History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Fortress of Frost and Fire (The Bard's Tale, Book 2)

Average customer rating:

Couldn't put it down!
Amusing romp.
Alice and wonderland meets the match maker . . .
A continuing tale of the Black Elf Naitachal

Fortress of Frost and Fire (The Bard's Tale, Book 2)

Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0671721623

Customer Reviews:

Couldn't put it down! .......2006-08-23

After reading and enjoying Castle of Deception I was pleasantly suprised to find out the second book in the series is about my favorite character Naitachal who gains more bonus points for being way beyond cool in this sequel. This is my favorite book in the series. It is written well, characters are unique and rememberable. The relationship between Gawaine and Naitachal is my favorite part about the book; I love the vunerability of the young bardling and the unbelievable humor of his Master. Let's not forget the unforgetable journey to "onion village" LOL being one of the best parts of the book and the most humorous! Near the middle of the story it starts to take off more, the scenes with the camp during the journey are some of the best, touching scenes I could see clearly in my mind while reading the story--won't say much so not to spoil anyone--and I was hooked from that moment on. Second half has some of the best parts of the story, felt like I was really there experiencing the adventure. Ending was great, filling, and humorous.

Amusing romp........2006-01-27

My mom recently bought a lot of books from a library sale/fund-raising project. Remembering that I liked Lackey, she picked this up for me. I set it aside, assuming I wouldn't like it. Last night, however, I needed a book I could take to the bathtub with me (I never take new books to the bath, but a used book I hadn't read yet? Sure.) I was surprised how much I did enjoy the book.

I wasn't really sure what 'universe' this took place in. I assumed "A lot like D&D, but not D&D" and I guess I was correct considering how the different elves and dragon types were introduced.

The story setting seems uneven. The first half or more of the book reads like a slightly funnier, 'safer' version of the Dungeons & Dragons universe (with fewer races). The last part of the book read like a fairy tale. I enjoy both types of settings, but it seemed rather uneven that the more fairy-tale feeling of the end of the book appeared nowhere in the first part of the book. I agree with one of the other reviewers that it was a bit ... abrupt... how they dealt with the party member they lost. (And, for the record, disregard the female character and the building on the front cover. I kept wondering where this chick came into the story, leading me to suspect one of the male characters in the book was a female in disguise.)

For all my chatter so far, you may be wondering why I rated the story a 4 out of 5. Well, despite it feeling very obvious which parts were written by which author, and thus it not feeling like a hybrid of their styles, but closer to one of them misunderstanding how the "universe" this story is in worked (IS it more like a fairy tale? Or was it supposed to be a more serious fantasy?) ---- despite that, I enjoyed it.

The characters were engaging (perhaps some of them too engaging), the elements of the story very visual, and the ending of the story (other than their handling of the lost member of the party) satisfying.

Buy it used and I doubt you'll regret spending the money.

Alice and wonderland meets the match maker . . ........2004-10-01

It started off decent enough, but within a few chapters already things were out of place on Naitachal, like a beard for example (uh NO!). The ways new characters were introduced wasn't so bad and some characters were hilarious, but as the book wore on it became evident that they were just throwing in ideas from other stories, like rumpilstiltskin (the gold seperating task), alice and wonder land(the hedge maze and talking beasts), and cinderella (the mice from the disney movie). Kill off a character, with no closure (for lack of a better word) and then every one prances off happily with a dear friend as a corpse (what they left him laying there?). The end with the villagers and who is taking messages where gets a bit confusing and I had to reread it and still felt lost. if not for the hilarious part with the little village with the onions and cousins I would have rated it as a 1 (since the rating doesnt go into the negatives.) A book to read only if THAT bored.

A continuing tale of the Black Elf Naitachal.......1998-08-28

An interesting tale of the black elf Naitachal, who is now a free bard, and an apprentice bardling, Gawaine, he acquired sometime before the story begins. They go off on a quest to find a valley of ice that Naitachal has heard an account of, and pick up an odd assortment of traveling companians along the way. The tale involves overcoming a dragon to win their way to freedom. Overall, a fair story to read.

