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 enlarge | Author: David Lida
Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $7.09
You Save: $18.86 (73%)
New (39) Used (13) from $7.09
Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 50697
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.4
ISBN: 1594489890
Dewey Decimal Number: 972.53084
EAN: 9781594489891
ASIN: 1594489890
Publication Date: June 12, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Fast Shipping! New book. May have small remainder mark. Customer service is our #1 priority.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Like being there August 31, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As a person who spent some teenage years living there. The sights and smells of a much smaller Mexico city of the 1950's returned to me.
Any one who gives this book a one star rating is totally out of touch
with reality. Mexico city has remained the same in just about all
aspects except that it is chaos on a greatly magnified scale.
This book goes where no run of the mill travel book will take you.
It will rub your nose into the filth as well as the lives of middle and upper class of the humans that reside there. A no holds barred adventure
I highly recomend it as a true taste of the Mexico city experience.
 Lida takes the scariness out of Mexico City August 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
David Lida observes, in his book "First Stop in the New World", that "what differentiates Mexico City from many other places in the relative ease with which a foreigner finds his place". That will come as a surprise to many who think of a scary, polluted sprawl teetering on the cusp of chaos and corruption. Lida, a resident journalist for nearly two decades, found his place by rambling through its countless neighborhoods, hanging out in cantinas, and talking to people about what it is like to live in a city where everyday survival can be a chancy matter of whatever, whenever, however. The book brims with personal experiences and each is put in a knowledgeable context of Mexico's unique history, culture, politics and economics. Lida succeeds is making this "emphatically Mexican city" seem less daunting by making it more comprehensible as a template for 21st century urban civilization.
Informative and much more... August 18, 2008
Not a bad read, especially for those interested in physical, political, economic details surrounding this great metropolis that is Mexico City. Great insight on the Mexican character although nothing new. Still, I recommend it to those in search of more than the usual tourist trap descriptions.
An Honorary Chilango August 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It is a city of many eye sores, bedlam, corruption, extreme poverty, and social dysfunction. And yet, as David Lida shows us in this wonderful book, Mexico City is one of the great cities of the world, and not simply because of its wonderful museums, archealogical treasures, and splendid restaurants. Lida finds wonder in the crowded subway cars, the cheesy flea markets, the debauched cantinas,and the aromatic food stands. The people that he writes about are also full-blooded and real. The government functionaries that pour into the central district in their polyester suits, the drag queens that perform in seedy bars, the taxi cab drivers (some good, some not so), and the many drinking companions that he meets along the way, are all worthy participants in this great endeavor (city and book). For the many of us who have an "amor amargo" (bittersweet love) with this most complex city, Lida has done a masterful job of capturing that affection.
 Fun! Go to Mexico City! Maybe You Won't Even Die! August 11, 2008
2 out of 22 found this review helpful
The bland homogenization of NYC may make for a boring holiday (unless you like the homey convenience of the Starbucks next door to the Duane Reed next door to the Chase Bank), but at least you won't have to worry about being kidnapped. Typical daily news from D.F., and not just in Alarma!:
"Fernando Marti, the son of a prominent businessman, was snatched on a Mexico City street in June and found dead last week, even though his family paid the ransom his captors demanded.
Several policemen have been detained for questioning in the death. Prosecutors believe they may have supplied kidnappers with information about the victim.
Last week, thieves robbing a bus on a highway north of Mexico City got mad when passengers didn't hand over possessions quickly and shot and killed a 5-year-old boy."
Charmed, I'm sure! Mexico is great!!
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