Customer Reviews

Fire And Blood: A History Of Mexico

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is a good introduction to the history of Mexico and is generally pretty readable. It gives a good picture of the complex and difficult history of the country, particularly from the time of the conquest until the mid-twentieth century. I would recommend reading this book because you will learn a lot. However, his view of the treatment of indiginous peoples seems dated and quite unsympathetic. It seems that the author has a particular dislike for some unnamed leftist intellectuals who might sympathize or romaticize the country's indiginous past. He spends far too much time tediously attacking some anonymous group that might insist on the importance of Mexico's Pre-Columbian past as a bunch of foolish romantics. In fact, a major theme of this book is to dispell any myth of Mexico as a country with a real Pre-Columbian heritage. Whether this is true seems debatable. Likewise, he spends an awful lot of time apologizing and excusing actions taken by the various Mexican governments. Having said all that, I still think it's a good introduction to Mexican history. I just recommend that you read it with a critical eye.

Heavy book but an easy read. I have been trying to understand Mexico and reading all I can. The better books have been Conquest by Thomas, Mexico by Krauze and LaCapita by Kandell. Fehrenbach surpasses them all by a factor of two. For a "non-fiction" reader it is a smooth read and chunked full of significant observations and facts that a "Gringo" needs to understand when dealing with Mexico. It is a must read for the business executive working in Mexico as well as the historian trying to understand Mexico's feelings towards the United States.

Having traveled and lived in Mexico most of my life, I was constantly exposed to certain aspects of every day life that just didn't seem to fit with my Anglo raising. Even though I spent forty five years immersed in the Mexican Culture there were certain things I just didn't understand. T.R. Fehrenbach's Fire and Blood answered most of my life long questions.

The book is a meticulously researched, chronological history of the country known as Mexico. The book gives a detailed account of why citizens of Mexico today think and act the way they do; their philosophy of life, their relationship with the Catholic Church and their attitude toward a centralized government. If you could choose one or two sentences from the book that explain one of the basic differences between the Hispanic Culture and that of the remainder of North America it is Fehrenbach's assertion that while the rest of North America was colonized by settlers and explorers, the men arriving in Mexico from Spain were "Conquistadors", conquerors. That difference is what makes Mexico the wonderful country it is today.

This book should be mandatory reading for anyone considering a business venture, or currently involved in business or trade with in Mexico. The insight you will receive can not be learned in a life time of living and working in the country. The same can be said for anyone interested in living or traveling in the country. It will help relieve some of the Anglo's misunderstanding and frustrations as to why the citizens of Mexico don't "do it" like we do.

I am taking a Mexican History class (in Spanish and in Mexico) and have been using Fehrenbach's book to check on details of events and names of major political actors--many he does not even mention. That may be justified given that FIRE AND BLOOD is an overview rather than an in-depth analysis. Still, I noticed some glaring errors in addition to what seem like unfounded ethnocentric opinions. For example, the author claims that the Maya were living in the jungle as "savages" in the seventeenth century. He notes that "their written history carved on stone, is not readable" but does not mention the burning of the codices by Diego de Landa until 200 pages farther on in the book. Moreover, the author contends that the "Maya civilization destroyed itself without outside help," referring to squabbling between the cities that were left after the civilization had "degenerated." Mexico in the years following Independence is depicted as a society in which virtually no one had any idea of what it meant to be Mexican or how to build a nation or what the purpose of an election was. Finally, the comparisons between the United States (egalitarian, with democratic values even during colonial times) and Mexico (essentially the opposite) is a misleading oversimplification. And George Washington was not selected by Congress but by the Electoral College in the first presidential election. A book without a single footnote and only the briefest list of references, many of which are from the early twentieth century, cannot, in my view, be characterized as scholarly.

A tiresome read; however, the scope was irresistable. On the political spectrum, non-dogmatically right-wing. Biggest annoyance: constantly makes oblique references to uncited sources ("it has often been said that... however..."). Occasional factual inaccuracies, and bizarrely unfounded opinions. For anyone interested in the current situation in Chiapas or the place of the Mayan peoples in Mexico's history, it's almost useless - the author has no interest in these issues and thus almost ignores them (he dismisses the entire Mayan culture as essentially no more than derivative of the Aztec). It's a useful book as a supplement to other, more specialized books (e.g. Hugh Thomas's excellent Conquest of Mexico). I felt I got an extensive overview, from the earliest nomadic peoples to Cortes to Zedillo, but not one upon which I could really depend factually.

This book is a wonderful read especially for anyone who lives or has grown up close to the Mexican border. Fehrenbach explains very clearly the long history of Mexico and the differences between Mexican and American cultures which so often make the two countries talk at cross-purposes. The only thing I would add is a linguistic dictionary, so one could pronounce all the people and places he mentions

This is the best history book I have ever read. It captures the Spanish influence on the Nahua (Aztec) people and vividly explains the culture and arts of the Mexican nation. Now I know exactly what Cinco de Mayo and numerous other events really mean to Mexico - and to myself. Only a glossary of Spanish and Nahua terminologies could have improved the book.

Mr. Fehrenbach's almost poetic writting style treats Mexican History as the Odessey of The Americas. One cannot help but feel transported to the places and times described in each chapter. This masterpiece has become a classic among Mexican Americans.

that is how President Porfirio Diaz described his home country of Mexico as went through another round of misery and chaos as it had since before Hernan Cortes came to Tenochtitlan in the early 16th Century. T.R. Fehrenbach's book on the history of Mexico is must read for any body who wants to know the mind of those who are now coming across the border who seek a better life north. The book's 658 pages begins with conjecture of where the peoples who dominated the Valley of Mexico came from which leads to the Mexica people's domination of the regions around the shallow body of water known as Lake Texcoco. Their infatuation with the superstitious and the hostility that they engendered with surrounding tribes of Amerindians led to their destruction and the virtual wiping out of their culture within a generation. Unlike the fledgling United States, Mexico never got the chance to spread its wings of freedom and entrepreneurial spirit as it suffered under a mountain of bureaucracy and merchantilism imposed upon it by the central government in Madrid for three full centuries. Spain's grip on the New World started to ebb with its defeat of its Spanish Armada and suffered its coup de grace with Napoleon's occupation of the mother country. Mexico's problems needless to say did not end with its independence. Corruption and conflict continued up until very recently. In the end, it is understandable why many have migrated illegally into the American southwest and beyond.

The book is well written with the full scope of the country's history covered. Endnotes are lacking which is a weakness, but it has an adequate bibliography and index. His treatment of the Mexicans is impartial given them the benefit of the doubt as they are of a different mindset formed by centuries of culture and civilization totally unrelated to the Anglo-Saxon. The one question that is left unanswered is how two cultures that are totally different can co-exist in one country. We will know the answer very soon.

In Mexico to be a patriot is the first thing that you learn at school,so to read this book was a nice surprice because is really objetive with mexican history. The way delicate topics are written and explain without be offensive and the way the book flows for point "a" to point "b" without hesitation really pleased me. I recommmed this book for the people that want an answer to an old mexican question: Why Mexico is the only surrealistic country in the world?