A new book details how native groups used Spain’s legal system and their own maps to prevent colonists from taking over their lands.
Stories by Rich Tenorio
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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.
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Recognition slow for man behind Mexico’s sole periodic table discovery
Scientist Andrés Manuel del Río identified vanadium in 1801, but controversy prevented him from getting the credit for over a century.
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Biologist’s memoir recounts his global journeys in search of extinct species
Forrest Galante’s new memoir shares tales from his globetrotting life spent finding animals believed to be no longer in existence.
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Baile de los 41 imagines secret life of Porfirio Diaz’s gay son-in-law
In 1901, 41 men were arrested in an illegal Mexico City gay club. A new film imagines the rumored 42nd guest: the husband of Díaz’s daughter.
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Film featuring Michoacán’s monarch butterflies takes flight at film festivals
‘Son of Monarchs’ by Alexis Gambis has been winning prizes at several United States film festivals this year, including Sundance.
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Meeting the Tarahumara inspired book on ‘weird’ history of exercise
Daniel Lieberman’s encounter with an indigenous Copper Canyon tribal group inspired him to research how we became so concerned with fitness.
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Film depicts artist Josep Bartoli’s little-known friendship with Frida Kahlo
The acclaimed film looks at the Spanish artist’s relationship with Kahlo after he landed in Mexico following the fall of France to the Nazis.
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Zapotec author captures the troubled duality of modern indigenous life
Pergentino José’s book, Red Ants, published by Deep Vellum Press, is the first literary work to be translated from Zapotec to English.
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Mexico’s contemporary authors find fertile symbolic ground in ghosts
Literary scholar Carolyn Wolfenzon’s book investigates how many of Mexico’s contemporary authors share the theme of specters in their work.
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Film shines a rare spotlight on Mexico City’s Syrian Jewish community
Director Isaac Cherem’s debut, “Leona,” is the first cinematic treatment of the ethnic group, and, for him, a deeply personal story.
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US Negro League stars found better pay, integration and fame in Mexico
James Bell was a baseball star here during the 1940s, playing for teams that offered more money and acceptance than he could find in America.
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Young writer pens children’s book based on his own adventures in Mexico
Though not yet out of middle school, Arden Pala is already an author. His latest tome for young readers raises money for a Covid-19 fund.
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An 1800s vaccine campaign in Mexico offers lessons in beating Covid
In 1803, physician Francisco Javier de Balmis came to Mexico on a mission — to end smallpox. His story could inform today’s vaccine campaigns.
