Diplomatic Days


Book Description

Author was the wife of the secretary of the American Embassy in Mexico City. Through letters written from May 1911 to October 1912, she described her introduction to Mexico and the beginnings of the Mexican Revolution.




We Are What We Eat


Book Description

Ghulam Bombaywala sells bagels in Houston. Demetrios dishes up pizza in Connecticut. The Wangs serve tacos in Los Angeles. How ethnicity has influenced American eating habits—and thus, the make-up and direction of the American cultural mainstream—is the story told in We Are What We Eat. It is a complex tale of ethnic mingling and borrowing, of entrepreneurship and connoisseurship, of food as a social and political symbol and weapon—and a thoroughly entertaining history of our culinary tradition of multiculturalism. The story of successive generations of Americans experimenting with their new neighbors’ foods highlights the marketplace as an important arena for defining and expressing ethnic identities and relationships. We Are What We Eat follows the fortunes of dozens of enterprising immigrant cooks and grocers, street hawkers and restaurateurs who have cultivated and changed the tastes of native-born Americans from the seventeenth century to the present. It also tells of the mass corporate production of foods like spaghetti, bagels, corn chips, and salsa, obliterating their ethnic identities. The book draws a surprisingly peaceful picture of American ethnic relations, in which “Americanized” foods like Spaghetti-Os happily coexist with painstakingly pure ethnic dishes and creative hybrids. Donna Gabaccia invites us to consider: If we are what we eat, who are we? Americans’ multi-ethnic eating is a constant reminder of how widespread, and mutually enjoyable, ethnic interaction has sometimes been in the United States. Amid our wrangling over immigration and tribal differences, it reveals that on a basic level, in the way we sustain life and seek pleasure, we are all multicultural.




Woman Hollering Creek


Book Description

A collection of stories by Sandra Cisneros, the celebrated bestselling author of The House on Mango Street and the winner of the 2019 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. The lovingly drawn characters of these stories give voice to the vibrant and varied life on both sides of the Mexican border with tales of pure discovery, filled with moments of infinite and intimate wisdom.




Mex-Ciné


Book Description

A multidisciplinary investigation of contemporary Mexican cinema




El Monstruo


Book Description

John Ross has been living in the old colonial quarter of Mexico City for the last three decades, a rebel journalist covering Mexico and the region from the bottom up. He is filled with a gnawing sense that his beloved Mexico City's days as the most gargantuan, chaotic, crime-ridden, toxically contaminated urban stain in the western world are doomed, and the monster he has grown to know and love through a quarter century of reporting on its foibles and tragedies and blight will be globalized into one more McCity. El Monstruo is a defense of place and the history of that place. No one has told the gritty, vibrant histories of this city of 23 million faceless souls from the ground up, listened to the stories of those who have not been crushed, deconstructed the Monstruo's very monstrousness, and lived to tell its secrets. In El Monstruo, Ross now does.




Astronomy for Older Eyes


Book Description

This book is for the aging amateur astronomy population, including newcomers to astronomy in their retirement and hobbyists who loved peering through a telescope as a child. Whether a novice or an experienced observer, the practice of astronomy differs over the years. This guide will extend the enjoyment of astronomy well into the Golden Years by addressing topics such as eye and overall health issues, recommendations on telescope equipment, and astronomy-related social activities especially suited for seniors. Many Baby-Boomers reaching retirement age are seeking new activities, and amateur astronomy is a perfect fit as a leisure time activity. Established backyard astronomers who began their love of astronomy in their youth, meanwhile, may face many physical and mental challenges in continuing their lifelong hobby as they age beyond their 55th birthdays. That perfect telescope purchased when they were thirty years old now suddenly at sixty years old feels like an immovable object in the living room. The 20/20 eyesight has given way to reading glasses or bifocals. Treasured eyepieces feel all wrong. Growing old is a natural process of life, but astronomy is timeless. With a little knowledge and some lifestyle adjustments, older astronomers can still enjoy backyard observing well into their seventies, eighties and even into their nineties.




Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food


Book Description

Eating junk food and fast food is a great all-American passion. American kids and grownups love their candy bars, Big Macs and supersized fries, Doritos, Twinkies, and Good Humor ice cream bars. The disastrous health effects from the enormous appetite for these processed fat- and sugar-loaded foods are well publicized now. This was particularly dramatically evidenced by Super Size Me (2004), filmmaker Morgan Spurlock's 30-day all-McDonald's diet in which his liver suffered the same poisoning as if he had been on an extended alcohol binge. Through increased globalization, American popular food culture is being increasingly emulated elsewhere in the world, such as China, with the potential for similar disastrous consequences. This A-to-Z reference is the first to focus on the junk food and fast food phenomena from a multitude of angles in addition to health and diet concerns. More than 250 essay entries objectively explore the scope of the topics to illuminate the American way through products, corporations and entrepreneurs, social history, popular culture, organizations, issues, politics, commercialism and consumerism, and much more. Interest in these topics is high. This informative and fascinating work, with entries on current controversies such as mad cow disease and factory farming, the food pyramid, movie tie-ins, and marketing to children, will be highly useful for reports, research, and browsing. It takes readers behind the scenes, examining the significance of such things as uniforms, training, packaging, and franchising. Readers of every age will also enjoy the nostalgia factor, learning about the background of iconic drive-ins, the story behind the mascots, facts about their favorite candy bar, and collectables. Each entry ends with suggested reading. Besides an introduction, a timeline, glossary, bibliography, resource guide, and photos enhance the text. Sample entries: A&W Root Beer; Advertising; Automobiles; Ben & Jerry's; Burger King; Carhops; Center for Science in the Public Interest; Christmas; Cola Wars; Employment; Fair Food; Fast Food Nation; Hershey, Milton; Hollywood; Injury; Krispy Kreme; Lobbying; Nabisco; Obesity; PepsiCo; Salt; Soda Fountain; Teen Hangouts; Vegetarianism; White Castle; Yum! Brands, Inc.




Mexican Kaleidoscope


Book Description

In Mexican Kaleidoscope, award-winning author Tony Burton delves into Mexico's rich history and culture. He focuses on a dazzling selection of events, individuals, myths and mysteries to explore some of the reasons why Mexico has become such an extraordinarily diverse and interesting nation. The 30 short chapters of Mexican Kaleidoscope span the entire range of time periods, from long before the Spanish conquest to the modern day. The topics considered range from cuisine, Aztec farming, Mayan pyramids, sheep and superstitions to mythical cities, aerial warfare, art, music and the true origins of Mexico's national symbols. Along the way, we encounter many unusual, strange, weird and wonderful aspects of Mexico. Mexican Kaleidoscope unravels some of the many forces that have helped shape Mexico's history and culture and helps us understand the appeal and mystique of this engaging country.




A Diplomat's Wife in Mexico


Book Description

Originally written in the form of a series of letters to her mother, this book turned into one of the most insightful accounts of the political upheavals in Mexico prior to the First World War. Stationed along with her husband-America's chargé d'affaires in Mexico-O'Shaughnessy used her keen eye and sharp wit to record a dramatic period of the Mexican Revolution, from October 8th, 1913, through to the breaking off of diplomatic relations on April 23rd, 1914. She shows how continuous American meddling in the affairs of Mexico-and other parts of Latin America-have never served any purpose except to incite hatred against Americans. The author's account of these events earned her fame and praise in diplomatic historical circles, and her all-too-accurate observations on race, civilization, and Mexico have been proven correct countless times over since this book was first published.




Laser Eyes Space Cat Riding Sloth, Llama - Rainbow Daily Weekly Planner


Book Description

Features: - over 100 pages- daily and weekly planner for a quarter- organize your weekly goals, work tasks, notes to self, and personal errands- Front cover print from an independent designer- Makes a perfect funny gift so pick one up today