOS FUENTES
- The Death of Artemio Cruz
- Los Años con Laura Díaz
- Terra Nostra
- Chacmool
32. The Murmur of Bees by Sofía Segovia
This is your classic Mexican novela with a minor twist on the protagonist and antagonist. For 70 years the Partido Revolucionario Institutional (PRI) political party ruled Mexican politics. After the fall of a one-party system in 2000, there was the ability to analyze the shortcomings of the revolution that the PRI had institutionalized.
In this story, the revolution is the villain who kills indiscriminately and threatens to appropriate land under the guise of Plutarco Elías Calles (founder of the PNR predecessor of the PRI and supreme chief of Mexico for some years) agricultural reforms, which conveniently excluded his agricultural holdings.
The first thing that comes to mind while writing this review is the narrative style. Two narrators alternate telling the story to shed light on a peculiar protagonist and the region as a whole.
The book takes place in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, partly in the ranching town of Linares and partly in the crescent industrial hub of Monterrey. The characters often travel to the United States and neighboring Tamaulipas State.
There are a lot of elements of Downton Abby as the Spanish flu and later the war (the Mexican Revolution) alter a wealthy family’s plans. The story is less magical realism than it is fantastic. The protagonist is strange to his wealthy godparents because of his relationship with nature but there are no flying carpets like in 100 Years of Solitude.
The story spans almost a hundred years as we watch the development of the countryside and what is to become one of Mexico’s most important industrial cities. This is a romanticized history but it is thought-provoking nonetheless. While I understand there were plenty of atrocities by the hacienda owners, these landed elites are good people and it is the revolution that creates conflict.
33. The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela
I included this in the fiction section even though it was inspired by true events. Mariano Azuela was a doctor who enlisted in the revolutionary forces after Francisco Madero was killed. Much of the book is inspired by his own experiences in the conflict.
This is going to sound kind of weird but this book reminded me a lot of the 1978 movie National Lampoon’s Animal House.
I think this is a common theme in war novels but the absolute absurdity of the whole event. A roving band of drunks wreaking havoc everywhere they went.
Many of the ideological young recruits are quickly jaded by the mundane task of staying alive in a war.
Enrique Krauze talks about this a lot in his book but the Mexican Revolution was not an ideological struggle. It was a fight between strong men. The soldiers fought for their general not an idea.
This is an easy read in either English or Spanish. I recommend reading Krauze first to get a better context of the Mexican Revolution.
34. Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
This is a very common book for Spanish as a second language students to read in college-level Latin American literature classes. While it was not received well by literary critics, it became something of a cultural phenomenon. The book was a major bestseller, and the movie was one of the highest-grossing foreign language films of the time.
A lot of people are going to use language describing Like Water For Chocolate as many critics will describe soap operas. While there are some sappy sections, the narrative style reminds me more of a modern cooking blog.
The recipes and descriptions of how they make each of the 12 dishes were professionally written. Anybody interested in learning the technical vocabulary of the Mexican kitchen would be wise to study this book in the original Spanish.
It is not a difficult read or listen for a Spanish learner with a good base.
I went in with a lot of preconceived notions, and I had to let go of those to really enjoy the story. It is set in Piedras Negras on the US/Mexico border during the time of the Mexican Revolution.
I didn’t like the characters, but I couldn’t look away. I think that is the sign of a good telenovela and lucha libre match. There are characters that you are rooting for and other characters that you are rooting against.
I didn’t even like the ending, but the ending I wanted would have been boring. Laura Esquivel is far more imaginative than I am. You should read some of her books. You will remember them.
35. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I mentioned in the introduction that writing a blog has convinced me to read more. Not only to read more, but also to read different styles of literature that I may not have picked up in my youth. Thrillers and horror have never been my genre, but Silvia Moreno-Garcia is winning me over. I may even pick up some Stephen King after this one.
I loved the pretense of this book. The setting is an off-the-beaten-path traveler’s dream come true. Not far from Mexico City, in the rural section of Hidalgo State. Moreno-Garcia mixes a lot of historical truths to set the stage. Not many people think of Hidalgo State when silver mines are mentioned. Let alone the English investment in reworking the flooded mines or a streak of yellow fever that devastated the new arrivals.
The characters are interesting and the setting will have you Googleing the true history of the area. However, the delivery could have been better. The climax never really climaxes and once you see the monster it kind of goes downhill. I feel like the suspense could have been played out better and moved a little further to the end of the book and resolved more uniquely. It didn’t do the characters justice.
