Top 10 for the Cinco de Mayo

In commemoration of the Battle of Puebla, herewith the top 10 links to Mexico-related content from Yours Truly:

1. 

Looking at Mexico in New Ways: An Interview with Historian John Tutino

For the Marfa Mondays Podcasting project

(Podcast and transcript)

2. 

Raymond Caballero on Mexican Revolutionary General Pascual Orozco and Far West Texas

For the Marfa Mondays Podcast Project

(Podcast and transcript)

3. 

The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, my novel based on the deeply researched true story of Agustín de Iturbide y Green. It was published on Cinco de Mayo back in (whew) 2009, and was named a Library Journal Best Book of that year. It's also available in Spanish, beautifully translated by Agustín Cadena as El último príncipe del Imperio Mexicano. 

> Q & A (numerous interviews plus a Reader's Guide)

> My lecture for the Library of Congress Hispanic Division

> PEN Writers Aloud San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (podcast)

> Review by Pablo Soler Frost for Letras Libres

4. 

Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California, the Other Mexico

> Excerpts

> Photo album

> Rolf Potts interviews me about this book for Vagabonding

5.

My 2015 Centennial Lecture for the University of Texas El Paso, 

"On Writing About Mexico: Secrets and Surprises"
Mexico's half-American prince, Jesuits in Lower California, and the secret book by the leader of Mexico' 1910 revolution.

6. 

Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual. This is my translation and introduction to the secret book by Francisco I. Madero, leader of the 1910 Revolution and

President of Mexico from 1911-1913. Also available in Spanish, my introduction beautifully translated by Agustín Cadena as Odisea metafísica hacia la Revolución Mexicana.

> Why Translate? The Case of the President of Mexico's Secret Book (My talk for the American Literary Translators Conference 2014)

> Jeffrey Mishlove's interview with me about this book for "New Thinking Allowed" TV show

> Greg Kaminsky's interview with me about this book for the "Occult of Personality" podcast

> Review by José Mariano Leyva for Letras Libres

7.

Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion

My anthology of 24 Mexican writers, many in translation for the first time.

> Read the introduction by Yours Truly

> Read a short story story by Agustín Cadena

> John Yside's interview with me about literary translation for National Public Radio 

8.  

Three super crunchy podcasts focusing on Mexico from my Conversations with Other Writers series:

A Conversation with Biographer Michael K. Schuessler on Pita Amor, Elena Poniatowska, Sor Juana and Alma Reed

A Conversation with Historian M. M. McAllen on Maximilian and Carlota

A Conversation with Mexican Writer, Poet and Editor Rose Mary Salum

On Making Connections with Literature and Art

9. 
Three blog posts about visits to unusual sites in Mexico

A Visit to the ex-Hacienda de Chautla
(From the Maximilian and Carlota research blog)

A Visit to Las Pozas, Xilita
(From this blog, Madam Mayo)

Junípero Serra in the Sierra Gorda
(Also from this blog, Madam Mayo)

10. 

My Recollections of Maximilian by Marie de la Fere

A rare English language eyewitness memoir of Maximilian from the Bancroft Library. Edited and introduced by Yours Truly. On the website you can read the chapbook either on the page or as a free formatted PDF download.

Your comments are always welcome.

CLICK HERE.

I also invite you to sign up for my newsletter

which I might get around to sending it out in June. 

It will have podcasts. 

REGISTER HERE.

Notes on Xavier González, "Moonlight Over the Chisos" 

and a Visit to Mexico City's Antigua Academia de San Carlos

Dreamland by Sam Quinones (review for Literal)

Rosemary Sullivan: A Traveler in Mexico (podcast)

For Mexicophiles: Recommended Reading

Cinco de Mayo Edition

I usually post on Mondays and Wednesdays but I had to make an exception this week for the 150th anniversary of Cinco de Mayo. No, this is not Mexico's Independence Day; it commemorates the victory of the Mexican Republican forces against the invading Imperial French Army at the city of Puebla (near Mexico City) on May 5, 1862-- a temporary victory, as it turned out. Before the Republic could be reestablished, there was that brief, tragic, and very painterly interlude known as the Second Empire (Maximilian von Habsburg et al).

Herewith 5 links:

The aftermath of that long-ago battle is in my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire.

Read more about Cinco de Mayo over at my blog post on Donald W. Miles and his work.

My south of the border music selections (ye olde guest-blog post for Wendi Kaufman's The Happy Booker), apropos of my anthology of 24 Mexican writers on Mexico, Mexico: A Traveler's Literary Companion.

My favorite place to visit near Puebla (nothing to do with the battle): Eulogio Gillow's English-style castle in a trout pond.

A really fun and informative blog post about Mexican murals, over at the MOMA blog: "Five for Friday: Mexican Muralists on Cinco de Mayo" by Bonnie MacKay.

VIVA!

Ópera y vida cotidiana en la Puebla Imperial, a new book by Margarita López Cano

Professor of history and opera expert Margarita López Cano has just brought out a fascinating new book, Ópera y vida cotidiana en la Puebla Imperial ("Opera and Daily Life in Imperial Puebla"), co-published by CONACULTA and the Secretary of Culture of the State of Puebla, as part of the "Colección Bicentenario 2010."

