New Travel Book: ‘First Stop in the New World’
Travel Blog • Frank Bures • 06.12.08 | 5:57 PM ET
Full title: “First Stop in the New World: Mexico City, the Capital of the 21st Century”
Author: David Lida
Released: Today
Travel genre: Into the big city
Territory covered: Mexico City
Promo copy: “David Lida moved to Mexico City fifteen years ago in search of a kind of culture, energy, and spontaneity that he thought had been lost in his native New York City. What he found was a thriving, miraculous urban center comprising centuries of living history, even as its rapid development was making it a prominent force on the world stage. Through the eyes of an American who has become an insider, First Stop in the New World is a street-level panorama of contemporary Mexico City—from the high arts to the sex industry; from the dense jungle of urban politics to the interactions of everyday commerce; from one end of this five-hundred-square-mile city to the other. Lida expertly captures the kaleidoscopic nature of life in a city defined by pleasure and danger, justice and lawlessness, ecstatic joy and appalling tragedy—in limbo between the developed and developing worlds.”
Critical verdict, Zagat-style: It’s “a terrifically entertaining guide, displaying both intimate familiarity with the city and an outsider’s eye for its quirks and weirdness. ... Everything from street food to sex comes under Lida’s lens. The writing is lively and anecdote-rich. (Houston Chronicle, summer reading pick) Of Mexico City, Lida has “pointed out the pathways to its delectably seamy soul. If Burroughs were alive and planning a return visit to Mexico today, he’d want to take this book with him.” (Jon Lee Anderson)