36. The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Silvia Moreno-Garcia writes a style of fantastic thrillers that are set in very interesting times and places. The story is fan fiction reimagining the 1896 H.G. Wells classic, The Island of Doctor Moreau but told from the perspective of a daughter.
Some really weird experiments are going on in the jungle to create a hybrid race of slaves.
The book only hints at it but the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico was engulfed in caste wars during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The book uses extreme examples to explore important contemporary ideas of caste in the Yucatan.
OTHER BOOKS BY SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA
- Silver Nitrate
- Certain Dark Things
- Gods of Jade and Shadow
- The Beautiful Ones
- Velvet Was the Night
37. El Complot Mongol by Rafael Bernal
I am a sucker for an old detective story. The characters in Bernal’s classic noir mystery are as interesting as the setting. Mexico is going through major changes 40 years after the revolution. The revolution had been institutionalized and war veterans were replaced by college-educated kids that did not witness the conflict firsthand.
The lead character, Filiberto Garcia, was just a kid when the Revolution put a gun in his hand. As an adult, he works for the secret police as a consultant and sometime assassin.
The story sums up as a Cold War spy flick with plenty of red herrings and double-crosses. The most interesting part is the tour of Mexico City’s Chinatown in the 1960s. It’s about as interesting as a Raymond Chandler novel but the setting is Mexico City rather than LA.
El Complot Mongol is an easy read if you are an intermediate Spanish speaker. The Chinese accents are a little tiresome but it was written in the 1960s so I gave it a break.
38. Mexico City Noir by Paco Ignacio Taibo II
Paco Ignacio Taibo is a polemic character. He was born in Spain but immigrated to Mexico at a young age and is a naturalized citizen.
In 2018, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador appointed him the head of the Fondo de Cultura Económica. He has written extensively about Mexican history, has shows on Netflix, and hosts an annual noir literary festival.
Mexico City Noir is an anthology of 12 short stories that take place in, you guessed it, Mexico City. It is important to understand just how big Mexico City is and that the realities in Polanco and Iztapalapa are vastly different. The stories are dark and show corners of the city that most tourist hope they never see.
I don’t think this is the best book to start learning about Mexico City but if you have been there once or twice and already know a bit of the history, you will love these stories. Several of them could be considered historical fiction or neo-policial thrillers.
Books Set In Mexico By Foreign Authors
There has been some really bad literature out there by foreign authors trying to explain Mexico to other foreigners. I don’t think that I am exempt from that statement but I am reading a lot to try and learn more. The cool part is that my views evolve as I learn more.
39. Blood Meridian: Or the Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy
This is a book about Indian hunting in Mexico and the United States in 1849 and 1850 just after the Mexican-American War and at the height of the Indian Wars. It is brutal and emotionally exhausting to read.
The premise is based on a real group called the Glanton Gang who were scalp hunters in the Old West. They started as filibusters looking to take more territory from Mexico but were arrested by Mexican authorities only to smooth talk their way out of jail claiming to be Indian hunters.
The mythology of Western expansion glorifies the conflict between cowboys and Indians. This is a huge mistake. The slaughter was downright despicable.
The only character that really matters is Judge Holden, the antagonist. He is educated with intelligence that borders on the supernatural. The Old West was a lawless place where people would do horrible things without repercussion.
There has been a lot of talk about making Blood Meridian into a movie recently. I recommend reading the book before this happens. There are a ton of great literary reviews on YouTube calling this the great American novel, McCathy’s magnum opus, and the cornerstone of the anti-Western genre. Whatever you call it, it will leave you thinking for weeks. I couldn’t get it out of my head.
40. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolaño
I’m glad that I waited a little while to listen to this book. I’m not sure I would have enjoyed it a few years ago.
Roberto Bolaño was a distinguished Chilean author who moved to Mexico City with his family when he was 15 years old, much like one of the characters in the Savage Detectives. The author draws on his own life experience to shape a lead character.
There are a lot of ways this book kept me entertained but the use of the addresses of the many scenes across Mexico City, and later the world left me looking them up on Google Maps. I know some of the neighborhoods and I think Bolaño used the neighborhoods to define the characters.
You will get a huge list of authors related to the Latin American Literary Boom of the 20th century. I love the way that authors like Bolaño and Paul Theroux tell you what they were reading when they were writing their books.
I took The Savage Detectives as a coming-of-age tale about people who knew the world better than I did at 18. Bolaños was in Chile in 1973 working for the Salvador Allende government when Augusto Pinochet and the Chilean Military overthrew it. Many left-wing intellectuals left Chile for Mexico.
I’m still not sure what “Visceral Realism” means when it comes to poetry but I understood it to be more of a club of anti-establishment poets. It reminds me of the Beat Poets in San Francisco and the modern-day hipster intellectuals who want to get really into a topic with their community.
The book is just fun. There is a young-adult level of eroticism and because of the alternative narrative style, it is hard to follow who is having sex with who.
41. The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
I had a lot of feelings about this book. I started off thinking that I knew it all already and that the author was overly explaining Mexico to the uninitiated traveler.
After a little while, I really started to enjoy the vivid descriptions that one might attribute to a photographer like Juan Rulfo. However, after I while I realized that this is not a true story but a fictionalization of historic characters. The way the author takes a character from on era and uses her to move the story in a different era makes me wonder how much of these historic events are fictional.
The Lacuna is about communism in and around the time of World War II. It just so happens that Mexico and the United States had a lot of communist and anti-communist activity going on during this period.
I think it is very hard to write dialogue for historical figures. It is really hard to get into someone’s head and use the words that they would have used. I particularly had a hard time with the conversations between Frida Kahlo and the main character. This is a work of fiction and those conversations are fiction. I finished that section of the book confused about how much I should believe.
One of my favorite parts of the book is the main character’s mother. She is based on a novel by José Emilio Pacheco called The Battles in the Desert which takes place in the 1940s and 1950s during the presidency of Miguel Aleman. Kingsolver has taken a character from a different era, a product of the post-world war 2 economic boom famous for corrupt crony capitalism, and used her in a depression-era setting.
I know I am being a little overly critical but it feels forced. I know that Kingsolver borrowed this character because she references it. An event that takes place in the novel in 1939 is set on a road named for Miguel Aleman (President 1946-1952) that wasn’t completed until 1950. The road leads directly from the Colonia Roma, the setting of Battles in the Desert, to the airfield that would become the International Airport. There is no way Kingsolver would make that mistake so specifically with that character. She was giving us a clue that our suspicions were correct.
First, read The Battles in the Desert and tell me I’m wrong. Then you should read The Lacuna.
42. Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson
I loved this book even with all its flaws. Originally published in 1884, Helen Hunt Jackson wanted to create more public awareness about the poor treatment of the Native populations of California in the post-Mexican-American War era.
More than the cheesy love story, the book gives us a view of California history. I would have loved to have been able to explore California before the big cities and globalization changed the landscape.
I really enjoyed the descriptions of the California Missions and travel between them in an era before cars.
This was a quick, easy read that has been celebrated for well over a hundred years. I highly recommend getting a copy. It will allow you to travel back in time.
43. The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow
I don’t think this book has aged very well. Don Winslow is a great writer who keeps you on the edge of your toes. It’s just really hard to fictionalize a true story and turn a fictional head of a drug cartel into the amalgamation of all of the most notorious kingpins.
It was the details that got me. As somebody who has lived in Guadalajara for many years, I don’t think that Don has spent a lot of time in Latin America. One of the big differences between residential areas in San Diego and Guadalajara is the use of gates and fences. You can’t go running through your neighbor’s yard because of the high fence. You can’t access the windows on a random house on the street because of tall fences.
I liked the pace of the story but he took some liberties on the timeline of some big assassinations making then sound like they happened back to back. I am not going to read any more of the Cartel Series but I might pick up one about some San Diego cops who surf.
44. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
I thought this book was garbage. The only reason that I bought it was because of all the controversy that stemmed from Oprah Winfrey’s decision to promote it in her book club. It was written by a lady who read a lot of newspaper articles to inform her worldview. It lacks the first-hand experience of someone who knows Acapulco, or the Mexican experience for that matter.
The lead character is an upper-middle-class business owner from Acapulco who went to college in Mexico City, married a journalist, and reads compulsively but doesn’t know anything about Mexico. Time and again she makes the worst possible decision to avoid the cartel choosing to travel by the means that organized crime controls. Mexico has services for the victims of violent crime and the idea that an identification for her son forced her to ride the trains is absurd.
