In this masterly, deeply personal, and provocative book, the internationally renowned Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes, whose work has been called “a combination of Poe, Baudelaire, and Isak Dinesen” ( Newsweek ), steps back to survey the wellsprings of art and ideology, the events that have shaped our time, and his extraordinary life and fiercest passions. Arranged alphabetically from “Amore” to “Zurich,” This I Believe takes us on a marvelous inner journey with a great writer. Fuentes ranges wide, from contradictions inherent in Latin American culture and politics to his long friendship with director Luis Buñuel. Along the way, we find reflection on the mixed curse and blessing of globalization; memories of a sexual initiation in Zurich; a fond tracing of a family tree heavy with poets, dreamers, and diplomats; evocations of the streets, cafés, and bedrooms of Washington, Paris, Santiago de Chile, Cambridge, Oaxaca, and New York; and a celebration of literary heroes including Balzac, Cervantes, Faulkner, Kafka, and Shakespeare. Throughout, Fuentes captivates with the power of his intellect and his prose. Here, too, are vivid, often heartbreaking glimpses into his personal life. “Silvia” is a powerful love letter to his beloved wife. In “Children,” Fuentes recalls the births of his daughters and the tragic death of his son; in “Cinema” he relives the magic of films such as Citizen Kane and The Wizard of Oz . Further extending his reach, he examines the collision between history and contemporary life in “Civil Society,” “Left,” and “Revolution.” And he poignantly addresses the experiences we all hold in common as he grapples with beauty, death, freedom, God, and sex. By turns provocative and intimate, partisan and universal, this book is a brilliant summation of an international literary career. Revisiting the influences, commitments, readings, and insights of a lifetime, Fuentes has fashioned a magnificently coherent statement of his view of the world, reminding us once again why reading Fuentes is “like standing beneath the dome of the Sistine Chapel. . . . The breadth and enormity of this accomplishment is breathtaking” ( The Denver Post ). While critics praised the depth and breadth of Fuentes’s thinking, most acknowledged that This I Believe is a work for the serious reader, someone who has already considered deeply philosophical issues. At all turns, Fuentes challenges his readers—not only with personal inquiries into marriage, but also with forays into political topics including globalization and civic society. Many reviewers cited the essay titled "Urbanities," which recalls the distinctive roles cities played in Fuentes’s life (his father was a diplomat; he served as Mexican ambassador to France), as the loveliest in the volume. A few quibbled over some grandiloquent language and historical errors. Yet all agree that This I Believe is an intelligent, engaging work that warmly invites readers into Fuentes’s personal world of ideas. Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc. Fuentes is, of course, one of the most highly acclaimed novelists in the world, a major participant in the boom of Latin American literature that took the globe by storm beginning in the 1970s. His new book is not a novel but a collection of essays--more accurately, a series of thought pieces on a wide range of topics, which he has arranged, almost like a daybook, in alphabetical order, by topic, including "Beauty," "Death," and "Faulkner." But these pieces are not for casual reading. Fuentes is a brilliant thinker, the depth of his ideas matching the evocativeness of his prose style--whether he is pondering how we love or why Kafka is the "fundamental writer of the terrible twentieth century." These compositions amount to a series of position papers, addressed equally to the heart and to the mind on subject matter that has occupied his thoughts far beyond the details of his personal life. An extremely stimulating book for fans of Fuentes' remarkable novels, but librarians can also use it as a way of directing patrons to his fiction. Brad Hooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Advance praise for This I Believe “In This I Believe, Carlos Fuentes brilliantly explores an alphabet of the human condition, from A to Z, from art to politics, from love to death. This is a dazzling book by a truly civilized man.” –Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. “Erudite, charming, witty, and often moving, this book has a bit of everything and something for everyone.” –Hugh Thomas, author of Rivers of Gold Advance Praise from the UK for This I Believe “[A] passionate engagement with literature and art . . . This I Believe gathers his recent reflections on literature, history and politics, as well as some more intimate explorations of his own private experience. These writings . . . draw together many of the themes and concerns of a rich and vibrant literary life.” –The Herald “Stimulating . . . [Fu