Taxco de Alarcon, Guerrero, Mexico

Pocket Guides are designed for leisure and business travelers who want the highlights of a destination. They contain full, rich descriptions of the best a destination has to offer -- the most worthy sights, the best restaurants and lodging in all price ranges, plus shopping, nightlife, and outdoors highlights.

The intriguing colonial heritage of Mexico is profiled in this detailed and informative guide. Chicki Mallan leads readers through cities such as San Miguel de Allende, Merida, and Veracruz, revealing 500-year-old churches, Spanish haciendas, and imposing palaces in styles ranging from neoclassical to Mudejar. She also emphasizes distinctive areas to shop in each city. Past and present are celebrated with coverage of festivals, indigenous arts and crafts, and photos taken by Oz Mallan.

Littleton (Advancing American Art: Painting, Politics, and Cultural Confrontation at Midcentury, 1990. o.p.) here provides a scholarly, detailed, and exhaustive look at the famous silversmith/designer, illustrator, writer, and preserver/interpreter of Mexican culture. Unlike Joan Mark's recent book The Silver Gringo: William Spratling and Taxco (LJ 2/1/00), which emphasizes Spratling's silversmithing enterprise, Littleton's effort focuses more on the man. Although little firsthand information about Spratling's formative and early adult years exists, Littleton compensates with well-ordered conjecture and cultural context based on correspondence, contemporary articles, published works, and references to Spratling's many prominent friends. Owing to renewed interest in Spratling and Mexican silver (if the prices for related auction items on eBay are any indication), this title should fill a niche--especially in academic libraries.