Another part that makes me think that Jeanine Cummins has never been to Acapulco is the chapter on Escape From Acapulco. The thought that a criminal organization is going to drag trees across the Freeway from Mexico City to Acapulco and search every vehicle leaving the city is logistically impossible. The author has zero concept of the volume of traffic heading down a very busy road. Stopping traffic is one thing but searching the thousands of vehicles traveling that route for one hour, let alone days or weeks, is not comprehensible.
After so many stupid decisions you end up loathing the main characters. And the ending is stupid. Like, you cross the border and everything is magically fixed and everyone lives happily ever after. She touches on the deportation issue but somehow neglects to apply the same reason to the main characters as she does to peripheral characters.
It would be well worth your time to read Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway instead.
45. The Power And The Glory by Graham Greene
This book is a dreadful bore. It takes place in a part of Mexico that is not often discussed when learning about the Cristero Conflict. After reading it, I don’t feel that I know anything more about the causes or the history of the conflict.
Graham Greene coined the term “Whiskey Priest” and thebook follows a bumbling, alcoholic priest as he runs from the authorities. I find it hard to believe that Greene is considered to be pro-Catholic because the priest in this book is insufferable.
The author never gets into the institution or politics of the Catholic church in the post-revolutionary world. The Cristero War marked the presidencies of Álvaro Obregón, Plutarco Elías Calles, and Lázaro Cárdenas. This book could have been so much better if the author was aware of Mexican politics or just knew more about Mexico.
I live in Jalisco which was the heart of the Christero Rebellion. After visiting the Museum of Journalism in Guadalajara and reading old copies of independent journalism documenting the conflict, I was very disappointed in Graham Greene’s account of the issue.
There is not need to waste your time reading this book. Choose something better.
46. Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry
This is another book that I didn’t particularly care for but it left me thinking about it for weeks. More than a book about Mexico, it is a book about alcoholism. This is not a story about fun drinking. It is a story about a man drinking himself to death, much like the author did ten years after publishing this book.
An alcoholic only thinks about where to get the next drink. This includes a strychnine concoction that was used back in the day to help alcoholics dry out. The story is heartbreaking.
There are a lot of interesting historical avenues to appreciate the story. World War II has broken out in Europe but the United States has not entered the conflict. A broken former British consul thinks of himself as a spy in wartime.
Ernest Hemmingway wrote The Sun Also Rises in 1926 with some astute observations about expats. I can’t help but see the cliché expat-community in Mexico getting drunk and not fitting in.
Director John Huston made the story into a movie in 1984.
47. An Open Book by John Huston
Not entirely a book about Mexico but the prolific filmmaker spent a good deal of time here and is kind of responsible for Puerto Vallarta becoming what it is today. The stories about his time in Mexico City in the post-revolutionary era are crazy.
Back in the day, John Huston was a sort of Hollywood ambassador to Mexico. He know everybody and could get the president on the phone in order to get the local cops in line so they could film a movie.
Huston is a master storyteller but he is also a beloved figure of the Puerto Vallarta community. If you will be spending any time at all in Puerto Vallarta, get this book.
Travel Literature About Mexico
This is a genre of literature that I didn’t think much of until recently. Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan absolutly rocked my world and completly reset my thinking on travel literature. It can be well written even in the first person narrative.
48. On The Plain Of Snakes by Paul Theroux
This one is probably going to be moved into the section on my top 5 favorite books about Mexico. I didn’t recognize the name Paul Theroux when I first saw this book recommended. It is such an enjoyable experience to know nothing about a book beforehand and read it with zero preconceived notions about what it will be about.
This old man takes a road trip through Mexico. I am in some Facebook groups where people do this all the time except this old man had access to a lot of well-known intellectuals along the way. He js an incredibly well-read foreigners who has never really lived in Mexico and doesn’t speak Spanish very well so tells stories of everyday people he met at breakfast. Sometimes those people are very interesting.
More than anything, Paul Theroux is a reader. I got more recommendations for books about Mexico from this one book than I have found anywhere. I had to start the book over and keep a pen close by to jot down the books that he read to write each section.
In the first section about the border I remembered many of the sensational events that made international headlines but I didn’t study the events as deeply as he did or talk with the researchers studying conflict on the border.
My first hint that this Paul Theroux guy was kind of a big deal was the section on teaching a writing class in Mexico City. I recognized some of the names of his students and realized the students were accomplished writers on their own and this old man was not teaching an introductory level class.
