Troubles in Yankilandia
Cosas del Tío Sam: Impresiones de viaje
Notes: This is a travelogue of a former Mexican minister of foreign affairs, who went into exile in the US following the assassination of president Francisco I. Madero. The book is presented as a series of letters to the author's aunt, written over a year, beginning in August 1914. Soon after the book was published, Moheno returned to Mexico, where he worked as an attorney and held various government posts. A San Antonio imprint from the early years of its flourishing as a center of Spanish-language publishing.
Beyond reluctantly conceding that Americans were industrious, Moheno did not think much of the United States. "El primer derecho del hombre es viajar libremente; y sin embargo aquí se le coarta ese derecho y se le molesta de mil diversas maneras por razones de higiene, por razones de raza, por razones de falsa moralidad, por razones políticas y por otras peores. Así, todos los días se inventa una nueva dolencia que le puede impedir la entrada a este país" (p. 42)
[The principal human right is freedom of movement; nevertheless, here that right is restricted and we are harrassed in a thousand different ways, for reasons of health (or cleanliness?), for reasons of race, for reasons of fake morality, for political reasons, and many others still worse. Everyday the Americans invent a new hassle to block entrance to this country.]
Moheno is also struck by the injustice of the justice system, quoting often from newspaper accounts of trials of wealthy defendants who spend years in court and reports of African Americans arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in the space of a few days.
This book was published by a conservative San Antonio Spanish-language newspaper, and it offers a critical look at the United States as a refuge for Mexican exiles. The editor, in his introduction, relishes Moheno's no-holds-barred approach. "Como era de esperarse, sus refinamientos y sus sutilezas de latino no se podían avenir con las costumbres de Yankilandia y su obra resultó una tremenda requisitoria (p. vi)" [As one would expect, Moheno's Latin refinement and subtlety could not be reconciled with the customs of Yankilandia and what results is a tremendous interrogation of American society.]
This book was issued in decorative wrappers with one of the most striking cover designs of any Spanish-language press. The artist, Mariano Martínez Vizuet, was an exiled Mexican caricaturist who regularly contributed to the Revista Mexicana.
[viii], 120 pages.
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing). A very good copy; three leaves somewhat clumsily strengthened with Japanese tissue at the lower corners; pages mostly unopened; minor chipping and soiling to covers. An attractive, and eye-catching copy.
Publication: San Antonio de Bexar, Texas: Talleres Tipográficos de "Revista Mexicana" 1916.
Item No: #35522
Price: $300