Fuentes's bold and timely study discusses the origins and nature of the tumultuous events that have recently transformed Mexican politics and society. The rebellion in Chiapas, a rash of assassinations, the break between Presidents Salinas and Zedillo, the continual struggle for democratic self-rule: These and other developments are addressed by one of Mexico's wisest, most influential commentators.

Carlos Fuentes, Mexico's leading novelist, is also an essayist and writer of screenplays as well as political commentary. Trained as a lawyer, he was Mexico's ambassador to France in the 1970s. Among his many novels are Terra Nostra, The Death of Artemio Cruz, The Old Gringo and Christopher Unborn.

"Combining impressionistic accounts of the Mexican national soul with remarkably lucid summaries of Mexican history, snippets of literary autobiography, policy prescriptions and personal journals, A New Time for Mexico is a challenging book, but the North American reader will find few more helpful introductions to the Mexican national crisis."—Walter Russell Mead, Washington Post Book World

"Carlos Fuentes has a great ability to quickly set in historical and cultural context the political and economic transition under way in Mexico. But Mexico is a very complex country, as Fuentes always reminds us, and he warns against overly simple interpretations. Here he provides one of the best available surveys of Mexico's past and weaves into this story his month-by-month diary of the events leading up to the 1994 peso crisis."—Foreign Affairs

"An insightful and often brilliant reflection on Mexican governance and the daunting problems the nation faces today."—Peter Canby, New York Times Book Review

"The cry for true democratic reform in Mexico has grown fierce and strong, but never has it been more eloquent and provocative than in Carlos Fuentes' new book A New Time for Mexico. . . . Fuentes weaves prose with political commentary to bring alive and demand support for the struggle of his country's poor and powerless to win not only the most basic of rights, but political clout."—Ginger Thompson, Baltimore Sun

"With his exciting analysis of the future of Mexico, Fuentes presents a stirring invocation of the democratic principles which, he believes, must be promoted if Mexico is to honor both its richest and its poorest citizens, its ancient past and its developed future."—Hispanic Heritage

"No one who is interested in Mexico, its past and its future, can afford to miss this brilliant book."—Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.