True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, the Popsicle Kings, Chalino, and the Bronx

It is clear from the book there is more than one Mexico. It's not what you think. The border is a focus but hardly all. Gangs are a focus. The book raises a major question. Is Mexico changing and how?Quinones presents many portraits from gangbanger singer Chalino Sanchez to the dead women of Juarez. Each sketch adds a different and fascinating dimension to a complex perception of what Mexico is. No other book presents that plurality as well. The book is a page turner, a fast paced quick read. It is not, however, superficial but in-depth coverage. It is fascinating.

This book will blow your mind. Quinones is able to totally take you into worlds rarely heard about before. Who knew there was a thriving basketball hotbed in Oaxaca that has been transported to LA? The whole genre of narcocorridos (basically, traditional Mexican "country" [ranchero] music with a gangsta slant) started in LA, too. The topics of lynchings in rural Mexico, the popularity of telenovelas at home and in Eastern Europe(?) and the religious cult at Neuva Jerusalen are all so fascinating and far beyond anything anyone has probably imagined Mexico to be. He has an inate ability to dig up and find the most fascinating stories in the most out-of-the-way places yet also show how they often are a microcosmic reflection of how Mexican society operates in general. The question is: When is Sam Quinones going to compile a Tales 2?

This book is fantastic. I don't often actually buy non-fiction because I usually don't plan to re-read it. This is a rare exception. Quinones is 1st & foremost a great storyteller. You'd hardly notice that it's all true if it weren't for the fact that these tales are simply too good to be fiction. Quinones has a knack for noticing the seemingly invisible. The best example being the tale of Chalino Sanchez (who graces the cover). How could someone who completely misses the U.S. radar of popular culture become a folk hero and single-handedly create a musical genre selling millions of copies of albums in the process & then having at least 1,500 songs written about him? Quinones manages to make it sound perfectly believable. If you're anything like me you'll be mesmerized by these essays.

Quinones has an eye for Mexico that's not shared by most gringo writers. And he's got the ability to insinuate himself into situations that none of us have the flair, diplomacy -- or even the cojones -- to penetrate. Like hanging with the Kansas City gang out in Zamora. Or explaining those fancy but unoccupied houses out in the hinterland.He's got the ability to transcend just world of Mexico -- he even knows that Dickies manufactures for LL Bean.Frequently when I relate something I've read about Mexico to Mexicans, asking for their verification, I'm laughed out of the room. I queried our in-house panel of experts - Ramiro, my gardener who owns two Paleterias Michoacanas right in the 'hood, and Maria, the woman who works for me and hails from a burg in the Tierra Caliente -- and they agreed with Quinones' assessments. Now, we all know what rancho and corrido mean. Or so we think. But Quinones takes those concepts just a step farther, explaining the social importance of concepts like these, threading the sense of community throughout each story in this book.And did you notice that the publisher bound this book just a notch above the usual bindings? It's a library binding, and that says something. This book demands it, because it's one to be read over and over again.

Quinones, an accomplished storyteller, uses a narrative style to grand effect. Sometimes, the narrative takes unbelievable turns, yet the author has met each of his subjects, and, while his text is by necessity anecdotal, his is a refreshing treatment of a country in which everything has been penetrated by the ruling party. He recounts stories of men who dress as women, of the narcotraficantes, and of the chamber of deputies' section called The Bronx, where misbehaving is both common and a speciality. This is an excellent view of the informal economy and various means that are used to get around Mexico's reliclike system of social, economic, and political organization. Highly recommended. . . ."--Library Journal