Puebla is that Mexican city made famous by the Cinco de Mayo, the temporary but devastatingly defeat of the invading French Imperial Army in 1862. One of Mexico's most splendid Spanish colonial cities, Puebla is strategically situated on the route inland from Veracruz; no power could rule from Mexico City without first controlling Puebla. The French did retake Puebla a year later, however, and then Mexico City; thus, only a year later than planned, by the spring of 1864, having been crowned Emperor and Empress of Mexico in Trieste, Maximilian and Carlota were en route.

The Second Empire has rich and staggeringly diverse sound track . . . CONTINUE READING over at my other blog, Maximilian ~ Carlota: a blog for researchers, both armchair, and serious, of the Second Empire or "French Intervention."

Cinco de Mayo: It's Pub Date for The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire by C.M. Mayo (Unbridled Books)

Here's the announcement:

Who knew that Mexico once had a half-American prince? Or that this little boy’s future was hotly debated not just in Mexico but in Washington D.C. and in every court in Europe? Set in the mid-19th century when Maximilian von Habsburg was Emperor of Mexico, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire is based on the true and never before completely told story about a half-American, half-Mexican boy who, as in a fairytale, became a prince and then a pawn in the struggle-to-the-death over Mexico's destiny. Read all about it here and buy it now at your local independent bookstore, Barnes & Noble, amazon.com, Powell's, basically, you-name-it, here.

Epic in scope, Mayo's impressively researched novel set in mid-19th century Mexico City mines the true story of the short turbulent reign of the archduke of Austria, Maximilian von Hapsburg, who was made emperor of Mexico in 1864. Childless and desperate for an heir, the emperor makes substantial monetary promises to the parents of a young boy named Agustin. With much trepidation, they agree to give over the boy, who becomes a pawn in a custody battle that begins when Maximilian adopts the two-year-old Agustin with the hopes of having him inherit the throne. Agustin's American mother, Madame de Iturbide (née Alice Green), soon becomes dissatisfied with the arrangement and pleads with Maximilian to return her son. Maximilian has Alice deported, which sets off an international brawl. Maximilian finally concedes as Mexico devolves “into bankruptcy and lawlessness” and Maximilian's wife, Carlota, becomes increasingly “unmoored.” Lengthy, expository, meandering and grandiose, Mayo's reanimation of a crucial period in Mexican history should satisfy history buffs and those in the mood for an engaging story brimming with majestic ambition.
Publisher's Weekly

...a ton of juicy history to savor. Mayo has an elegant style that weaves in and out of fact and fiction as she reaches into the minds of the major players and then deviates to introduce supporting characters (nearly all of them real as well)... After finishing this wonderful novel I have new respect for the trials suffered by our southern neighbor in the recent past and also a deep desire to learn more about so many of the names involved, not the least of which the little boy who almost became the future ruler of a nation.
Bookslut

Mayo resurrects a sad story from the footnotes of history and embroiders the few details known about it into a rich historical novel... Mayo comfortably blends fiction with fact while illuminating a dark corner of North American history.
Booklist

The Last Prince deserves attention. It is an ambitious book for tackling such a complicated little sliver of history, and Mayo brings her historic characters to life with a compelling story for a modern audience.
Rose City Reader

...impeccably researched and beautifully rendered. Those readers who love complex historical novels and who want to learn more about this time period in Mexican history will enjoy Mayo’s work.
Caribou's Mom Book Blog

...a story that is both grand yet intimate about a child who sparked an international scandal. The intriguing tale of the Prince of Mexico offers a fine historical lesson about why Maximilian’s paternalistic adventure in a country that did not want him was doomed from the start.
The Latin American Review of Books

The search for an heir is the ostensible subject... The couple find a boy who had been born to a grandson of the previous emperor of Mexico, Augustín Iturbide, and they sign a contract with the parents saying that they will raise him, starting at age two... If this is all too confusing, don't sweat it: everything is made clear, charmingly so, in The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. The book is chockablock full of royal families, royal rumors, royal disputes, as well as being an Upstairs, Downstairs to 19th Century royal life of uplands Mexico.
The Review of Arts, Literature, Philsophy and the Humanities

T]his epic novel takes on a convoluted period in Mexico's history and the complicated families ruling or eager to rule in the mid-19th Century. Mayo does exceptionally well with multiple points of view, description, and character development to create a vivid dramatization. The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire would make a great book club selection and discussion.
Savvy Verse & Wit

This short but tumultuous period of Mexico’s history is fantastically told by first-time novelist, C.M. Mayo, fans of Mexican history will devour it.
Sherri Gallentine Vroman’s Bookstore, Pasadena, CA

Click here to read excerpts, view photos, and much more.

Blogging Vacation Until May 10

Got to finish the last chapter of the novel. And finalize Tameme chapbook #2. Hasta pronto. Back on May 10th.

CINCO DE MAYO UPDATE: See my post from last May. And about the imbroglio, whatever imbroglio, mais quois, the self-justifying memoirs pop up like mushrooms. For an introduction to the French in Mexico, see Jean Meyer's anthology, Yo, el frances.