Fire And Stone: The Science of Fortress Warfare 1660-1860

Average customer rating:

I like fortresses, I don't like this book.
Excellent Technical History

Fire And Stone: The Science of Fortress Warfare 1660-1860
Christopher Duffy
Manufacturer: Book Sales
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Strategy | Military | History | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0785821090

Customer Reviews:

I like fortresses, I don't like this book........2006-09-05

I don't know what that dude is talking about. This book is really boring. You have to read on and on and on to learn how things were done and why. The information is not well organized and it appears that alot of the same things are said over and over again, just worded different. Also, it appears to follow the career of a particular castle builder, and doesn't really encompass the broader spectrum of castle/fort building. This should include types of seige warfare, the living conditions possible and common to the inhabitants, interior designs, and so on. I would think these would be included in a book of the same size as this one. But it really dwells on why castles/ forts were built. I can say it right now in less than 5 freakin' chapters, TO KEEP PEOPLE OUT!

The text has a little (very little) valuable or awe inspiring information, and alot of filler. There are many more books out there that detail a greater time period with better information and better pictures. I don't know them off hand, but I recommend you put this book down and go look for them. Sorry Duffy.

Excellent Technical History.......2000-05-10

I have long been a military history buff. A few years ago the Army sent me and my family to Germany for three years - which was a dream come true. While there I toured several of the old forts built during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It's embarressing, but I the military history enthusiast knew very little about these forts; the engineering, the purposes behind their construction, how the sieges were conducted, nothing. I realized that my knowledge of European warfare effectively ended in the middle of the fifteen hundreds and didn't resume until the mid - eighteen hundreds. The old fortresses fascinated me, thanks in a large part to the fact that I couldn't dechipher the layout of the walls. Centuries of vegetation, vandalism, urban growth, and decay had rendered many of the forts almost non-exsistent. Fire and Stone has helped to correct much of this. It is definitely a technical work and one written more for specialists then the general reader. But it never ascends to a level where the amatuer is simply left in the dirt. It has a wealth of drawings and diagrams, photographs, and schematics. The captions are well written and extremely helpful. There is also a very complete glossary at the back of the book which is not only a necessity but a god send. All to often it seems that authors forget such little details. Without the glossary this book would be impossible to follow. Numerous French, Latin, German, and Spanish terms for the various fortifications and their appendages are used, sometimes different names for the same structure are used! The glossary is an absolute must. The second half of the book is concerns the conduct of a siege for both the besieger and the besieged. Like the first half this part also shows the same attention to detail but never forgets the reader. All in all I have to give this book very high marks. Though it appeals only to a small sector of history buffs I recommend it. And if you have ever visited some of the old forts in Canada, such as Fort Henry in Kingston, Ontario, and marveled at the old fortress and its layout this book just might be for you as well.

The Fortress and the Fire (Vidar Trilogy #3)

Average customer rating:

The last of Odin's sons make a final desperate stand

The Fortress and the Fire (Vidar Trilogy #3)
Michael Jan Friedman
Manufacturer: Popular Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0445205431

Customer Reviews:

The last of Odin's sons make a final desperate stand.......1998-01-09

The last of Odin's sons face their former king in an apocalyptic battle with the fate of all creation hanging in the balance.

Airwar (2vols): Outraged Skies, Wings of Fire, Terror from the Sky, and Flying Fortress

Average customer rating:

Airwar (2vols): Outraged Skies, Wings of Fire, Terror from the Sky, and Flying Fortress
Edward Jablonski
Manufacturer: DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OL6M84

Fire Gods Party Age 2-3 Bible (Sunday School (Augsburg Fortress))

Average customer rating:

Fire Gods Party Age 2-3 Bible (Sunday School (Augsburg Fortress))

Manufacturer: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Fire Peace Gr 1-2 Bible Story (Sunday School (Augsburg Fortress))

Average customer rating:

Fire Peace Gr 1-2 Bible Story (Sunday School (Augsburg Fortress))

Manufacturer: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Fire Peace Prek-K Bible Story (Sunday School (Augsburg Fortress))

Average customer rating:

Fire Peace Prek-K Bible Story (Sunday School (Augsburg Fortress))

Manufacturer: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Fire Practice Gr 5-6 Blaze Mag (Sunday School (Augsburg Fortress))

Average customer rating:

Fire Practice Gr 5-6 Blaze Mag (Sunday School (Augsburg Fortress))

Manufacturer: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

The Fortress and the Fire Jesus Christ and the Challenge of Islam

Average customer rating:

The Fortress and the Fire Jesus Christ and the Challenge of Islam

Manufacturer: GOSPEL LITERATURE SER.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GEDOJE

Average customer rating:

The Queen Speaks!

