Mexican Mornings: Essays South of the Border (Paperback) Review

This is Dr. Michael Hogan's latest book, a collection of essays written over the past decade while the author has lived and taught in Guadalajara, Mexico.This is quite possibly his best book, displaying a wide range of topics and an incredible maturity and intelligence that only comes when one's perspectives have been expanded.In one essay, "Letter to a Troubled Student," he deals with the Zapatista uprising of Chiapas, Mexico, telling his student that it is not scary that a group of Indians are taking on the Mexican government, but that, in any war, the truth is always the first victim.To him, and to a lot of us, that is truly scary. Through this essay, marked for its open-mindedness and its intelligence, Hogan is able to explain how his fears transcend the egocentric level, acheiving a greater understanding and universality.
This is the modus operandi for the rest of the book, which is a collection of essays written in Mexico over a period of the past ten years.They relate the expatriate experience, but they differ from other expatriate books because these essays are observations told through the eyes of a person who is committed to the lifelong quest of knowledge, a person who is committed to learning about his surroundings.All the essays are examples of a deep thought process, and one gets the realization that the author is just as much the teacher as he is the student.
One of the best examples of this, and also one of the defining elements of the book itself is the obvious influence that Mexican Poet Octavio Paz had and still has on Hogan's life.Paz's presence is everywhere in the book;the musicality of his poetry helping Hogan the young boy overcome his stuttering problem, the incisive nature of his essays helping Hogan the teacher in teaching the Odyssey to his ninth graders, the profound depth of his social critiques helping Hogan the human being understand humanity and the Mexican better.
This book is a deep, insightful study into the psychology of the expatriate.In my opinion it is a peer to that other great book about the human condition, "The Labyrinth of Solitude."It is also the only expatriate book that is fully able to document the reasons why a person chooses to leave his home country.It interacts with the reader on many levels, displaying intelligence, while appealing to the poets, the teachers, the scholars, the human beings in all of us.It also displays a deep love for a country that is not the native land for the author, nor for many expatriates.And it is this love that makes the book, and the essays within so compelling.I am reminded at this point, while searching for the place to end my review, of some lyrics from the song "Atlanta" by the Stone Temple Pilots.

"Visions of Mexico seduce me,
It goes to my head so carefully."

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Product Description:
This is a collection of essays on Mexico written by a well-known poet and historian who has made his home in Guadalajara for the past decade and a half. Michael Hogan gives us glimpses into the Mexican character which build on and illuminate those of Nobel Laureate Octavio Paz. However, he does more. Hogan shows us both the high life and the low life, the country and the city, the inside of the board rooms, and the inside of the living rooms. He takes us to the jungles of Chiapas, the halls of the largest university, to the communal farm, and inside the church. Through Hogan's eyes we meet with Fidel Castro in Guadalajara Centro, we attend a concert of the Tigres del Norte at the jammed-packed Rio Nilo stadium, and watch the behavior of horses during a solar eclipse. He also describes the results of globalization on the economy and suggests currents of change.It has been called by one reviewer, "the mostfascinating insider's view of Mexico in the past decade!."

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