Tag Archives: Mexico

Double play: Mobile & Latin America

Posted on February 15, 2021 by smellincoffee

This past week has seen a little progress on the ol’ TBR front, as I knocked out three books from the list, including The Network and those below. First up was E.O. Wilson’s Why We Are Here: Mobile and the … Continue reading →

Posted in history, Reviews, World Affairs | Tagged , , , , | 15 Comments

How to Run a Drug Cartel

Posted on June 11, 2020 by smellincoffee

Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel © 2016 Tom Wainright 288 pages I only know of one rule for the drug business, and that via Scarface: never get high on your own supply.  And as Manny could tell you, … Continue reading →

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The Beast

Posted on April 7, 2020 by smellincoffee

The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail © 2014 224 pages This is the third of three reviews I needed to publish before the English material can roll. And now, Rule Britannia! The news cycle … Continue reading →

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American Dirt

Posted on March 9, 2020 by smellincoffee

American Dirt © 2020 Jeanine Cummins 387 pages It was the garden party from hell. One moment,  Lydia Pérez was enjoying her niece’s quinceañera; the next, she and her son Luca were huddling in the shower, listening as their family … Continue reading →

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Flying high in rockets and opiods

Posted on December 31, 2018 by smellincoffee

Well, folks, Christmas is over, and so is 2018 — almost.  Below are the final comments or reviews for 2018: Dreamland and Rocket Girls,   two very different histories. One is inspiring, the other….so very not. First up, Rocket Girls!  Call to … Continue reading →

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Fire and Blood

Posted on June 20, 2018 by smellincoffee

Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico © 1973 T.R. Fehrenbach675 pages Fire and Blood is an epic history of Mexico, one that begins at the dawn of time and takes its time moving on.  Case in point: the 20th century is … Continue reading →

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House of Rain

Posted on February 17, 2018 by smellincoffee

House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest© 2007 Craig Childs482 pages Throughout the southwest United States and northern Mexico there are ruins from a people long gone, people remembered as the Anasazi. The name is not … Continue reading →

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The Black Ice

Posted on September 12, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Black Ice© 1993 Michael Connelly336 pages A body discovered in a sleazy motel on Christmas Eve connects a handful of otherwise dead cases, and sets Detective Harry Bosch against his own department, culminating in the pursuit of a half-chance … Continue reading →

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The Irish Soldiers of Mexico

Posted on August 6, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Irish Soldiers of Mexico© 1997 Michael Hogan298 pages And it was there in the pueblos and the hillsidesThat I saw the mistake I had madePart of a conquering army, with the morals of a bayonet brigadeAnd amidst all these … Continue reading →

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The Mexican Frontier

Posted on July 27, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Mexican Frontier 1821 – 1846: The American Southwest Under Mexico©  1982 David Weber (University of New Mexico Press)440 pages In 1821, the people of Mexico declared their independence from Spain, recognizing that its Napoleonic straits meant that the mother … Continue reading →

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