Jürgen Buchenau

Our new brief text highlights Mexico's stunning geographical, ethnic, and social diversity. In the sixteenth century, diseases brought by the Spanish conquerors wiped out almost 90 per cent of the indigenous population. Since then, Mexico - first as a colony of Spain and, after 1821, as an independent nation - has exported thousands of tons of silver, affecting currencies and prices as far away as China and India. In the century following independence, Mexico was invaded six times by three different European nations (Britain, France, and Spain) as well as the United States, the latter conflict resulting in the loss of half of Mexico's territory. More recently, Mexico has played an ever more important part in the world economy. Focused primarily on the period since independence in 1821, this brief text effectively summarizes Mexico's rich history, delineating some of the major processes at the national level and hinting at regional and local counter-currents.

A Brief History of Mexico

Mexican Mosaic

"Thorough study of the endogenous and external factors that have shaped Mexico's dealings with the Central American republics. Asserts that Mexico's policy has reflected both its status as a 'middle power' between Central America and the United States, and its desire to assert a leadership role in the region"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.

The Making of Mexico's Central America Policy, 1876-1930

In the Shadow of the Giant

William H. Beezley

This unique book traces Mexico's eventful years from 1910 to 1952 through the experiences of its state governors. During this seminal period, revolutionaries destroyed the old regime, created a new national government, built an official political party, and then discarded in practice the essence of their revolution. In this tumultuous time, governors—some of whom later became president—served as the most significant intermediaries between the national government and the people it ruled. Leading scholars study governors from ten different states to demonstrate the diversity of the governors' experiences implementing individual revolutionary programs over time, as well as the waxing and waning of strong governorship as an institution that ultimately disappeared in the powerful national regime created in the 1940s and 1950s. Until that time, the contributors convincingly argue, the governors provided the revolution with invaluable versatility by dealing with pressing issues of land, labor, housing, and health at the local and regional levels. The flexibility of state governors also offered test cases for the implementation of national revolutionary laws and campaigns. The only book that considers the state governors in comparative perspective, this invaluable study offers a fresh view of regionalism and the Revolution. Contributions by: William H. Beezley, Jürgen Buchenau, Francie R. Chassen-López, Michael A. Ervin, María Teresa Fernández Aceves, Paul Gillingham, Kristin A. Harper, Timothy Henderson, David LaFrance, Stephen E. Lewis, Stephanie J. Smith, and Andrew Grant Wood.

Portraits in Conflict, Courage, and Corruption

State Governors in the Mexican Revolution, 1910–1952

The only substantive study of Plutarco Elías Calles and the Mexican Revolution, this book traces the remarkable life story of a complex and little-understood, yet key figure in Mexico's history. Jürgen Buchenau draws on a rich array of archival evidence from Mexico, the United States, and Europe to explore Calles's origins and political trajectory, ultimately leading to his reformist, yet authoritarian presidency from 1924 to 1928. After his term as president, Calles continued to exert broad influence as his country's foremost political figure; indeed, many of the institutions and laws forged during his tenure survive today. Through this comprehensive assessment of a quintessential politician in an era dominated by generals, entrepreneurs, and educated professionals, Buchenau opens an illuminating window into the Mexican Revolution and contemporary Mexico.

Plutarco Elías Calles and the Mexican Revolution

Lyman L. Johnson

In using natural disasters as a way to study societal and especially political change, the essays in this volume illustrate the immediate as well as the long term consequences of destruction.

Earthquakes and Popular Politics in Latin America

Aftershocks

Gilbert M. Joseph

This volume offers a concise historical analysis of the Mexican Revolution, exploring its causes, dynamics, consequences, and legacies.

Social Upheaval and the Challenge of Rule Since the Late Nineteenth Century

Mexico's Once and Future Revolution

In this concise historical analysis of the Mexican Revolution, Gilbert M. Joseph and Jürgen Buchenau explore the revolution's causes, dynamics, consequences, and legacies. They do so from varied perspectives, including those of campesinos and workers; politicians, artists, intellectuals, and students; women and men; the well-heeled, the dispossessed, and the multitude in the middle. In the process, they engage major questions about the revolution. How did the revolutionary process and its aftermath modernize the nation's economy and political system and transform the lives of ordinary Mexicans? Rather than conceiving the revolution as either the culminating popular struggle of Mexico's history or the triumph of a new (not so revolutionary) state over the people, Joseph and Buchenau examine the textured process through which state and society shaped each other. The result is a lively history of Mexico's "long twentieth century," from Porfirio Díaz's modernizing dictatorship to the neoliberalism of the present day.

Social Upheaval and the Challenge of Rule since the Late Nineteenth Century

Mexico’s Once and Future Revolution

The history of Casa Boker, one of the first department stores in Mexico City, and its German owners provides important insights into Mexican and immigration history. Often called "the Sears of Mexico," Casa Boker has become over the past 140 years one of Mexico's foremost wholesalers, working closely with U.S. and European exporters and eventually selling 40,000 different products across the republic, including sewing machines, typewriters, tools, cutlery, and even insurance. Like Mexico itself, Casa Boker has survived various economic development strategies, political changes, the rise of U.S. influence and consumer culture, and the conflicted relationship between Mexicans and foreigners. Casa Boker thrived as a Mexican business while its owners clung to their German identity, supporting the Germans in both world wars. Today, the family speaks German but considers itself Mexican. Buchenau's study transcends the categories of local vs. foreign and insider vs. outsider by demonstrating that one family could be commercial insiders and, at the same time, cultural outsiders. Because the Bokers saw themselves as entrepreneurs first and Germans second, Buchenau suggests that transnational theory, a framework previously used to illustrate the fluidity of national identity in poor immigrants, is the best way of describing this and other elite families of foreign origin.

Jürgen Buchenau

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