The Mexicans: A Personal Portrait of a People [Paperback]

Patrick Oster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1990

A portrait of our southern neighbor in crisis, written by an award-winning reporter and told by Mexicans from every walk of life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Former Mexico City bureau chief for the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain, Oster strings together breezy stories of 20 Mexicansa cross-section of societyto illustrate the complexities of Mexico today. From Agustin, an honest cop, we learn that many Mexican police use torture as their number-one crime-solving technique. From the tale of Julio Scherer Garcia, a leading newspaper editor, we learn how kidnapping and intimidating phone calls stifle freedom of the press. Moving from Mexico City discos to remote Indian towns, we meet a doctor committed to helping poor patients despite his meager income, a struggling housemaid, a homosexual teacher wary of prejudice in a land of machismo, a TV comedian, a maverick politician, a herbal healer, environmentalists battling scavengers who live off a garbage dump. Oster, whose legally adopted son is a native Mexican, explains that illegal adoption is the norm, with bribery to grease the system's wheels. This revealing report points up many endemic or hidden problems in modern Mexico.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

To correct Americans' lack of understanding of Mexico, Oster combines human interest stories, many collected during his years as a Knight-Ridder reporter in Mexico, with carefully interwoven information on and analysis of political, economic, and social issues. The subjects of his short biographies are a cross-section of Mexicans: men, women, gays, politicians, intellectuals, business people, farmers, expatriates, and many more. He gives the general reader, to whom this book is addressed, a realistic and captivating view of Mexico, better than any now available. Although there are scattered errors of fact, they do not detract from the importance and readability of the book.
- Donald J. Mabry, Mississippi State Univ., Mississippi State
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins; 1st Perennial Library ed edition (March 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060973102
• ISBN-13: 978-0060973100
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,661,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patrick Oster is a managing editor of Bloomberg News in New York. He was previously editor-in-chief of the National Law Journal and has worked for Business Week in Europe, Knight Ridder in Mexico and covered the White House, State Department and the CIA as Washington Bureau Chief of The Chicago Sun-Times. His reporting in Mexico won an Overseas Press Club award. He won a Worth Bingham award for investigative reporting of the Reagan administration and three ABA Silver Gavel awards for coverage of the Supreme Court and other legal topics. He lives in Croton-on-Hudson, New York and is at work on a spy thriller, "The Sleeper List."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Real Mexico, February 8, 2007

By 

Joseph Guillaume (Kailua, HI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mexicans: A Personal Portrait of a People (Paperback)

First I need to state that I have never been to Mexico. The purpose of reading this book was to learn more about Mexico. Unfortunately, from what I have heard from visitors (not at tourist destinations) it can be a very dangerous place. Fortunately the author of this book does more than warn of the dangers, he share the warmth and spirit of the Mexican and Indian population. The book goes on to explain some of the reasons for the dangerous conditions, you probably already guessed: poverty. Hopefully for this beautiful and culturally rich country the economic conditions will improve.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible Book, November 12, 2006

By 

Michael H. Jacobs (Danville, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mexicans: A Personal Portrait of a People (Paperback)

Oster's book, based on personal experiences, gives a tremendous insight into the lives and mentality of the Mexican people. The reader gets a feel for why Mexicans and Mexico are the way that they are. This book is a must read for anyone with an interest in understanding Mexican culture.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great angle, May 14, 2003

By 

Brian Maitland (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mexicans: A Personal Portrait of a People (Paperback)

This was a great way to approach modern Mexico. The personal portraits of the Chavo (punk rocker), the Tragafuegos (street performers who do firebreathing!) and the Guera (beauty queen so to speak) were beyond brilliant. Oster manages to weave in the bigger picture of politics and culture within the framework of talking about individuals. Very Fellini-esque in a Mexican sort of way.