I Speak of the City：Mexico City at the Turn of the Twentieth Century

InthisdazzlingmultidisciplinarytourofMexicoCity,MauricioTenorio-Trillofocusesontheperiod1880to1940,thedecisivedecadesthatshapedthecityintowhatitistoday.Throughakaleidoscopeofexpositoryforms,ISpeakoftheCityconnectstherealmsofliterature,architecture,music,popularlanguage,art,andpublichealthtoinvestigatethecityinavarietyofcontexts:asalivinghistorytextbook,asanexpressionofthestate,asamodernistcapital,asalaboratory,andaslanguage.Tenorio’sformalimaginationallowsthereadertorevelinthefree-flowingrichnessofhisnarratives,openingstartlingnewvistasontotheurbanexperience.Fromarttocityplanning,fromepidemiologytopoetry,thisbookchallengestheconventionalwisdomaboutbothMexicoCityandtheturn-of-the-centuryworldtowhichitbelonged.AndbyengagingdirectlywiththeriseofmodernismandtheculturalexperiencesofsuchpersonalitiesasHartCrane,MinaLoy,andDiegoRivera,ISpeakoftheCitywillfindanenthusiasticaudienceacrossthedisciplines.