Mexico [antikvár]

FOREWORD by James A. Michener In the summer of 1936, while I was serving as a professor at the future University of Northern Colorado, an accidental vacation launched me upon an intellectual adventure that would have life-long consequences. I visited México, immersed myself in its history, landscapes, and art, and grew to know the country as few Norteamericanos could. In succeeding years, I visited, and sometimes lived in, all parts of México except Quintana Roo, the easternmost state bordering on the Caribbean. I grew to love the vivid life of the capita], México City, but also the southern semi-jungles. I spent much time in the seaport of Vera Cruz on the eastern shore, but also in cities as varied as Guadalajara in the west, and especially Chihuahua in the far north, where I spent several protracted vacations. As I wandered through México, I found myself becoming deeply involved with two traditional aspects of native life. The first was bullfighting, in which I was fortunate in associating myself with a delightful pair of toreros with whom I toured the plazas of the country, and from whom I learned many of the secrets of their art, which I would later use in a variety of writings I did about México. My second concentration was on the dead revo-ludonary leader, Emiliano Zapata (1879-1919), who helped cleanse México of the dictator Porfirio Diaz. In later years, Zapata became the champion of the peasants. Unable to wrest land from the wealthy holders who controlled millions of acres of land, and who treated them like mindless peons, the peasants were compelled to serve their masters in virtual slavery. I became so enamored of Zapata and what he stood for that I spent one summer tracing the path of his revolutionary army and obtained such an insight into the workings of his mind that I decided to write a book about his exploits and his dreams. Alas, it came to nothing, because at that early age I had not yet either learned the lessons of writing nor attained the courage to engage in a substantial piece of composition. But the determination to write about México was