Customer Reviews

Many Mexicos: Fourth edition Revised (Silver Anniversary Edition)

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A very well written history, sprinkled with interesting side commentary suggesting the author's thorough familiarity with the country going back to the 1930's and 40's. He must have lived in Mexico for a time judging by personal anecdotes he shares throughout the book. The history starts with the Spanish conquest of Mexico and its Indians by Cortez. Naturally the Catholic church plays a prominent role and it is well-explained in the book. The history of Spanish treatment of the indiginous peoples is every bit as horrible (but in a different way) than the story here in the U.S. The brutal domination of one culture over another is an old story that goes on even today as witnessed by China's domination of Tibet or Israel's takeover of Palestinian lands. His observations and illustrations showing the limited capacity of land to support an ever-growing population were both insightful (for the 1950's) and accurate. I particularly liked the parallels he drew between Mexico City and Los Angeles and the steps politicians, developers and engineers took to steal water from surrounding areas resulting in desertification all in the name of "growth" and "jobs"
Contains a glossory of Spanish and Indian terms used and a bibliography.
I picked this up by chance at a used book store but it was interesting enough to compel me to read the whole book.