In the Zócalo—Mexico City’s central square and the ancient ceremonial heart of the Aztec empire—a shaman’s mystical rituals, furious electricians on hunger strike, and a euphoric football crowd collide.

The old and the new clash head-on in that most traditional of meeting places: the cacophonous town square. With an astute eye to the vagaries of place and its living, breathing history, Eugenio Polgovsky weaves a rich tapestry about empire, the ceremonial, and the onslaught of modernization.