The Doyenne of interior Mexican cuisine

Ultimate Cooking-from-Scratch Resource for Mexican Cuisine!

Tijuana Or Bust.

Mexican Cuisine Gets a Brilliant Presentation

From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients
Diana Kennedy
Manufacturer: Clarkson Potter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
International | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Mexican | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Essential Cuisines of Mexico: Revised and updated throughout, with more than 30 new recipes.

My Mexico: A Culinary Odyssey with More Than 300 Recipes

Authentic Mexican 20th Anniversary Ed: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico

Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen: Capturing the Vibrant flavors of a World-Class Cuisine

The Food and Life of Oaxaca: Traditional Recipes from Mexico's Heart

ASIN: 0609607006
Release Date: 2003-09-09

Amazon.com

Diana Kennedy published her first cookbook in 1972. It was about Mexican food. She has been learning more and writing more ever since. From My Mexican Kitchen takes the reader by the hand and explores the indigenous ingredients that make Mexican food come alive, as well as the techniques handed down through the centuries for the right way to handle those ingredients. It's a book to combine with another, Kennedy's The Essential Cuisines of Mexico, for example.

The chapter headings include: "Cheeses and Cream"; "Cooking Fats and Oils"; "Fresh and Dried Chiles"; "Fresh and Dried Herbs"; "Vegetables, Beans, and Fruits"; "Meat, Poultry, and Seafood"; "Rice and Pasta"; "Making Antojitos"; "Making Moles"; "Making Table Sauces"; "Making Tamales"; "Making Tortillas"; "Making Vinegar"; "Making Yeast Breads"; and "Utensils". You'll find precise descriptions of ingredients as well as glowing illustrations, the techniques you need to prep any ingredients, and classic recipes to pull it all together. There's also a glossary of cooking terms and sources for various ingredients.

This is a beautifully laid out and illustrated reference text. Probably no one but Diana Kennedy could produce such a book, in English. Her voice, as ever, is clear and demanding, her instructions thorough and determined. She's a true instructor. Trust yourself to her care and you can rest assured that the foods you produce will be as close to the real thing as anyone working in print media can get you. It's Diana Kennedy's magic at work. --Schuyler Ingle

Book Description

Diana Kennedy has been called the “ultimate authority, the high priestess” of Mexican cooking, and with good reason. For more than forty years she has traveled through her beloved adoptive country, researching and recording its truly extraordinary cuisine. Now Diana turns her attention to the book she readily admits “should have been written years ago.”

Diana’s objective in From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients is simple: to provide a guide to better understanding the ingredients Mexico has to offer and how best to prepare them. Her execution is little short of brilliant.

The book is invaluable to the novice eager for an introduction to Mexican cooking, but it is equally important for the aficionados interested in refining and expanding their knowledge and skills.

From My Mexican Kitchen takes readers and cooks on a tour of the primary ingredients of the cuisine, from achiote and avocado leaves to hoja santa, huauzontle, and the sour tunas called xoconostles—which are increasingly available in the United States. Diana unravels the dizzying array of fresh and dried chiles, explaining their uses and preparation; vibrant color photographs at last take the guesswork out of identifying them!

Step-by-step photographs and Diana’s trademark instructions (peppered with her over-the-shoulder asides) lead us through the proper techniques for making moles, tamales, tortillas, and much more. Some highlights: chiles rellenos, frijoles de olla, salsa de jitomate, fresh corn tamales from Michoacán, and bolillos (Mexican bread rolls). These recipes provide a solid grounding for the new Mexican cook, and Diana then sends readers to her earlier work for more advanced regional recipes.

Brilliantly photographed, with a text at once lively and authoritative, Diana Kennedy’s From My Mexican Kitchen is the one book anyone interested in this food cannot afford to be without.

Customer Reviews:

The Queen Speaks!.......2006-11-07

Diana Kennedy is the undisputed Queen of Mexican cuisine writing in English. I've been cooking from her books and giving them as gifts for years. This one is a wonderful companion to all the others, showing and discussing ingredients and techniques in patient detail.

