I'm taking a graduate level 'History of Mexico' seminar. Any ideas about good general surveys of Mexico? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Octavio Paz's "Labyrinth of Solitude" is your best bet for a general history of Mexico from Cortez through the 20th century. Paz is very opinionated and sometimes off-the-wall, but LOS offers a very provocative take that's well worth reading.

Thanks. At this point we are reading a lot of "new cultural" histories of Mexico. They are sometimes reliable, but most often I feel they offer an awkward postmodern view of history. If you have any more books of interest please share them.