I purchased this book for a trek through the Hopi and Navajo Nations in order to better appreciate a different culture, worldview food and lots more. They are two of five hundred federally recognized Indigenous nations comprising three million people, descendants of the fifteen million Native people which once inhabited this country—the Navajo Nation is the largest. I chose this book to get a perspective from a Native American and how they resisted “Manifest Destiny” and a U.S. “settler-colonial” regimen, which is rarely presented in our history books. Spanning four hundred years, the bottom-up peoples’ history reframes U.S. […]
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The Green Pope by Miguel Angel Asturias, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I initially read this book years ago in Spanish but decided to read and review it in English as its story is so relevant to the challenges facing Guatemala today. I’m also producing a documentary on immigration and social justice challenges in Guatemala, Trouble in the Highlands and this book deals with land tenure and the control of land by international/U.S. corporations. And the author is a Nobel Prize winner for literature. Much of my documentary and Asturias’s works are inspired by the Maya culture in the highlands of Guatemala. This is an overarching theme which influenced the […]
Continue readingThe President by Miguel Angel Asturias, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I’d read this Latin American classic in Spanish years ago, but decided to read it again in English in order to share it with a broader audience. Although it was published before I was born, it’s relevant today, as it portrays the damaging psychological impact of a totalitarian government and the brutality it will go through to maintain power—a phenomenon all too real to Guatemalans today. Much to my surprise, my Guatemalan wife had to read this when she was in seventh grade – something I wouldn’t recommend for today’s students in the U.S. even though it’s been translated into […]
Continue readingRed Nation Rising: From Bordertown Violence to Native Liberation by Nick Estes, Melanie Yazzie, Jennifer Denetdale and David Correia Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
Ironically, I finished reading this book on what was called “Columbus Day,” which is not what it used to be—there’s a new story/reality in town. And this book, written by four professors at the University of New Mexico—three of the four are from Dine and Kul Wicasa tribes, provides a decidedly different perspective on our country’s relationship to, and treatment of, Indigenous communities. A decidedly Indigenous perspective. And for the first time in our history, a U.S. President officially issued a proclamation marking “Indigenous Peoples Day.” Much of this was never taught in any of my high school history courses […]
Continue readingThe Scandal of the Century and Other Writings by Gabriel García Márquez, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
“I don’t want to be remembered for One Hundred Years of Solitude, nor for the Nobel Prize, but rather for the newspaper. I was born a journalist and today I feel more than ever that I am a reporter. It’s in my blood.” After all the accolades of his fiction writing, few appreciate how important journalism was to Marquez and overlook the importance to journalism to learning to tell a story and writing fiction. The author’s strong political sensitivity and involvement was impacted by the political violence which interrupted his academic. In April 1948 the assassination of the charismatic politician […]
Continue readingLove in Any Language: A Memoir of a Cross-Cultural Marriage, by Evelyn Kohl LaTorre, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I have a soft spot for books written by tough, honest women who bring an inner sense of who they are and what’s different and unusual around them. I also appreciate simply told memoirs from fellow travelers, especially Returned Peace Corps Volunteers. As I told the author, her timing couldn’t be better (the book drops later this month), since my Guatemalan wife and I are closing in on our 50th anniversary, making this an opportune time for me to appreciate, reflect and celebrate our matrimonial journey and what makes for a successful blended marriage. I’ve already reviewed the author’s […]
Continue reading“Solitude & Company,” by Silvana Paternostro, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
Solitude & Company: the life of Gabriel Garcia Marquez told with help from his friends, family, fans, arguers, fellow pranksters, drunks and a few respectable souls. By Silvana Paternostro Reviewed by Mark D. Walker I picked up this book in search of a similar presentation of a writer’s life to a book I’m working on, The Moritz Thomsen Reader to strengthen my proposal to attract a publisher. Moritz wrote Living Poor, and my book will be an anthology of the writers who knew him best. And “Gabo” is one of the great writers of Latin America recognized with the […]
Continue readingCities of Gold: A Journey Across the American Southwest by Douglas Preston, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
I found this book while researching plans for my first road trip in over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic had changed my view on how and where to travel and I decided to focus on the history of the Native American groups in the Southwest. I knew of the author after reading an amazing story of his search of an ancient civilization in the jungles of Honduras, The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story. And this book was like another epic equestrian journey I’d read about recently, Tschiffely’s Ride: Ten Thousand […]
Continue readingMonkey Boy by Francisco Goldman, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
The Long Night of White Chickens was my introduction to Francisco Goldman, the author who I selected to review due to his connections to Guatemala, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Though born in Boston, his mother is a Catholic Guatemalan, his father Jewish American, so his life started off with an intriguing combination of influences. The book is a tense, almost surrealistic detective story that opens windows on the Latin American reality of State Sponsored assassinations, marabunta youth gangs and organized crime. His next book, Say Her Name, is an evocative story of love and loss between […]
Continue readingAt Home and Abroad by V.S. Pritchett, Reviewed by Mark D. Walker
While perusing my books recently, I recognized this book by V.S. Pritchett, who is a British writer and literary critic and a well-known travel writer. I’d recently written several of my own stories on Latin America, “The Ying & Yang of Travel: Traveling Solo,” and “Tschiffley’s Epic Equestrian Ride,” so I decided to get this author’s take. After all, according to the “WorldCat List,” which is the largest data- base on books for libraries around the world, Pritchett had logged 422 works in 1,896 publications in 5 languages in almost 43,000 library holdings. And he was knighted of Sir Victor […]
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