The Doyenne of interior Mexican cuisine.......2006-08-13

This cookbook is an exceptional production by Diana Kennedy, winner of the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) Lifetime Achievement Award. The multitudinous photos (Michael Calderwood) use her hands as models of perfect techniques for most of the recipes. You can't read and view the book without knowing exactly what to do. Even if you know a great deal about Mexican and Southwest cooking, you will learn an immense amount from this well-illustrated book. She shares her secrets and knowledge with all, and you can choose just how complex to make a recipe, from toasted seeds (typical), to avocado leaves (traditional, but hard to find). I own a number of her cookbooks, including out of print books, and am utterly delighted to have this set of her experiences laid out before me. You will notice she is wearing a white apron and blouse, a great idea to deal with foods which stain easily, from peppers to tomatoes. I wish I had the address of her apron company; it would save me a lot of t-shirt stains.

Seriously, this is the most explanatory of all her books so far. You would be remiss in not having it in your collection.

Ultimate Cooking-from-Scratch Resource for Mexican Cuisine!.......2004-03-23

Words cannot do justice to my high opinion of this outstanding cooking resource. Ms. Diana Kennedy (whom I already held in high esteem as the Julia Child of authentic Mexican cuisine) has outdone herself. She not only answered every unanswered question I had about ingredients and food preparation . . . she also taught me what I didn't know that I didn't know. Although my humble skills and impatience with scratch cooking will prohibit me from ever making more than a handful of these outstanding dishes in the proper manner, whatever I do make will be much better for what I learned From My Mexican Kitchen. I am especially indebted to the many photographs that portray the ingredients and the tricky steps of preparation.

Although the book is encyclopedic in its coverage from my perspective, clearly Ms. Kennedy was just scratching the surface of her knowledge. I hope she will consider taking some of the sections here (such as Making Antojitos, Tamales and Utensils) and making them into full length books.

To appreciate how detailed her knowledge is, you need to realize that she tells you about how the same dish is prepared in every part of Mexico . . . and how those practices differ among younger and older chefs. So there's an element of cultural anthropology here, too. I was especially grateful for her help in straightening out the various names applied to ingredients and dishes (which vary a lot from area to area) because they often contradict one another in meaning.

If you just buy the book and learn about what she has to say about preparing fresh and dried chiles, you will feel more than rewarded. That section was a masterpiece!

She also explains the many mysteries of lard . . . including how to prepare it, how it compares in flavor to vegetable oils, how the appearance of the dishes are helped, and what the health pros and cons are.

The section on tamales was equally fascinating. I have never seen them made, and was reluctant to try. With this book, it should be a snap.

If you are wondering how the book fits in with her many other books, Ms. Kennedy cross-references recipes and sections in those books. There are also a few basic recipes (many of them repeats from the other books) so you can start applying what you learn here.

If you have read none of her books, you have a great series of treats (and taste treats, as well!) ahead of you. I suggest that you buy this one first and graduate to The Art of Mexican Cooking as your next resource.

The book's sections cover:

-- Cheeses and Cream
-- Cooking Fats and Oils
-- Fresh and Dried Chiles
-- Fresh and Dried Herbs
-- Vegetables, Beans, and Fruits
-- Meat, Poultry, and Seafood
-- Rice and Pasta
-- Spices, Aromatics, and Sweeteners
-- Making Antojitos
-- Making Moles
-- Making Table Sauces
-- Making Tamales
-- Making Tortillas
-- Making Vinegar
-- Making Yeast Breads
-- Utensils

Via con Dios!

Tijuana Or Bust........2004-02-16

Is the key to happiness having a great love who is nice enough to kick the bucket many years before you? Or, dreaming of a ripe tomato while shivering through another Illinois winter?

From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients by Diana Kennedy conjures up life,love, lemon zest and a zest for living that begs the above question. A beautifully photographed book, including references to her previous cookbooks, she inspires us to reach beyond tacos.

Diana Kennedy is a Mexican food anthropologist. Kennedy, a Brit, has taken on south of the border cuisine and the country as her second home. Her spouse, a guy who looked like Spencer Tracey (Coming from the Mrs. herself.) passed away in 1967. In the time since, his widow has gone on to be THE expert at mining what goes into great Mexican food and being awarded that country's highest civilian honor.

Would she?...Could she?...have accomplished that had her spouse been by her side all these years? Is there something to be said about mad passion and seeing it buried that allows some women to bloom in rich soil in a way not seen among retiree couples playing shuffle board in Florida today?

