There have been many books on Mexico but never one like this. May McNeer, accomplished author of both fiction and non-fiction, has managed to tell the whole "Mexican story" from the early Mayan civilization through Moctezuma's magnificence, the glory of Cortez, down through the great and contrary figures of Father Hidalgo, Maximilian, Juárez, Diaz to Villa and modern man. Never has so much been so agreeably compressed into so few pages of text—chapters that glow with individual color and life and yet give the whole sweep of Mexican civilization along with the exotic richness and beauty of the land itself.
Impressed with the fact that Mexican history is tumultuous and Mexican leaders almost overpowering, Mrs. Ward has interspersed her account with short chapters of characters drawn from the soil itself—people who might have lived at the time of Zapata or Carlotta or Morelos. She also has given attention to the poets and artists of Mexico such as Inez, the poet who became a nun, and Posada, the first of the renowned artists.
Given this rich, variegated text by his wife, Lynd Ward, recent winner of the coveted Caldecott Medal, has responded with art work that in itself makes the book a collector's item. To such a great artist as Mr. Ward, the panorama of Mexico offered tremendous opportunities for color and drama. The result is a book that glows with the breathtaking impact of the fabulous people of a fabulous country. Both the great and the lowly are here; both the mountains and the plains.
We give you Mexico as presented by the Wards, a direct creative result of their long stay there during which they studied and learned to love all phases and all aspects of that wonderful country.
—from the dust jacket
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