I just finished a post about visiting Mexico, which reminds me of a good book about Mexico in the 1970s, the Echeverria presidency, the devaluation, discovery of new oilfields, the national disillusionment over Jose Lopez Portillo. The book is Distant Neighbors, by Alan Riding.

I was there as the story Alan tells in that book unfolded. He covered it for the New York Times while I covered it for Business Week. I wish I’d written that book, but damn, he’s good at it, was then and is still now. I went to business school, Alan stayed with the New York Times.