The Children of Sánchez: Autobiography of a Mexican Family

Closely follows the lives of a family of poor people in 1940s - 50s Mexico. Great insight into the life of the generation that formed modern Mexico. Classic.

This book for me is one of the most unbiased approaches to anthropogy I have ever read. It shocked me that he chose to take their interviews and turn them into stories using their own language. It is as if the people were talking to the reader. The conflicts are so real and believable that I do not think that Oscar Lewis allowed his own thoughts to even be part of his work. This is not a liberals approach to changing... Read Full Review

This book certainly lacks scientific data and all the other scholarly details usually found in an anthropological study. But there's nothing scientific about poverty. Footnotes and graphs have no place in this kind of examination. It's an emotional book, intimately conveying the scorn and contempt of family that's half-starved and forced to live in claustrophobic conditions."The Children of Sanchez" documents all the... Read Full Review

Genero: Para mi hay dos clases de géneros en esta obra, uno para las personas que solo leen el libro y pasan las paginas, y otro para los que leen entre líneas y descubren su significado real. La primera clase de genero, para este libro, sería una novela de personajes, pues son 5 personajes principales en la novela, y se centra en ellos, tiene una trama que se desarrolla a titulo de autobiografía utilizando para ello los... Read Full Review

This book is a remarkably intimate study of a family in Mexico City. How Oscar Lewis managed to get them to open up about their experiences, fears, loves, hates, dreams and suffering in such explicit detail is a mystery. Lewis must have assisted them to articulate their feelings and perspectives because their tales are beautiful to read. Five members of the Sanchez family give independent accounts of their lives of hardship... Read Full Review