"In Mexico Unconquered John Gibler has produced an important new work focusing on Mexico's ongoing class struggles and the historical continuum of resistance, organizing, and revolt against the social injustices and official corruption evident at all levels of Mexican society... An exciting first book by an emerging young writer." --Howard Zinn
"Part journalism, part history, part call to action, John Gibler's book chronicles not only the continuing colonization of Mexico, but also the continuity of resistance to it. Revealing those forces of resistance, which sometimes take the form of mass explosions, and other times take the form of individual expressions of indignation and defiance, Gibler helps us see Mexico with new eyes--a Mexico that has always been constituted by revolutionary dreams of freedom and equality." --Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, co-authors of Empire and Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire --Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, co-authors of Empire and Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire
"For anyone who has felt confused, confounded, disappointed, disturbed and yet still enchanted by Mexico, John Gibler's Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt offers some relief. . . . Gibler's interpretation of a 'Mexico unconquered' testifies to the urgency of current struggles, and celebrates the fierce spirit of Mexican resistance, past and present. . . . With the premise of an unconquered country still fighting the battle against colonization and exploitation, Gibler draws parallels (both spelled out and subtly implied) from centuries of Mexican history to ongoing and recent struggles, such as the 2006 Other Campaign ('La Otra Campaña') of the Zapatistas and Oaxaca's state of virtual war the past few years. Running throughout this analysis is the theme of how class warfare and racism are braided together in exploitation and oppression." --Kari Lydersen, In These Times --Kari Lydersen, In These Times
"Mexico, one of America's closest neighbors, is plagued with corruption.
Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt takes a look into the history of Mexico and how the country got to where it is today. A country split by a huge financial divide, Mexico is portrayed as a nation of people who don't need much more provocation to be spurned towards rebellion once more. Enlightening and informative,
Mexico Unconquered is a must read for those concerned about America's southern neighbor."--Midwest Book Review --Midwest Book Review
"Part journalistic travelouge, part political manifesto,
Mexico Unconquered recounts some of the more bewildering revolts and upheavals that have roiled Southern Mexico from the turn of the 20th century through contemporary times. . . Gibler is at his best--informative, entertaining, provocative and fluid." --Texas Observer
"The essays read with the immediacy of dispatches from a war zone. . . The author has taken on the role of telling their tales, expressing their voices. He recalls the narratives of indigenous resistance leaders, of survivors of crossfire in drug wars, of violence against women, and of traffickers in migrant workers. Preservation of these narratives is crucial to sustaining the leitmotif of Mexican history: resistance to conquest." - Edward A. Riedinger,
Multicultural Review --Edward A. Riedinger,
Multicultural Review"The tenuous strands of Mexican resistance offer inspiration and possibility to US radicals. We are fortunate to have in John Gibler an astute and thoughtful journalist. Over the past few years, he has reported on conditions and struggles in southern states (Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas) and elsewhere in the country and its northern neighbor.
Mexico Unconquered shows us close-ups in the current chapter in a long-running story on our continent. 'Chronicles' isn't precisely apt. Gibler doesn't just serve as a narrator. His prose offers a window into people's lives, letting us meet the participants in revolts, in their days of triumphant success or traumatic repression, in lives of vision, persistence and hope. We spend time beneath the tarps of Oaxaca teachers' plantón (protest camp) in the central square. We ride to the hospital alongside a critically-wounded protester in Atenco. We stand in the visitor's line of the prison in Ecatepec. We hear first hand about the ordeals of migration to the US, the violence of the drug war, torture, and disappearances--as well as a daring women's takeover of a [television] station." - Carwill James,
Left Turn --Carwill James,
Left Turn"John Gibler's
Mexico Unconquered is most useful in its firsthand reportage from across a swath of social struggles. Gibler speaks with peasants in impoverished villages...where residents are terrorized by security forces acting under the rubric of drug enforcement. . . .He portrays a lawless society in which the poor are left with the choices of submitting to hunger and humiliation, heading north, or fighting back." --Bill Weinberg --WIN Magazine
"If you read one book about Latin America this coming year, make sure it is Gibler's. . . . [It] examines imperialism, poverty, inequality, the Oaxaca rebellion, the issue of indigenous autonomy. He profiles guerrillas -- imprisoned and at large -- and unpicks the North American Free Trade Agreement and privatization. All the while, he gives a voice to ordinary people caught up in extraordinary events and their millennial struggle for dignity and fair treatment." --Gavin O'Toole,
The Latin American Review of Books"In his first book John Gibler chronicles recent social and political struggles in Mexico based on the historical premise that the conquest of Mexico has never been completed and, consequently, that the conquest, as well as resistance to it, have been a continuous feature of Mexican society. In each chapter Gibler explores the dynamic between repression and resistance through one or several relevant concepts and case studies. . . Mexico Unconquered is an important contribution to the analysis of contemporary social and political conflict in Mexico. Gibler has to be commended for not inscribing the events in Mexico within a north-western discursive and conceptual framework. Instead, he engages in an extremely challenging project of intercul- tural translation, which sheds light from an unconventional angle on struggles that have received little attention so far." --Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
