David Lida observes, in his book "First Stop in the New World", that "what differentiates Mexico City from many other places in the relative ease with which a foreigner finds his place". That will come as a surprise to many who think of a scary, polluted sprawl teetering on the cusp of chaos and corruption. Lida, a resident journalist for nearly two decades, found his place by rambling through its countless neighborhoods, hanging out in cantinas, and talking to people about what it is like to live in a city where everyday survival can be a chancy matter of whatever, whenever, however. The book brims with personal experiences and each is put in a knowledgeable context of Mexico's unique history, culture, politics and economics. Lida succeeds is making this "emphatically Mexican city" seem less daunting by making it more comprehensible as a template for 21st century urban civilization.

Not a bad read, especially for those interested in physical, political, economic details surrounding this great metropolis that is Mexico City. Great insight on the Mexican character although nothing new. Still, I recommend it to those in search of more than the usual tourist trap descriptions.

It is a city of many eye sores, bedlam, corruption, extreme poverty, and social dysfunction. And yet, as David Lida shows us in this wonderful book, Mexico City is one of the great cities of the world, and not simply because of its wonderful museums, archealogical treasures, and splendid restaurants. Lida finds wonder in the crowded subway cars, the cheesy flea markets, the debauched cantinas,and the aromatic food stands. The people that he writes about are also full-blooded and real. The government functionaries that pour into the central district in their polyester suits, the drag queens that perform in seedy bars, the taxi cab drivers (some good, some not so), and the many drinking companions that he meets along the way, are all worthy participants in this great endeavor (city and book). For the many of us who have an "amor amargo" (bittersweet love) with this most complex city, Lida has done a masterful job of capturing that affection.

The bland homogenization of NYC may make for a boring holiday (unless you like the homey convenience of the Starbucks next door to the Duane Reed next door to the Chase Bank), but at least you won't have to worry about being kidnapped. Typical daily news from D.F., and not just in Alarma!:

"Fernando Marti, the son of a prominent businessman, was snatched on a Mexico City street in June and found dead last week, even though his family paid the ransom his captors demanded.

Several policemen have been detained for questioning in the death. Prosecutors believe they may have supplied kidnappers with information about the victim.

Last week, thieves robbing a bus on a highway north of Mexico City got mad when passengers didn't hand over possessions quickly and shot and killed a 5-year-old boy."

Charmed, I'm sure! Mexico is great!!

David Lida's vivid and fascinating word portraits provide a sense of intimate clarity for the myriad sights and scenes of La Capital. He has a real feel for the big picture of such an immense and tumultuous metropolis, as well as an adroitness for rendering closely observed D.F. moments and depicting the divers characters that inhabit its streets and colonias.

A hilarious yet poignant account of an afternoon spent in the company of a group of borrachos in a cantina is just one among several highlights, as is the chilling tale of his own kidnapping.

He presents a vision of Mexico City that is affectionate yet unsentimental. His love for the place is clear-eyed and his knowledge is hard-earned. He manages to cover it all: from Tepito to Polanco, from discussions of various art[s] scenes and popular culture to distinctive local religious practices and social/sexual mores, from Carlos Slim to faded night club singers. Lida is a true urban cicerone.

Chris Humphrey's "Moon Mexico City" and Jim Johnston's "Mexico City: An Opinionated Guide..." are both fine books and excellent aids for the English-speaking visitor trying to cope with Chilango-land. "First Stop in the New World..." is indispensable as a means of more deeply understanding it and will be a permanent addition to the city's literature.

Most times when I tell somebody that I'll be vacationing in Mexico, they ask me "Which beach are you going to?" The horror in their faces when I say Mexico City is obvious. "Why would you go there? It's so dangerous?"

Indeed Mexico City can be dangerous, which David Lida confirms in 'First Stop', but he also portrays many other amazing facets of the city, many of which make me want to book another trip as soon as possible so I can experience them.

If you have ever spent any time in DF, you probably have many questions: How do people afford the near-American prices by selling trinkets on the streets? Do people go crazy from sitting in traffic all of the time? Do people in Mexico City have more sex than other cities? David's book answers many of these questions and more, all the while opening the reader's mind to many other oddities of the city with the finesse of someone who is obviously in love with the place.

Skip the beach, grab David Lida's book and experience Mexico City.

Like a dynamic, contemporary mural, this book transported me to the Mexico City of right now. The colors, the smells, the grit and yes, the glory of this magnificent city are packed into the pages of David Lida's First Stop in the New World. Beginning with the enticing introduction, "The Hypermetropolis," the author takes the reader on a storytelling journey that explores contemporary business and commerce (from the street vendors to "the richest man in the world,"), art and architecture, food, sexuality, social strata and more.
Personal accounts and journalistic reporting of the diversity of this ancient and modern city. A night in a cantina where a stranger makes him an offer he can refuse contrasts with an afternoon of drinks with a wealthy socialite and her friends in her home in an exclusive area of the city. An unexpected cab ride. Montse, a homeless teenager whose breakfast consists of toxic vapors from a can. Daniela Rossell, whose book of photographs of young women of elite society rocked the City.
There are so many more fascinating accounts in this book. If you have any interest in Mexico or Mexico City (or if these reviews have piqued that interest), buy this book. You won't be sorry. Written with heart, humor and clarity, this book has me planning my next trip to "el D.F."

Recently I decided that it was time that I ventured to Mexico. I have traveled all over the world but somehow I have missed Mexico. So being the type of person who would wither and die if I had to spend a week in Cabo or Cancun at a resort, I booked a trip to Mexico City with a weekend in Zihuatenejo. Being the type of traveler who likes to discover what lies beneath the surface, I was thrilled to find David Lida's book.

