Customer Reviews

The Annexation of Mexico: From the Aztecs to the IMF

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

John Ross has a witty style of writing which made what could have been a dry history book into an easy-to-read, fun trip through the ages of Mexican history. He takes us from the days of the Aztecs through all the various interventions by foreign governments and private enterprises (as well as the shenanigans of indigenous power-mongers) up to the current days of NAFTA and banking scandals. For anyone interested in our neighbor to the south (and a lot more Americans ought to be a lot more interested than they seem to be) this book should be on the "must read" list.

The author discusses the dictatorship in Mexico of Porifiro Diaz (1876-1910). Dissidents were thrown in gulags. The author writes that in the slums of Mexico city, 43 out of every 1000 adults died a year compared to 6 out of a 1,000 in not very healthy London and half the babies did not survive their first year. In the rural areas, wages in 1910 where 35 centavos a day, exactly what they were in 1810. But American business elites were very happy with General Diaz. They could pludner Mexico all they wanted. Andrew Carnegie called him "the Moses and Joshua of his people."

The author goes through the period after the 1910 revolution which saw the U.S. engage in assasination, aggression and ideological warfare to keep the revolutionares from threatening the interests of the American businesses which had made so much loot under Diaz. 1929 saw the creation of what would later become the PRI, a political party to legitimize the dictatorship of the 1910 revolutionaries. That revolution was by that time quite deradicalized and co-opted by the U.S. The most radical revolutionary, Emiliano Zapata, was murdered under president Carranza's orders in 1919, a year before the latter met the same fate. After the presidency of populist Lazaro Cardenas (1934-1940)Mexico's government settled into a state capitalist one-party dictatorship, which controlled some sectors of the economy bbut always allowed foreign participation in those sectors. U.S. investment in the country continually rose as did military aid. The PRI tolerated dissent but always was willing to arrest and "dissapear" such persons if they got too uppity and always could commit fraud if they were about to lose an election. On October 2nd 1968, the Army massacred 337 people as they were about to disperse from a non-violent protest at the Plaza of Three Cultures at the Tlateloclo housing complex.

In the early 80's Mexico, burdened with a huge debt and low world oil prices, went into serious economic decline. Wages went down too and the one bright spot was Mexico's trade surplus with the U.S. as the lowest wages in the hemisphere were paid to the maquiladora workers of the exporting multinational corporations.

Carlos Salinas won the presidential election in 1988 through outright fraud and violence. Salinas engaged in massive privitization policies, earning him much praise from U.S. politicians and business leaders. He crushed strikes at businesses about to be privitized. The creation of NAFTA created unregulated movement of capital. Massive capital flight took place as stronger U.S. multinationals overtook local competitors in the Mexican market and sent their money back to the U.S. In December 1994, Mexico was in serious crises as it had to default on short term bond payments. Mexico was in its most serious crises since the Great Depression and its people suffered more terribly than usual.

He tells stories of what ordinary people throughout Mexico are dealing with and the hell their country has been put through. He looks at people attempting to block Jack Nicklaus's "Golden Bear" company from building a golf course and resort complex in their community and stealing all of their water supply, at people fighting the thuggery of the state oil company, at people fighting the looting of their forests and the destruction of the environment of their communities. He looks at people whose land was expropriated to build tourist hotels, who have launched armed rebellions such as in Gurererro and Chiapas. All of these people have encountered U.S. backed terror and torture in response.

The prose style in this book is somewhat plodding.

History sometimes can be really boring even if you sympathize with the political mindframe of a given author. Ross is not that case. Mexico's history is extremely complex, particularly since it is so much tied to US history ("nice neigbors" the US were not EVER). Yet Ross is so skillful that he will take you through the maze so that you start to understand Mexico. Being a gringo many times disqualifies a historian since these academicians disect Mexican History disregarding the ommipresent neighbor and its expansionism and hegemony policies. Ross knows best. Get ready for a very enjoyable ride on Ross' burro traveling through history. And don't get turned off by the word "Annexation," you will see that is very well chosen for a title.

This book is a definite "must" for those interested in Mexico's past, present and years to come.

John Ross' takes us through a journey of Mexico's history and provides the reader with an unknown inside of Mexico's culture over the years.

Ross' years and close experience in Mexico surely add to this book a special touch as no other author has before.

This book should be in every reader's shelf interested in Mexico's history.

Stimulating and entertaining, leads to feelings of outrage, but one wonders if the polemical style of writing defeated objectivity in some places. Could one rely on all the facts, maybe the best available antidote for the propaganda US and Mexican school kids are fed. At the very least: the latter part provides an up to date report on globalization, as applied within Mexico, in the hands of The Masters of the Universe.

A good history of the relationship between the United States and other foreign powers and Mexico. Quite entertaining to read. John Ross is really able to bring the story to life and give it feeling. Unfortunately the book is full of factual errors. Literary flare seems to have gotten the best of Ross and drowned out academic scholarship. I didn't read the book looking for errors, and my knowledge of Mexican history isn't that strong yet I still noticed them. If I saw at least half a dozen mistakes then I'm sure there were many more I didn't catch. This is truly a shame because the book presents self as a well researched text which has plenty of interesting facts and tidbits. Perhaps the problems with historical accuracy embody the thoroughly American general amnesia when it comes our collective history. This contrasts with Mexican culture's obsession with historical meaning and symbols.
Scholarship problems aside, the book is definitely worth the read for understanding the history of relations between the United States and the Mexican people.