Towards the end, I realized that this old man is the godfather of travel literature and had written The Mosquito Coast which had been turned into a movie (1986) starring Harrison Ford (My Dad and I loved that movie).
I feel like I was his travel partner. I was exhausted by the time I finished listening to this book. Do I agree with everything that he said about Mexico? No, of course not. I live here full time and he is a traveler. But he is a reader and friends with some of the best writers of our day. There is a lot to take from his books. I may even read some of his other travel stories.
49. The Log from the Sea of Cortez by John Steinbeck
I will admit that I didn’t read Of Mice and Men in high school. After finishing The Log from the Sea of Cortez, I am probably going to go back and read some more Steinbeck. I really enjoyed this one.
Yes, Steinbeck is dated and prone to self-aggrandizing but it is important to think about what travel was like in the 1940s. This trip was kind of a big deal.
Steinbeck reminds me of a surfer planning their first Baja camping trip. Maybe, I had lost a little bit of that first-timer enthusiasm bur reading this text made me start planning my own adventure through Baja.
Surfers will love this book. There is a bunch of technical jargon related to oceanography but surfers usually thrive on that stuff.
My favorite sections describe Cabo San Lucas, Loreto, and La Paz in 1939. Hitler was already invading Poland but Japan hadn’t attacked Pearl Harbor yet. This is a very interesting moment in history.
50. In Search of Captain Zero: A Surfer’s Road Trip Beyond the End of the Road by Allan Weisbecker
This came out in 2002 just after I came back from a semester in Costa Rica. It sent my wanderlust into hyperdrive. I didn’t get into any of the trouble that Weisebecker did, but I secretly wanted to.
The author has been around the block and knows what’s up. It’s always good to read those guys so you know who’s who and what’s what in the underground world of traveling surfers. Weisbecher’s ego is legendary but that just makes the book more interesting.
If you are interested in overlanding and surfing throughout Mexico, then I think you will enjoy this book.
51. Bad Karma: The True Story of a Mexico Trip from Hell by Paul Wilson
Paul Wilson is not a professional author, but that makes the story a little closer to home. I imagined I was being told this story by a neighbor of mine in a Pacific Beach apartment complex, much like the Imperial Beach apartment complex the author describes in his book.
The narrative style includes a bunch of commentaries by the author about what he was thinking, but didn’t actually say to his travel partners.
The characters aren’t likable, but they are real. San Diego had and still has plenty of shady characters running from the la,w thinking that they can hide out in Mexico without repercussions.
It’s an easy read that you can plow through in a couple of sittings. If you enjoy road trips and surf trips through Mexico, you will enjoy this book. If you are looking for expert accounts of driving through Mexico you will be disappointed.
Best Books About Mexico for Kids
This is a new section of the article for me. I have two little kids and we read every night. I usually read to them in English because that is my stronger language. However, reading out loud in Spanish has really helped my Spanish. I have considered myself fluent in Spanish for many years but trying to do the voices in a children’s book is a good way to get even better.
These are some of our favorite books about Mexico for children.
52. Dear Primo: A Letter to My Cousin
My mom got his book for my oldest son because he has a cousin in the United States. We may not live on a farm like they do in the book but the idea is the same.
The book is beautifully illustrated and works to keep the families in touch. My mom also bought an English copy of the book for my nephew who just got his passport. We are expecting them to visit us in Puerto Vallarta next year.
After reading this book, my nephew loves to tell people about his family in Mexico.
Cookbooks About Mexican Cuisine
My grandmother had an incredible cookbook collection. She didn’t get to travel much and cookbooks were her window to the world.
When she got set up on the internet, she spent her days printing out collections of recipes that she wanted to have around.
My mom and I have continued the tradition. We love gifting cookbooks for birthdays and holidays and we have built up a nice collection. Much like my grandma, I like to see the world through beautiful books. These are some of my favorites.
53. Colima: Una Gran Travesía Gastronómica & Costas de Colima: Cocina de Mar, Corazon de Tierra by Nico Mejía
These books might be a little hard to find. Chef Nico Mejía prints up a few copies from time to time but they sell out quickly.
I got a chance to hear him give a presentation at the Guadalajara Book Fair (FIL) showing pictures of his travels. The book is equal parts travel guide and cookbook. I have thoroughly enjoyed traveling to the gastronomic experiences that he has recommended. There is a lot of living culture in these books.
Make sure to follow Nico Mejia on Instagram if you are interested in his books. You may be able to find copies at his restaurants as well.
