Alfred J. Mac Adam

Laura Diaz, born into a wealthy Mexican family in 1898, chooses, as a young woman, to live a more active life by marrying a working-class man, and, despite tragedy and loss, dies in 1972 a happy woman, having had a part in the grand sweep of her country's history.

A product of ten years of research and support from leading American and European universities, A Universal History of the Destruction of Books traces a tragic story: the smashed tablets of ancient Sumer, the widespread looting of libraries in post-war Iraq, the leveling of the Library of Alexandria, book burnings by Crusaders and Nazis, and censorship against authors past and present. With diligence and grace, Báez mounts a compelling investigation...

"Horizontal Vertigo: the title refers to the fear of ever-impending earthquakes, which led Mexicans to build their capital city outward rather than upward. With the perspicacity of a keenly observant flâneur, Villoro wanders through the city seemingly without a plan, describing people, places, and things, while brilliantly drawing connections among them, the better to reveal, in all its multitudinous glory, the vicissitudes and triumphs of Mexico...