Mexico's Once and Future Revolution

In this concise historical analysis of the Mexican Revolution, Gilbert M. Joseph and Jurgen 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 Diaz's modernizing dictatorship to the neoliberalism of the present day.

“"When and to what degree did the epic Revolution go astray? Although the authors, two of the most eminent scholars of revolutionary Mexico, are not shy in expressing their own opinions, this dossier allows readers from undergraduates to expert initiates to judge for themselves. Joseph and Buchenau have given us a crisply written, comparatively informed survey of Mexican political history embracing nearly 150 years of both change and continuity, from Porfirian modernization to the first successful challenge to ruling party hegemony in 2000. If one were to read a single sweeping treatment of modern Mexico, this book might well be at the top of the list." -Eric Van Young , University of California, San Diego”

"When and to what degree did the epic Revolution go astray? Although the authors, two of the most eminent scholars of revolutionary Mexico, are not shy in expressing their own opinions, this dossier allows readers from undergraduates to expert initiates to judge for themselves. Gilbert M. Joseph and Jurgen Buchenau have given us a crisply written, comparatively informed survey of Mexican political history embracing nearly 150 years of both change and continuity, from Porfirian modernization to the first successful challenge to ruling party hegemony in 2000. If one were to read a single sweeping treatment of modern Mexico, this book might well be at the top of the list." - Eric Van Young, University of California, San Diego

Gilbert M. Joseph is the Farnam Professor of History and International Studies at Yale University. His many books include A Century of Revolution: Insurgent and Counterinsurgent Violence during Latin America's Long Cold War (with Greg Grandin), The Mexico Reader: History, Culture, Politics (with Timothy J. Henderson), Fragments of a Golden Age: The Politics of Culture in Mexico since 1940 (with Anne Rubenstein and Eric Zolov), and Revolution from Without: Yucatán, Mexico, and the United States, 1880–1924, all also published by Duke University Press.

Jürgen Buchenau is Professor of History and Latin American Studies at UNC Charlotte. He is the author of numerous books, including The Last Caudillo: Alvaro Obregón and the Mexican Revolution, Mexican Mosaic: A Brief History of Mexico, and Plutarco Elías Calles and the Mexican Revolution.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.