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Rating: 
Summary: a Oaxacan "Bible"
Review: Even after 15 years of traveling to the region I learned many new things about the state and the city. A most thorough, complete and honest opinion of one of Mexico's most delightful and complicated regions; not only from a historical view point but also shopping, driving,and siteseeing the out of the way places. Makes me want to grab two months and a van and hit the road! The ONLY book you need to take with you...
Rating:
Summary: a Oaxacan "Bible"
Review: Even after 15 years of traveling to the region I learned many new things about the state and the city. A most thorough, complete and honest opinion of one of Mexico's most delightful and complicated regions; not only from a historical view point but also shopping, driving,and siteseeing the out of the way places. Makes me want to grab two months and a van and hit the road! The ONLY book you need to take with you...
Rating:
Summary: Finally a guide book that does justice to Oaxaca
Review: I know of no better guide book to Oaxaca: not the Moon Mexico Guide, not the Lonely Planet guide. This book is simply the best book on Oaxaca in English. The problem with the other books is that Mexico is simply too big and rich: you can't fit the entire country in one volume without skimping on something great. That is where Oaxaca and Moon Handbooks' other regional publications come in. This book takes its time, reports on every single corner of the state, and tries to be as thorugh as possible. I only wish there were guidebooks as detailed and complete for Mexico's other states.There are a few complaints I have though: there is no mention of Santiago Matatlan, the world's Mezcal capital, even though the town is full of Mezcal stores selling an amazing variety of local distills. Also, the road from Oaxaca to Salina Cruz is long and dreary, about 5 hours of driving... and the few small towns along the way often only offer very suspect dining and rest options. It would be nice if there were mention of a place or two where pitstops could be done. (Also the book makes no effort to identify where gas stations are located on Oaxaca's long and lonely highways) I ended up finding a good spot to eat in El Camaron, but not with the guidebook's help. Also, readers of the guidebook would think that there are only two ways to drive to Huatulco: via the Oaxaca-Pochutla highway or via the Oaxaca-Salina Cruz highway. There is no acknowledgement that the safest route from Mexico City to Huatulco actually circumvents the high and rugged Oaxaca mountains (Sierra Madre Sur) altogether, passing through flat Veracruz state before heading south across the equally flat Tehuantepec isthmus. All in all, though, this is the very best source of info on Oaxaca state in English!
Rating: 
Summary: Great guide book with a few limitations
Review: This is the ONLY full-sized guide book devoted solely to Oaxaca so, if you're going there for any length of time over a couple days, you need it; so buy it, already. Great info on history, archeological sites, remote regions, all that.
For notes on sanitation, eating safely, crime problems with backcountry travel, and a few other refined topics, look for additional information elsewhere. This book, which has excellent details on many things, is a bit incomplete in some areas.
I'm writing this from an internet cafe in Oaxaca de Benito Juarez, the capital city, to report a deficit in the book: some of the restaurant recommendations are off the mark and misinformed. The author recommends some of the worst eateries in the central city (the Centro Historico) and doesn't even mention many of the best ones, even when they've been here for years garnering good reputations. I used the last edition of this book for a long visit here last year, and bought the new (November 2004) edition for this trip and, if anything, some of the bad restaurant recommendations of the last edition have become worse ones in this new edition. When you get here, just ask a few other visitors who got here before you and get your own list of recommendations; you'll do much better that way.
A Mexico-wide warning, also not mentioned in this book: several Norte Americanos I know who are smokers tell me they like to come to Mexico because they can smoke virtually anywhere, without restrictions. If you are among the majority who do not smoke, that could be a problem for you. There are a few really excellent restaurants and cafes here in the city where smoking is forbidden, but none of them are mentioned in the Moon guide to Oaxaca.
An update, a month later, still in Oaxaca: this book gives great details on how to get about in any town in Oaxaca, but doesn't tell you whether it's worth your time to go there. When you get to any region of the state, how do you choose which town to stop in? If you have only a week and want to hit just one or two high spots outside the capital city, how do you choose? No quidance on this from Bruce Whipperman, the author. He just tells you what you'll be seeing once you get there.
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