Tony Cohan - Mexican Days: Journeys into the Heart of Mexico

Anyone who loves Mexico will enjoy Mexican Days. Cohan shows the same insight and gentle humor that he did in his 2000 bestseller On Mexican Time. He finds his adopted country endlessly rewarding, and he describes it with eloquence and great affection. In the long run, this new book is as much about the lasting value of friendships and the healing power of travel for its own sake as it is about Mexico. Miami Herald

An essential read for both Mexico aficionados and those contemplating a visit there. Cohan provides a vivid and beautifully crafted overview of Mexico's diverse culture, history, food, and customs. His observations are astute, on point, and necessary in the continuing dialog on contemporary Mexico. Library Journal

Tony Cohan is far from a travel writer. He weaves personal images into the magnificent romantic backdrop of the unearthed Mayan capital at Palenque. His journeys are poetic and penetrating, fraught with passion and enthusiasm for the shadowy world that lies beyond the bright facades of the houses that line street after cobblestone street. His writing soars with a rhythmic crescendo, like a Latin American symphony. As he moves from place to place, his personal journey makes the delirious descriptions even more meaningful and resonant. He has his own unique vision of Mexico as he peers behind the scenes and reports poetically and profoundly about this world. Montgomery, Alabama Advertiser

Tony Cohan is a Tolstoy among travel writers. His singular novelist's heart and eye, and the master-craftsmanship of his prose, distinguish and set him far apart from anyone else today writing about travel. He goes through the looking glass beyond ordinary journeying and discovers not just a place, a culture, a history, but the interstices of mood, longing, the beauty and tragedy of the people he finds in that place. He is our preeminent explorer of Mexico, and anywhere else he may voyage to. Peter Nichols, author of A Voyage of Madmen and Sea Change

To sum up Mexican Days in one phrase, it is the thinking man's (or woman's) travel guide to Mexico. It's all hereart, history, politics, religionserved up with a sense of wonder and humility that makes it a worthy and enlightening travel companion, whether or not you ever make the trip yourself. Cohan is able to capture the spirit of each place he visits so well that photos would seem superfluous, and during his travels he has plenty of opportunities to contemplate his own country from a distance. Toxic Universe

A gorgeous aimlessness permeates Tony Cohan's Mexican Days: Journeys into the Heart of Mexico. It is this sense of unneatness, of I's not dotted and T's not crossed, that carries the narrative so beautifully. Cohan conveys what's newand oldabout Mexico. Life is strange and beautiful here. The center won't hold, but that's OK. Drive, fly, take a rickety bus. Keep stepping forward, another stone will appear. Mexican Days is a standout. Los Angeles Times

Pico Iyer astutely said that we travel to find ourselves, and it is Tony Cohan in search of himself that is often the most engaging here. A conscious and conscientious traveler, he sees through the eyes of a seeking visitor and an old hand who knows the ironies and intensities of Mexico's past and its emerging future. He folds in ancient and contemporary history, introduces us to his friends and colleagues, and he takes us to out of the way and classic destinations. But the discoveries are always about human nature, about what we are willing to risk and what we are willing to enjoy. Santa Barbara New Press

A series of vivid and engaging accounts. This is about a different Mexico, one Cohan calls permanently exotic If you like discoveriesof both the archeological and personal sortand those mixed with deeper contemplation on such questions as why we travel or what globalization means for one's identity, then Mexican Days offers a basket of riches.
Christian Science Monitor

Few gringos write more knowledgeably and sympathetically about Mexico than Tony Cohan. Intimate, often sensual, evocations of Mexican life range from the Mayan ruins of Palenque to the teeming streets of the capital. Toronto Globe and Mail

Accurately and vividly describes the riotous extremes of politics, of geography, of wealth, of smells, and of colors that make up today's Mexico. Booklist

From the mountain highlands to the Caribbean coast to teeming Mexico City to the smallest towns, Cohan takes us on a lyrical tour of non-tourist Mexico in this, his latest love letter to our neighbor to the south. His language is rapturous, laced with a delight in the sensual, and he gives us new insight into a complex and enigmatic country. This is a wonderful complement to Cohan's vastly successful On Mexican Time.The Inkslinger

When [Cohan] weaves memory into description, he produces beautiful and engaging prose. An unusually thoughtful writer: both self-aware and conscientious. popmatters.com

Tony Cohan is the author of On Mexican Time and Native
State (a Los Angeles Times Notable Book of the Year), and the
novels Opium and Canary (a New York Times Notable Book
of the Year). His articles, essays, and reviews have appeared
in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles
Times, Cond Nast Traveler, and The Times (London). He divides
his time between Mexico and California.