Expectations:

Students will choose a book from the list below.  Books must be chosen by September14.   After reading the book, students will write and turn in a 500-600 word (typed, double-spaced) review and summary of the book on October 12. 

The review should summarize the book and relate it to concepts and themes covered in the class.  It should also provide some pertinent information about the book's author.

The review must include a complete book citation, single-spaced, at the top of the first page, including author, date, and title.

The review must address the following questions:

    1. What is the purpose of the book?
    2. How does the book relate to the geographic concepts and global issues that we are studying?
    3. What are the author's conclusions and recommendations?
    4. What is the student's opinion of the book?
    5. Is the book pertinent to this course?  If so, explain.

Suggestions for writing

Use your own words.  Use the author's words sparingly, and with quotation marks and proper citation.

Organize your sentences and paragraphs according to the suggestions for your presentation.  Include an introduction, a section in which you discuss the author's main points, and a conclusion.

Proofread!

Rewrite!

Proofread!!

Rewrite!!

Have a friend proofread your work.

Rewrite!!!
 

Book List

Physical Patterns

Wauer, R. 1992. Naturalist's Mexico. Texas A&M University Press: College Station.

Pre-Columbian Geographies

Coe, Michael and Sophie Coe. The True History of Chocolate.

 
Colonial Patterns
Chevalier, F. 1963.  Land and Society in Colonial Mexico. University of California Press: Berkeley.
Martin Gallegos

The Core

Cooper Alarcón, D. The Aztec palimpsest: Mexico in the modern imagination.
Alma Aceves

Kraig, Bruce. 1996. Cuisines of hidden Mexico: a culinary journey to Guerrero and Michoacán.New York : J. Wiley

Valenzuela Zapata, A. 2003. Tequila: a natural and cultural history. University of Arizona Press:Tucson.
Jenny Fabish

Wilken, Gene C. 1987. Good farmers: traditional agricultural resource management in Mexico and Central America. Berkeley: University of California Press.
 

Mexico City
 

Southern Highlands and Lowlands

Chibnik, M.  2003. Crafting tradition: the making and marketing of Oaxacan wood carvings. University of Texas Press: Austin.
 
Chiñas, B. 1992.  The Isthmus Zapotecs: a matrifocal culture of Mexico. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers: Fort Worth.
Katie Soulard

Haley, Shawn D.  2004. The Day of the Dead : when two worlds meet in Oaxaca. Berghahn Books: New York; Oxford.
Scott Oleson

Lipp, F. 1991. The Mixe of Oaxaca: religion, ritual, and healing . University of Texas Press: Austin.

Long, Veronica Hope. 1990. Resident reaction to mitigation of social impacts of tourism development: Santa Cruz Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico. CSU-Chico Thesis.
Kyla Adams

Sacks, O. 2002. Oaxaca Journal . National Geographic: Washington, D.C.

Chiapas and Yucatan

Collier, G. 1994. Basta!: land and the Zapatista rebellion in Chiapas. Food First Book, The Institute for Food and Development Policy: Oakland, Calif.
Leo Garnica
 
Faust, Betty Bernice. 1998. Mexican rural development and the plumed serpent: technology and Maya cosmology in the tropical forest of Campeche, Mexico.  Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey.
Andrew Wilhelm

Mattiace, Shannan L.  2003. To See with Two Eyes: Peasant Activism and Indian Autonomy in Chiapas. University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque.
Aaron Kuck

Van den Berghe, P. L. 1994.  The quest for the other: ethnic tourism in San Cristóbal, Mexico. University of Washington Press: Seattle.
Danielle Griset 

Vogt, Evon Zartman. 1990.  The Zinacantecos of Mexico: a modern Maya way of life.  Holt, Rinehart and Winston:  Forth Worth.
 John Johnston

Northwest

Fontana, B. 1997. Tarahumara: where night is the day of the moon. University of Arizona Press: Tucson.
Johnathan Wines 

Merrill, William. 1988. Raramuri Souls. Smithsonian Institution Press: Washington D.C.
Eric O'Neil

West, R . 1993. Sonora: its geographical personality. University of Texas Press: Austin.

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*I adapted this exercise from a similar one created by Randy Bertolas, a geographer at Wayne State Univeristy: http://academic.wsc.edu/socialsci/bertolas_r/