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Metaphysical
Odyssey Into the Mexican Revolution:
Francisco I. Madero and His Secret Book, Spiritist Manual
by C.M. Mayo
WINNER,
NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARD FOR HISTORY
In a blend
of biography, personal essay, and a rendition of deeply researched
metaphysical and Mexican history that reads like a novel, award-winning
writer and noted literary translator C.M. Mayo provides a rich
introduction and the first translation of the secret book by
Francisco I. Madero, leader of Mexico's 1910 Revolution and President
of Mexico from 1911 to 1913.
"In
my fifteen years of researching the life of President Francisco
I. Madero, I have never read a more complete book as the one
just written by C.M. Mayo. It will simply surprise any reader.
The research is impeccable and the narrative well-rounded."
Manuel
Guerra de Luna,
author of Los Madero: La Saga Liberal
"C.M.
Mayo
offers another
dazzling work in her own fluid, poetic and highly visual prose...
By the time I finished I wished for a Don Francisco Madero to
guide us today, a politican who is also a mystic and intellect.
Sophy
Burnham, author of A
Book of Angels and The President's Angel
"Metaphysical
Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution paints a complex picture
of a curious crossroads in history, where the rise and fall of
a regime coincided with a spiritual and social awakening with
the potential to rewrite a country's future. Kudos to Mayo for
introducing us to both the man and his message."
San
Francisco Book Review
"Mayo...
provides not only an English translation of Madero's Spiritist
Manual, but also a lively introduction... The author argues effectively
that Madero's manual is essential to understanding his revolutionary
zeal."
Kirkus
Reviews
"Mayo is a profoundly
creative and insightful artist who is able to bring her own perspective
into the frame while enhancing our understanding of her subjects.
This is a masterful introduction to a topic that hasnt
been explored in this accessible way before, and may never be
again. If you enjoy esotericism, history, politics, and the way
that they sometimes intersect, I highly recommend you read C.M.
Mayos Metaphysical Odyssey into the Mexican Revolution."
Greg Kaminsky,
host of Occult of Personality
"In this delightfully engaging book, C.M. Mayo brings to
vivid light an aspect of Mexican history astonishingly neglected
by most historians: the Spiritist beliefs and practices of Francisco
Madero, instigator and first leader of the world-historical event
that was the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Fruit of considerable
research, this volume includes the first translation into English
of Madero's Spiritist Manual, itself an invaluable contribution
to the historical record." José Skinner, University of Texas-Pan
American
"Mayo
does brilliant job combining the known facts of the Mexican Revolution
and Madero's role within it, and creates an intellectual bridge
to the president's spiritist belief structure...With her translation
of the Spiritist Manual, C.M. Mayo opened this incredible
window into the metaphysical side of the Mexican Revolution"
Heribert
von Feilitzsch, author of In Plain Sight: Felix Sommerfeld,
Spymaster in Mexico
"What
a great book. Ive read a lot on Madero, but this book gives
the reader such a different view of the man. It fleshes out his
true personality and sheds light on the forces that truly drove
him. Since Spiritism was such an important part of his life,
one couldnt really know the man without examining that
aspect of his personality. Moreover, Madero was writing his book
on Spiritism at the same time that he was running for the presidency
showing how important that belief was in his life. I especially
appreciated the rich detail the author provided regarding Maderos
last days before he was assassinated that matched the solid research
that the remainder of this book demonstrates."
Raymond
Caballero, author of Lynching Pascual Orozco
"Ever
astonishing are the greats whose inner tracks wholly diverge
from their renown. Such a case is Francisco I. Madero, first
president of Mexico after the 1910 revolution, whose political
genius was immersed in mysticism, and equally extraordinary is
C. M. Mayo's account of this paradox in Metaphysical Odyssey
into the Mexican Revolution. Threading the tortuous path
of Madero from birth to assassination, and culminating in the
first translation into English of the little-known Spiritist
Manual of this master of statecraft, Mayo's account brings
to life the duality of the singular founder of Mexican democracy."
Bruce
Berger, author of The Telling Distance: Conversations with
the American Desert
"Absolutely
fascinating... the well-crafted outcome of a sharp mind and meticulous
research, combined with serendipity."