The author who calls Mexico City home has written a book that captures everything I always hope to find in a book about a city and much more. His observations, both wide angle and incredibly close up are always entertaining and build to create a complete vision of one of the world's largest cities right now. The author does not gloss over the rumors we all have heard about the city. He also exposes the reasons why the city can seem so scary to the outsider; its size, lawlessness, and extremities that can make even an experienced traveler a little uneasy. But then he will share a stories of the cities residents and you will feel the connection one can only experience by walking its streets.

I recommend this book to anyone with any type of connection to the city, be it by heritage or for a future traveler. Even if you never intend on stepping foot in Mexico City this book is so entertaining and visual that one might feel like they have seen it for themselves simply by reading Lida's amazing book. It's clear this was a huge undertaking and that fact that it is written by a "gringo" just speaks to the author's boldness.

I read hundreds of books a year, and this one compelled my to write my first review. I just got back from an overseas vacation, and I took Mr. Lida's book with me to read. I absolutely loved it!

My dad was a Mexico City native and I grew up visiting this strange and fascinating place. Lida's first-hand experiences, interpretations of Mexican culture, and definitions of key Mexican topics have helped me understand that City - and my heritage - better than anything thing else.

It's difficult to really know something well when you're steeped in it since childbirth; Mexico City was like that with me. Its true nature was lost to me. It was just a place I had to go to visit my family.

Lida's insight into such common, but nuanced, words such as "ahorita", "chile en nogada", and "Malinchismo", just a few of the examples, have helped me truly appreciate Mexico City's complexity.

I'm really saddened not to have my Dad around, so that I can toss out some of the things I learned from Lida's book.

David Lida helped me view Mexico City in a different way and appreciate it, quirks and all. It's also help fill in many pieces of my life puzzle. And, I appreciate the fact that the book is also a valentine to his adopted City, not just a scathing criticism of a metropolis that's run amok.

Lida's book has helped validate Mexico City culture, history, and heritage, and for that I will always be grateful. I highly recommend this book.

Reading this book felt like sitting in a small coffeehouse and having a series of conversations with a good friend. I have only been to Mexico City once and plan to visit again. David Lida's book helps me as I try to understand Mexico City and not be so overwhelmed by its sheer size and energy. He tells stories about all aspects of life in Mexico City and gives insight to what it means to be in Mexico City, whether you live there or are just visiting. It is worth reading more than once.

I musat say, I was suprised when I first had a look at this book, namely due to the fact that there are so few authors out there bothering to write about the neglected metropolis to the south. Lida has done so, and with particular insight. Interested in getting to know the REAL Mexico City? Lida will take you there, from the fringes of Santa Fe to the steps of Teotihuacan. Although I don't like saying that a particular writer has captured the soul of a place, Lida has come awfully close. Great job!

Ever motivated by his affection for Mexico City, David Lida presents First Stop in the New World, about the people and places that have shaped his own conclusion on what it means to live in the labyrinth that is el Distrito Federal. First Stop is written in the style you would expect from someone with years of experience in journalism, with a witty and authentic voice that can inform us about Mexico City like any lifelong capitalino, and still remain refreshingly apolitical. He is not afraid of clarifying the truth behind the "Wal-mart next door to the Pyramids" rumor, or the exaggeration of the frequency of kidnappings. Want to know the truth behind these two sensational stories? Read this book to find out.

Lida's literary style comes through his investigative narrative, (and evokes his other career as a short story writer), filled with characters that are fodder for stories in their own right, as he admits. He recounts details as varied as Mexico City herself - how the the culture drives the sexuality of the inhabitants; how the city inspires ingenious ways for people to become entrepreneurs; and how the urban landscape even affects what people eat and how they eat. Lida is clearly in love with the city he calls home, and like a passionate lover, the City can sometimes hurt the one who loves her: readers will be jarred by Lida's composed, calm testimony about his ordeal as a victim of an "express kidnapping". It would have been easy for anyone to write about this with certain bitterness, but Lida did not let this experience keep him away from el D.F.

As a chilangofile myself, I am happy to find that as joyously overwhelming as Mexico City is, Lida's book is not improvised like the very lives and urban sprawl he writes about; it is carefully composed with ringside accounts of someone who has been there, and stayed to tell the stories, without the insular judgment of an infrequent tourist "surviving among the natives." The book reads less like generic publications on Mexico and closer to literary journalism, which makes First Stop in the New World a book worth reading multiple times, both for its smooth prose and the startling metropolis it chronicles.

I travel a lot for work, and I've been to Mexico City several times, staying in several different parts of the city. It's a fascinating, confusing, scary, delightful, and overwhelming place I've wanted to understand better. And you couldn't ask for a better guide than this book.

When describing the parts of the city I'm familiar with, Mr. Lida manages to capture the flavor and rhythm of life with an observational ability bordering on brilliance, often illuminating or contextualizing with a bit of history or a personal anecdote so that even the familiar becomes new. He also seems to be remarkably free of any particular ideology, describing the lives of salesmen, addicts, artists, street vendors, and anyone else he meets with a unusual mix of humble curiosity and deep compassion.

Few people are so conversant with the entire sprawling city and its manifold culture, or so lighthearted and urbane in its description. Something here will surprise or amuse virtually any visitor. Highly recommended!

I've lived in Mexico City for over ten years and find David Lida's perspective on urban life to ring true. The book nicely combines investigative journalism with an entertaining, personal voice, giving it a 'you-are-there' feel.
Jim Johnston, author of 'Mexico City: an Opinionated Guide for the Curious Traveler'