Out of Budapest

One of the world's ground-breaking authorities on pre-Columbian art speaks to the heart of the American experience.From an immigrant perspective, Esther Pasztory's memoir is a guide along the way to an appreciation of multicultural qualities as opportunities.The themes and emotions of her search for the truth of ancient American cultures reflect the dramatic cross-cultural currents of her native Hungary as it emerges from the Austro-Hungarian empire, two world wars and autocracy-interrupted by the Revolution of 1956.Her escape to the United States launched her lifelong struggle to balance being a "1.5-generation" immigrant and a successful woman in a male-dominated culture.Previous examples of this dynamic are found in the author's many publications, like the revolutionary book, Thinking With Things: Toward a New Vision of Art and in her discoveries of life in Teotihuacán.