Mexico Trucker Online

I recently received an advance copy of the new book by author Richard Grabman, Gods Gachupines and Gringos with a request by the author to review it. Being an avid reader with more than a thousand books in my collection, I was pleased to do so.

Gods Gachupines and Gringos is a complete people’s history of Mexico, written in a non academic manner that should appeal to anyone with an interest in history. It is apolitical and presents the history of Mexico from the Pre Conquest days to present day Mexico. And in between those periods, it is a fascinating accounting of the history of our neighbor to the south.

Mexico’s history predates the US by hundreds of years when the great civilizations of the Aztec and Mayans ruled what we call Meso America.

Many things we enjoy today came from Mexico as the book will reveal. Basketball for instance, called Ulama was played as far back as the Classical Era (200 BC -1000 AD) Calendars to track the growing seasons which had to be exact. The “0″ came out of Mexico, long before it was known in India or Europe.

The book covers the Mayan and Aztecs, advanced civilizations that we are still learning about today as archeologists continue to uncover astounding lost cities.

The book continues on to the invasion of the Spaniards and in the end, the almost total eradication of a civilization by Cortes and those who followed.

The Spanish Inquisition wasn’t just Spain’s shame but it made itself felt in the New World that would someday become Mexico.

The book continues for several very interesting chapters including the age of the Conquistadors and interaction between Cortes and Montezuma. Well researched reading and anecdotal remarks keep the reader immersed in the story.

The book reveals more “firsts” coming from Mexico that has benefited the world and mankind, some in good ways, others in not so good manners.

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