Tony Burton,
author of West Mexico and Geo-Mexico
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For the
Spanish edition,
Odisea metafísica hacia la Revolución Mexicana,
Francisco I. Madero y su libro secreto, Manual espírita,
click
here.
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PRAISE
FOR C.M. MAYO'S
THE LAST PRINCE OF THE MEXICAN EMPIRE
A Library Journal Best Book, 2009
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"Once upon a time,
there was a little half-American boy who briefly became heir
to the Mexican throneuntil his distraught parents sued
the doomed Emperor Maximilian for his return. As in the best
historical fiction, Mayo's sparkling first novel transforms a
forgotten historical footnote into a spellbinding, heartbreaking
tale filled with drama and fascinating characters."
Library
Journal
"It is a hefty, sprawling
work, more than 400 pages long, but at no point does it begin
to sag under its own weight. Perhaps because its spread is solidly
supported by facts, Mayo's intricate plot trips along at a natural,
inexorable pace, easily traveling the sweeping map she has laid
out for it, from Washington to Mexico City and all the way to
the imperial halls of Europe... a swashbuckling, riotous good
time, befitting the fairy-tale promise of the opening sentence."
Austin
American-Statesman
|
PRAISE
FOR C.M. MAYO'S
MIRACULOUS AIR |
"With elegant prose
and an artist's eye for detail, Mayo may just have written one
of the best books ever about Baja California. Highly recommended"
Library
Journal
"Ay,
if only I had been at C.M. Mayo's side in her rendezvous through
Baja California... My recourse is her joyful, intellectually
sparkling chronicle"
Ilan
Stavans,
author of The Hispanic Condition
"A
breathtaking vision of the past, present, and future of [Baja
California]... Meticulously researched... a valuable combination
of historical and social study"
El
Paso Times
"A luminous exploration
of Baja California, from its southern tip at Cabo San Lucas to
its 'lost city' of Tijuana... [Mayo] takes the fiction writer's
impulse and blends it with the instincts of a journalist to create
a work of nonfiction that elides into modern myth"
Los
Angeles Times Book Review
|
PRAISE
FOR C.M. MAYO'S
MEXICO: A TRAVELER'S LITERARY COMPANION |
"one
of the outstanding contemporary works on this country"
David
Huerta, El Universal, Mexico City
"This
is a book to throw in a suitcase or mochila (backpack)
on the way to Mexico or just settling into a favorite patio chair.
It will open your eyes, fill you with pleasure and render our
perennial vecinos a little less distante."
Los Angeles
Times Book Review
"This delightful
anthology . . . allows readers who do not have roots in Mexico
or who have never traveled there a glimpse into the rich diversity
of people and landscape. For travelers, these selections enhance
exploration and offer vistas beyond the scope of the usual tourist
guide. For other readers, they provide a clearer understanding
of the cultural and social forces that shape today's Mexico.
Highly recommended."
Library
Journal
"Discovering
it was like opening a door and walking into a brightly lit room
filled with all kinds of literary treasures"
Mexico
Connect
|
PRAISE
FOR C.M. MAYO'S
SKY OVER EL NIDO |
"A remarkable literary
debut... tautly fashioned prose, alive with myriad turns of phrase
as on-target as they are idiosyncratic."
Publisher's
Weekly (starred
review)
"C.M. Mayo
writes some of the most exquisitely fashioned, perfectly measured
prose alive in the world today. Her stories glitter with delicious
odd details. They feel electrically charged, richly mysterious,
and rhythmic. I love her layering of cultures, her offbeat humor,
her potent instinct for voices. Bravo! Captivating! Yes, yes,
yes!"
Naomi
Shihab Nye
"The
haywire circuits of our whole electrically but not ethically
connected global village stand exposed in Mayo's work. Sky
Over El Nido won the 1995 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short
Fiction. I am not surprised."
David
Toolan, S.J., Commonweal
"Sky
Over El Nido is a breath-taking first collection... These
stories are vibrant, strange, loaded with off-beat humor, exquisite
detail, and delivered with near-perfect pitch. Sky Over El
Nido shimmers with life."
The
Virginia Quarterly Review
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