Customer Reviews

A Concise History of Mexico (Cambridge Concise Histories)

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

 

 

The book does not serve its purpose as a general introduction to Mexican history because the author does not present a narrative history in any sense. Rather, the book contains a very high-level and abstract analysis of major economic and social forces surrounding the historical events, the basic outline of which the reader needs to know in advance. Perhaps the book would do better finding "some resonance among fellow disciplinarians" (from the Preface, p. xii) than appealing to the general (educated) reader.

Concise history of mexico is just that. It gives you a run down through Mexican history from the Indian days to the present looking at different time periods as well as movements that have helped to define the country. The book describes how both internal influences such as the effect of the Catholic church as well as external influences like relations with the United States and Europe have affected Mexico's history and development. It also deals with the economics and political history of Mexico helping to give a better explanation of how Mexico has turned out the way that it has.

This book, like many others have said, is far too technical and abstract to be an introduction to mexican history. For example, the section about the Mexican Revolution (starting in 1910) has no background information, it does not introduce any of the main ideas or people, and leaders during the 30 year history just seem to come and go based on this account. I was very disappointed with this book.

Readers looking for an introduction to Mexico should look elsewhere. The author's decision to emphasize a thematic rather than chronological approach was probably the correct one, but the book's brevity prevents him from developing his themes adequately. At the same time, the narrative of Mexican history collapses in confusion. The book is also sloppily written.

This book was very hard to read. It jumps from one event to another without respecting the dates. It was very difficult for me to follow the developement of the different events since it doesn't respect a timeline. The different regimes of the varying political leaders (from emperors and dictators to presidents) are not described in a clear/easy way. In my opinion, the author dedicates very little time to describe very important events such as the independence or the revolution. At the end, I just got a general idea of the history of Mexico but not a very clear one. I wouldn't recomend this book to any person interested in the history of Mexico. I gave it two stars only because I think the pictures in the book are quite good and relevant to the description of events.

This book is one of those histories that expect you to know a lot of history already. I was very disappointed. I wanted a concise, clear account of Mexico's history. This reads likes someone's thesis. I slogged through to 1900, then skimmed the rest. As a basic history, this is a flop.

In A Concise History of Mexico, back and white photos and drawings pepper a survey of Mexican history which makes for a perfect introduction for either general or high school readers. Chapters cover Mexican history from pre-Columbian times to modern times, providing an excellent and involving survey of Mexico's major periods of social and political change.