I immediatly liked Diana Kennedy. There is a crusty, damish, no guff quality to her that makes the reader feel as if sitting on a kitchen stool, watching her work and digesting tidbits to get through life in a gutsy way.

When life throws tomatos, make salsa. Ole! --Laurel825

Mexican Cuisine Gets a Brilliant Presentation.......2003-11-13

Diana Kennedy's new book on Mexican cooking is the gold standard for books on country / regional cuisines. The credit to Ms. Kennedy is enhanced by the fact that the material in the book was quite plainly not written and produced by a team. The depth of the material is exceptional, considering the fact that Mexican cuisine is as broad and as regionally diverse as the more widely storied cuisines of Italy and France.

The book is much more than a collection of recipes. In many ways, it is a Larousse Gastronomique for Mexico, with all of the weight of authority that name carries,including sections on:

Menus - A small section, very informative for Mexican newbies, but not very deep.
Ingredients - All sections are deep and rewarding.
- Dairy
- Fats
- Chiles
- Herbs
- Vegetables and Fruits
- Meats
- Grains (Rice and Pasta)
- Seasonings
Techniques - Exceptional, doubly so because it includes both weights and metric units of measure.
- Antojitos
- Moles
- Table Sauces
- Tamales
- Tortillas
- Vinegar
- Yeast Breads
Utensils Native to Mexico - Some blemishes here. See below
Mexican Food Terms - Some blemishes.
Sources of Ingredients - By state in the US.

Note that unlike the situation with French and Italian ingredients, Ms. Kennedy generally has a low opinion of the quality of Mexican ingredients available in the United States. This makes it doubly useful that she has provided the means of making several of these base ingredients in the home.

As Diana points out in the introduction, she is both the food stylist and the hand model for all of the excellent photographs by Michael Calderwood. The photographs clearly enhance the value of the book.

I am not very familiar with Mexican techniques myself, so, to evaluate the recipes, I concentrated on the baking sections and can say that they are worthy of the best presentations I have seen by baking specialists. In baking even more than with other techniques, measuring by weight, more especially measuring by the more precise metric scale, is essential to achieving consistant results, and Ms. Kennedy gives you the `full 9 meters' to good measuring, tempered by techniques to compensate for humidity. It even includes some tips I have not found in books dedicated to baking.

One of the greatest and most unexpected pleasures to be found by reading this book is the sense Ms. Kennedy gives you of her belonging to a community of cookbook authors. She does not simply drop names. She cites and credits people like Julia Child and Paula Wolfert for their insights and facts uncovered. The thrill is not so much in acquiring this information as it is in seeing the author and her subject placed within a broader world of culinary ethnology.

There are three sections to the book which could have benefited from some judicious copy editing. The first is the introduction where many Mexican terms and locations are used before they were explained. It would have been better to place this section after the section entitled `Mexico'. The second is the Mexican Food Terms section. It is said that some terms cannot be translated into English, yet the explanation of the term does not succeed in really communicating the sense of the term. The third is the `Utensils Native to Mexico' where a similar problem occurs. A term has no English equivalent, yet the book does not provide a picture of the utensil, even though pictures of translated terms have excellent pictures accompanying the text. Don't get me wrong, this section is very, very good. It just has some things which could be better. One last criticism, also in the pervue of a copy editor, is some awkward word usage, such as when people `waft' between Mexico and the US. Doesn't work for me.

A rare but excellent feature of this book is the references to recipes and techniques in Ms. Kennedy's earlier books. I'm sure this can be annoying for someone who does not own these books, but it ultimately adds to the value of the present value as well as enhancing the value of her earlier books. At the very least, it means you are not paying for things which have been published elsewhere. I can think of more than a few cookbook writers who would benefit from this feature.

Anyone who has any interest in Mexican cuisine will be richly rewarded by reading this book from cover to cover. Anyone who has a general interest in good cookbook writing will be rewarded by reading this book from cover to cover. Anyone who has an interest in the origins of cuisine will find much here, but this is a cookbook, not a book of history or linguistics. Anyone with an interest in trying new types of baking (or suggestions on how to write a good baking recipe) will find many rewards here. I would look to this book before executing any Mexican recipe by any author. This is a book against which others should be judged. I would hope other authors would go to school on this volume.

Average customer rating:
From My Mexican Kitchen: Techniques and Ingredients
Diana Kennedy
Manufacturer: Clarkson N Potter Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N65TIY

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books