The Mexico City Reader

Awesome book. This books paints a picture of Mexico City like no other. It's a collection of 30-some essays and reportage. Some have a historical perspective (e.g., the Metro system just after it was built), while others are very recent. This isn't a guidebook, but it will give you a better understanding of the city's underpinnings than a stack of Lonely Planets ever will. Most of the authors are Mexicans; a lot of the essays are famous in Mexico, and appearing in English for the first time. There is a level of authenticity here that is not reached by competing books (e.g., David Lida's 'First Stop in the New World' -- which is more of an American journalist's perspective on things.) The writing is exciting, artistic, and well-chosen.