John Ross has been "embedded" in his Mexico City hotel room for 25 years, reporting from the front lines of class warfare and failed democracy experiments among the Chilangos. This is Ross's love letter to the city, chock full of history and personal recollections. From Zapata to Carlos Slim to Subcommandante Marcos to Porfirio Díaz, and droplets of his neighbors' stories sprinkled in for local color.
The city, or el Monstruo, is alive, being smothered in its own smog layer, shaken violently in massive earthquakes, and the focus of dissent for hundreds of years.
Whodunnit? peppers the pages as Ross wonders who was responsible for various murders along the political trail. Mexico had several stolen elections in recent history, 1988 and 2006.
Among other things I did not know (too many to count with this book), I learned that Plumed Serpent by DH Lawrence was inspired by Mexico City. Queuing that one up next...
Bonus points to John Ross for having an awesome domain name:
http://www.johnross-rebeljournalist.com
Leave a comment