Rick Skwiot's novels, Flesh and Sleeping With Pancho Villa, are like a fine pair of custom-made Mexican boots, crafted by hand in the good old way, with love and expertise and an eye for the important detail. You will get a lot of flash and wear from these babies and every step will surprise and comfort you as you make your way along the camino real.

The small Mexican town this novel is set in is virtually the main character. The author has captured the sense of the country in a way that makes me want to go back and appreciate the people better than I have as a tourist in the past.

The murder mystery is a backdrop to the characters and setting, and kept me turning the pages. But what I remember best are the people and places. I'd like to hang out with them in the kind of town I would have driven through without noticing before. Skwiot creates a vivid world, draws you into it, and makes you want to stay.

the memories of jaurrieta 1916-1920 are crearly the best and most accurate picture of the guerrilla life of Pancho Villa. Jaurrieta was the secretary of Villa on this time period. It present the story of Villa after the attack to Columbus, New Mexico, a great story on the life in the Coscomate Cave, presents the story of the attack on the 16th of September to Chihuahua City, it is great and full of details. "this is the time when we did not had trains, we used to have only "carne asada en las brasas" in the mountains of Chihuahua

Pancho Barnes (Florence Lowe) was one of Hollywood's most flamboyant aviatrixes during from the 30's to the 50's. She was the daughter of Thadeus Lowe, a wealthy pioneer of Pasadena who made a small fortune during the Civil War, supplying Abraham Lincoln's army with tethered hydrogen balloons. Her anti-social and rebellious ways eventually led her to the world of Aviation and she eventually held many world records (beating out Amelia Earheart sometimes) and worked in the Hollywood Aviation community where she became President of The Motion Picture Pilot's Association. During the 40's she founded her notorious "Pancho's Happy Bottom Ridding Club" based at what is now known as Edwards Airforce Base. This is the bar and restaurant where aviation greats such as Chuck Yeagar, Bob Hoover, and Scott Crossfield would frequent after their legendary flights. This is must reading for anyone who follows the history oh Hollywood's Aviators and Aviatrixes.

Mr. Guzman assembled documents from Villa's secretaries and constructed this memoir of the man post-mortem. Consequently, it is not blessed with numerous footnotes and other things beloved by historians. Mr. Guzman, a novelist of much fame in Mexico, also states that he has "filled-in-the-blanks" where documentation was not available to support his "history". In spite of these drawbacks, this appears to be a very accurate portayal of the events of the Mexican Revolution in which Villa played such a great part. The accounts of the battles of the Division of the North can be checked against other Spanish-language biographies of the era, and compare favorably with the recollections of other participants. Unfortunately, the memoir covers only the years up to 1915, leaving Villa's last 8 years of life unaccounted for. Even so, this book is a valuable source for the researcher interested in the career of the Division of the North, and in the political squabbles of Villa and Carranza.

This is perhaps the finest book ever written on the game of tennis. It is filled with so much information that even after 20 years I still learn from it. It is is almost a crime that it is out of print. Segura was one of the geniuses in tennis history, and he did not hold back when he wrote this book. An absolute must for any serious tennis player to read.

This book is concerned with the organized efforts of the Villistas to influence public and governmental opinion in "El norte", the big source of arms and cash needed for mounting an organized military campaigns. During the height of the struggle against the usurper Huerta and then the fractionating of the revolutionary movement into the Carranzistas, the Villistas, and the Zapatistas, the three major groups of adherents. But no one really controlled many of the local chieftans and the allegiances and loyalties of many of the local warlords changed as advantage shifted from the Villistas in early 1915 to the Carranzistas led by Alvaro Obregon. By the fall of 1915 Villa had been thoroughly defeated at Agua Prieta, Sonora, by Gen. Calles, and had dispersed his army into the hills to emerge in March and attack Columbus, NM. By that time the propaganda battle had been lost as well and his organizations dispersed. In summary, this is a highly detailed study meant for the specialist and not for the general public. For that I still recommend John S.D. Eisenhower's book. See my review on this site.

Este libro es el mejor de todos los libros ....y que viva guanajuato..uriangato....................

If you are interested in Pancho Villa, and in his Division of the North, this is a great book for detailed information on how Villa conducted his campaigns. Written by a member of Villa's "Dorados" (his personal escort), I found this book a fascinating key to revolutionary combat operations. The big problem I faced was my poor abilitiy to read Spanish. But with patience and a good Spanish-English dictionary, you can find much of real value in this book. This one should be translated into English so that the non-Spanish-reading audience might have the opportunity to judge how the revolution was conducted, rather than depending on the majority of English-language works, many of which are incredibly ethno-centric, and obviously ignorant of the real events.

This is probably the finest relatively-unknown novel ever published in the USA. The reviews back in 1982 were stunning. (William Safire in the New York Times wrote: "Rip-snortin', rootin'-tootin' adventure"; the L.A.Herald-Examiner said, "A big, rawboned, wild-blooded adventure, a novel to make any writer proud and many readers grateful." (I copy these from the paperback book jacket.)

Young Tom Mix runs off to Mexico to join the revolution and becomes Pancho Villa's "gringo" aide. This is historical fact, although Irving -- for our benefit -- embroiders this for some 500 fabulous pages. Tom meets all kinds of people who were there, including George S. Patton, Emiliano Zapata, and Franz von Papen. It's a swashbuckling story, and who among us not wished he'd grown up as romantically as Mix does here?

The book gives the sights and sounds of a turn-of-the-century world real enough to touch. I note that another reviewer in the L.A. Times called it "a fantasy worthy of Mark Twain, a legendary tale." And the Houston Chronicle called it "a wonderful, big book." I agree. If you own a copy, you can sell it for ten times what you paid for it. If you can't find one to buy, try your library. It's GREAT.

Mr. Guzman wrote an interesting and very readable account of his adventures during the Mexican Revolution, but many have failed to recognize that Guzman, himself, considered this an historical novel and NOT a history of the revolution. If you wish more accuracy in describing events of the revolution, look elsewhere.

The Eagle and the Serpent is arguably the greatest book of the literature of the Mexican Revolution. It tells the story of a young student's involvement in the uprising that shook Mexico from 1910-1920 and his incredible adventures with the great "heroes" of the Revolution. Guzmán has an incredibly fluid and poetic style with which he paints detailed portraits of the political and social situation in Mexico at the beginning of the 20th century. He amazes the reader with an artistry and wit that runs throughout his accounts of the famous places and people of the Revolution. If you're not familiar with Mexican Liturature, this is a great place to start your journey: you may never come back!

The author recounts his experiences as an influential ideologist of the Mexican revolution. The adventures he narrates are often hard to believe. The atrocities of Villa. The stubborness of Carranza. The humbleness of the Zapatistas. Countless betrayals on the quest for Mexico City, the golden trophy for all.