This collection of essays examines how Mexico is facing a new time, even as it must stay true to its place in history. Torn between tradition and modernity, impatient with an exhausted political system, but unsure how and with what to replace it. Mexicans are struggling to make the transition from authoritarian to democratic politics. But where will they find the serenity and strength to respond to their political, economic and moral crises? Mexico's history is an amalgam of Mayan mythmakers, Aztec emperors, Spanish conquistadors, Yankee and French invaders, dictators and peasant revolutionaries, who not only play a part in Mexico's past but still provide influences today. This study discusses the origins and nature of the unforeseen, tumultuous events that have recently transformed Mexico's politics and society. The year 1994 began with the rebellion in Chiapas and continued with a rash of assassinations, the break between presidents Salinas and Zedillo, and continual traumas for a society that has never known - yet hungers for - democratic rule. Fuentes takes the reader on his personal quest for the human meaning of this new time. Carlos Fuentes is the author of Old Gringo, Where the Air is Clear, A Change of Skin and Diana, the Goddess Who Hunts Alone.