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A History of Modern Mexico, 1810–1996
"A magisterial history. . . . Will surely stand for many years as the standard history of postcolonial Mexico." — Wall Street Journal
The concentration of power in the caudillo (leader) is as much a formative element of Mexican culture and politics as the historical legacy of the Aztec emperors, Cortez, the Spanish Crown, the Mother Church and the mixing of the Spanish and Indian population into a mestizo culture. Enrique Krauze shows how history becomes biography during the century of caudillos from the insurgent priests in 1810 to Porfirio and the Revolution in 1910. The Revolutionary era, ending in 1940, was dominated by the lives of seven presidents -- Madero, Zapata, Villa, Carranza, Obregon, Calles and Cardenas. Since 1940, the dominant power of the presidency has continued through years of boom and bust and crisis. A major question for the modern state, with today's president Zedillo, is whether that power can be decentralized, to end the cycles of history as biographies of power.
This major interpretive history of the making of modern Mexico, from the Insurgent priests of the early nineteenth century to the presidency of Zedillo, provides an incisive portrait of Mexican culture, society, and politics and key elements of Mexico's past.aThe legacy of the Aztec emperors, CortÄs, the Spanish Crown, the mother Church, and the mixing of the Spanish and Indian population into a mestizo culture are key elements of Mexican history, as is the concentration of power in the person of the caudillo, or leader. History becomes biography, and the lives of the different caudillos are the historical tradition of Mexico. Santa Anna, Juçrez, and Porfirio DÆaz are three central figures up to 1910, when DÆaz, a monarch in republican clothing who had ruled the country since 1876, was engulfed by the Revolution and exiled to die in Paris. As always there was the threat and reality of the American presence from the north. The Revolution lasted ten years, and political unrest continued until 1940. There were nearly a million casualties during the Revolutionary era, and through the lives of the seven caudillos-Madero, Zapata, Villa, Carranza, Obregùn, Calles and Cçrdenas-the history of the period unfolds.aThe next part of the book deals with the evolution and development of the modern state from 1940 to 1970, beginning with an assessment of the Revolutionary period, then showing the formation of today's political system, and culminating in the tragic events of the 1968 student uprisings at Tlatelolco. As before, it is through the lives, personalities, and actions of various Presidents that history unfolds. The final section, on contemporary Mexico (1970-1996), is particularly valuable because there is little else available on this period and it addresses one of the major questions of Mexico's future: whether the political system can decentralize the concentration of power in the presidential office and end the cycles of history as biographies of power.
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