Two authors have written recent books that examine Mexico’s disappearing diversity of corn varieties and efforts to preserve them.
Stories by Rich Tenorio
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Acclaimed children’s book has an unlikely star: Mexico’s axolotl
Helsinki-based author Linda Bondestam’s My Life at the Bottom: The Story of a Lonesome Axolotl gently teaches kids about climate change.
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Historical novel tells story of Mexican-American war’s Irish battalion
A Ballad of Love and Glory’s hero is a real Irishman who deserted the U.S. army and led other Irish immigrants in fighting for Mexico.
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In the US Civil War’s aftermath, some Confederates fled to Mexico
Reasons for coming here included escaping execution, refusal to live under Union rule and fear of reprisals in a postwar environment.
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Did the Mexica consider Hernán Cortés a god? Probably not, says historian
Tales of ancient Mesoamericans taking the Spanish for deities were likely Spain’s later efforts at justifying conquest, a new book suggests.
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‘Soldados o Zombies’ creators mix social commentary and zombie fun
Despite being a Mexican-produced, Spanish-language show, its combo of political satire and genre gore hit No. 5 on Amazon-US’s new releases.
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Graphic novel’s creators portray Diego Rivera’s life in living color
The new book Diego Rivera is a visually impressive biography in comics format that takes an unflinching look at the Mexican muralist’s life.
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Pre-Hispanic city of Calixtlahuaca’s story didn’t end with the conquest
A new book traces how researchers used geoarchaeology to trace the Calixtlahuaca site’s history before and after the Spanish arrived.
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In border radio’s early days, psychics and mystics ruled the airwaves
From the 1920s, popular charlatans in the United States built powerful “border blaster” stations in Mexico to evade fraud scrutiny.
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How 16th-century epidemics made Mexico’s Catholicism more indigenous
Conquest-borne illnesses that decimated native populations also divided Church officials’ unity, scholar Jennifer Scheper Hughes says.
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Book looks at Mexico’s avocado boom and other Latin American tragedies
Journalist Andy Robinson’s Gold, Oil and Avocados cites Michoacán as just one example of the many boom-bust economies plaguing the region.
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Historian’s book strives to better understand Mexico’s Spanish invaders
Historian Fernando Cervantes used sources ranging from indigenous codexes to chivalric romances to capture the conquistadors’ perspective.
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Not by sword but by pen: how Mexico’s peoples fought colonization in court
A new book details how native groups used Spain’s legal system and their own maps to prevent colonists from taking over their lands.
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New Maximilian biography takes different view on Mexico’s maligned monarch
The doomed Hapsburg aristocrat who France installed as emperor here in 1864 had surprisingly liberal sympathies by 19th-century standards.
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How a tiny Mexican port named Bagdad became a battleground in 2 wars
During the 1860s, this now defunct Tamaulipas port was fought over by the United States and Mexico in both countries’ civil wars.
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Filmmaker investigates the day Pancho Villa raided the US to kill her grandfather
A new film explores the slippery truth of the day the Mexican revolutionary attacked an American border town after an arms deal gone wrong.
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New book delves into history of US attempt to hunt down Pancho Villa
War on the Border author Jeff Guinn began researching this event of the Mexican Revolution after hearing Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric.
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Researcher’s book on Aztecs focuses not on rulers but on average citizens
Anthropologist Frances Berdan’s new book The Aztecs seeks to broaden notions of the Mexica civilization beyond violence and conquest.
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TV chef Pati Jinich’s special explores border cities’ unique melded cuisines
The star of Pati’s Mexican Table is fascinated by how U.S.-Mexico border food is as culturally intertwined as its residents’ daily lives are.
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Scholar says ‘underestimated’ Mexica writing system deserves respect
Gordon Whittaker’s new book, ‘Deciphering Aztec Hieroglyphics,’ aims to persuade readers of the ancient script’s sophistication.
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Mexico’s ‘Bat Man’ adds PBS documentary to his list of achievements
The story of how Rodrigo Medellin’s feature on the long-running TV show Nature got made starts with broadcaster David Attenborough.
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Baja 1000 film’s lens focuses on impact of race on those who live around it
Off the Road, José Permar’s debut about the race’s effects on Mexican locals in towns along the route, won an Atlanta Film Festival award.
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Juan Villoro’s latest book celebrates joys and tragedies of life as a chilango
Horizontal Vertigo recounts growing up Mexico City’s labyrinth and living through some of its biggest historical events of the last 40 years.
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Artist’s catrinas, coyotes and serpent gods explore issues of social justice
The book Graphic in Transit is a primer on Sergio Sánchez Santamaría, the nation’s acclaimed modern lithograph artist you’ve never heard of.
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This year’s Tokyo winners join a 120-year tradition of Mexican medalists
Mexico’s athletes have won Olympic medals for over a century, the first being a bronze in polo, garnered in 1900 at the Games in Paris.