54. Antes de que el Tiempo nos Alcance by Maru Toledo
Manu Toledo is a cookbook author and cultural anthropologist looking to document the oral traditions of the cooks from small towns in Jalisco. She has spent a great deal of time traveling different corners of the state to meet people and learn what they cook, and why.
In the introduction, Maru Toledo mentions her friend John Pint who has documented the geography of Jalisco. It is a very diverse place with tropical forests, beaches, arid deserts, maple forests, and a whole lot more. Agriculture changes enormously from place to place, and so does the food.
I like the stories that she tells along with the recipes. Pancho Villa once passes through this area and ate their birria. Or, this type of enchiladas was typical on a hacienda that grew sugarcane.
One of the most important sections of the book deals with moles. Jalisco has a long history of making moles, not just Oaxaca.
Maru Toledo has a ranch outside of Ahualulco de Mercado, Jalisco where she hosts events talking about traditional foods. They grow many of the ingredients they serve on the ranch. It is a great experience and she sells some of her cookbooks there.
55. Treasures of the Mexican Table by Pati Jinich
We love Pati Jinich around here. My mom introduced me to her program on television and I have become a pretty big fan. Before she was a television celebrity chef, she was a journalist, blogger, and political analyst. She has an understanding of Mexican culture that is rarely seen on the north side of the border.
56. The Soul of Baja by Javier Plascencia
Javier Plascencia is my favorite chef. I grew up in San Diego and loved everything related to Baja California. I met him when I first started exploring the Tijuana restaurant scene and instantly fell in love with his vision.
This cookbook about Mexico is just as much a love letter to the Baja Peninsula as it is a cookbook. There are some great recipes in there but there is even more nostalgia.
57. The Essential Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy
I’m not sure Diana Kennedy is someone that I would want to hang out with (1) (2) but you have to respect the work she has done documenting recipes from rural parts of Mexico for a very long time.
When I start researching a new type of food, I usually start with the Diana Kennedy books and move on from there, looking for other variations to try. Her books are pretty much the authority in English on regional Mexican recipes from the second half of the 20th century.
On a side note, my in-laws are from the town of Zitacuaro, Michoacan, and sold Diana Kennedy the piece of land she used to build her estate. It is a beautiful part of Mexico with an overlooked food culture. If you want to learn about ranch-style cuisine, Zitacuaro is a good place to start.
58. Seven Days In The Valley: Baja California’s Wine Country Cuisine by William Scott Koenig
Scott Koenig is one of the go-to guys when it comes to food in the Baja California region. He writes a great blog called a Gringo in Mexico highlighting great food on both sides of the border.
The intro was written by Nicholas Gilman who has been writing about Mexico City for over a decade and influenced me to start writing. These are very talented individuals who get to the heart of the blossoming Mexican wine country. This book would make a great Christmas or birthday present.
59. La Tacopedia: La Enciclopedia del Taco by Juan Carlos Mena
As the title would suggest, this is an encyclopedia dedicated to the taco. There is a lot more to the taco trade than one might believe at first. For example, there are a lot of different kinds of lamb. Young, old, gender, and race all change the flavor of your tacos de barbacoa. They also have some excellent recommendations for tacos. Most of the taco stands are in Mexico City but when you are in the area, you will eat better than a king.
60. Los Sabores de Nayarit by Alondra Maldonado Rodriguera
I spend a good deal of time in Nayarit and wanted to know more about the cuisine. Most people talk about Sinaloa-style seafood but my favorite seafood restaurant is Nayarit-style.
Chef Alondra Maldonado is as much a tour guide as she is an author. This book, and her social media, will introduce you to places you didn’t know exist. The seafood in Nayarit is excellent and I highly recommend you travel there to eat with the people who contribute recipes to this book.
Final Thoughts On The Best Books About Mexico
I love this article. I love going back and thinking about great books that I have read. As I mentioned in the beginning, I didn’t become a big reader until later in life. Today, I share many of these books with my family. Both my Mom and Mother-in-law are avid readers and read books with me. I really like being a part of the community that reads
As I am getting ready to take the naturalization exam, I feel better about my understanding of my adopted home because I read. Reading makes travel more interesting. I couldn’t imagine traveling to Mexico City and being oblivious to the history of Tenochtitlán. Seeing the dancers in the Zócalo, evoking centuries of tradition, helps make Mexico one of the best travel destinations in the world.
Read a book. You will thank me later.
