The Bandits from RÃo FrÃo: The Bandits from RÃo FrÃo, Part 1: A Naturalistic and Humorous Novel of Customs, Crimes, and Horrors

.,."depicts the moral values and lively spirit of Mexican society."
-- Alva V. Cellini, St. Bonaventure University, in The MultiCultural Review

.,."a sweeping epic vision of a country... Payno's novel is an immense fresco of [Mexico], depicting members of all social classes... By presenting a wide spectrum of characters, Payno covers every aspect of popular life in Mexico... while sketching the political, rural, provincial, urban, military, religious, and economic problems of the country during times of anarchy."
-- Jose Tomas de Cuellar, author of The Magic Lantern: Having a Ball and Christmas Eve (Library of Latin America)

."..depicts the moral values and lively spirit of Mexican society."

-- Alva V. Cellini, St. Bonaventure University, in The MultiCultural Review

"Alan Fluckey must be commended for being the translator to finally translate The Bandits from Rio Frio to the English. Manuel Payno's epic work can finally find a permanent home in the collection of popular literary classics in English, paralleling its place in Spanish language literature. This down-to-earth picture of 19th century Mexican life and politics is priceless."

-- River Walk Journal

"Mexican soap operas or "telenovelas" are famous around the world for being addictively entertaining. Long before the "telenovela", there was the "novela", and the granddaddy of all Mexican novels is Manuel Payno's "Los Bandidos de Rio Frio" (1891). You might pick it up out of curiosity about a very different place and time, but it is Payno's wild, melodramatic, and thoroughly captivating story that will keep you reading. Alan Fluckey's jaunty and fluid translation is a perfect match for Payno's prose."

-- Dr. David Frye, University of Michigan. Translator of "The Mangy Parrot" by Jose Joaquin Fernandez Lizardi (Hackett Press)

"This is a major work... and the translation is superb!"

-- C. M. Mayo in Critical Mass, the blog of the National Book Critics Circle Board of Directors; author of Sky Over El Nido (University of Georgia Press)
"Think of Manuel Payno as the Margaret Mitchell of Mexico and then settle back for a multilayered novel reflecting both the rich culture and history of 19th century Mexico. Fluckey's excellent translation is fluid and sassy."

-- The Tucson Citizen

."..a sweeping epic vision of a country... Payno's novel is an immense fresco of [Mexico], depicting members of all social classes... By presenting a wide spectrum of characters, Payno covers every aspect of popular life in Mexico... while sketching the political, rural, provincial, urban, military, religious, and economic problems of the country during times of anarchy."

-- Jose Tomas de Cuellar, author of The Magic Lantern: Having a Ball and Christmas Eve (Library of Latin America)

"Manuel Payno's Los Bandidos de Rio Frio is the only Mexican novel of the nineteenth-century to approach an adequate and persuasive portrayal of the tragic-comedy of national politics and life in the decades after the Reformation."

-- D.A. Brading author of The First America: The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots and the Liberal State 1492-1866 (Cambridge University Press)