Mexico: Biography of Power: A History of Modern Mexico, 1810-1996

Description

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. 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. Contents Illustrations Preface Sources and Acknowledgments Historical Chronology Introduction: Past, Present, and Future I The Weight of the Past 1 The Children of Cuauhtémoc 2 The Legacy of Cortés 3 The Mestizo Family 4 The Spanish Crown 5 The Mother Church II Century of Caudillos 6 The Insurgent Priests 7 The Collapse of the Creoles 8 The Indian Shepherd and the Austrian Archduke 9 The Triumph of the Mestizo III The Revolution 10 Francisco I. Madero: The Apostle of Democracy 11 Emiliano Zapata: The Born Anarchist 12 Francisco Villa: Between Angel and Iron 13 Venustiano Carranza: Nationalism and the Constitution 14 Álvaro Obregón: Death and the General 15 Plutarco Elias Calles: Reform from the Roots 16 Lázaro Cárdenas: The Missionary General IV The Modem State 17 Manuel Ávila Camacho: The Gentleman President 18 Miguel Alemán: The Businessman President and the System 19 Adolfo Ruiz Cortines: The Administrator 20 Adolfo López Mateos: The Orator 21 Gustavo Diaz Ordaz: The Advocate of Order V Past and Future: The Decline of the System 22 The Preacher 23 The Gambler 24 Lost Opportunities 25 The Man Who Would Be King 26 The Theater of History Source Notes Index