Book excerpt: Praise for The Spectacular City, Mexico, and Colonial Hispanic Literary Culture "A scholarly tour de force...Stephanie Merrim is one of the most respected colonial scholars in the Americas, and this book will only add another well-deserved star to her crown."-Nina M. Scott, Professor Emerita of Spanish, University of Massachusetts, Amherst "Taking the city beyond the confines of Angel Rama's lettered city, Merrim proposes the colonial city as a central motif in the genesis of a New World Baroque...This book is another example of her meticulous, erudite, and brilliant scholarship.:-Yolanda Martfnez-San Miguel, Professor of Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies and Comparative Literature, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey