Zapata and the Mexican Revolution [Paperback]

John Womack (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 12, 1970

Zapata and the Mexican Revolution
John Womack, Jr.

". . . It is certainly the definitive study of Emiliano Zapata, and it places him in his proper context."
—Frank Jellinek, The New York Times Book Review

"A feat of historical writing . . . Womack has an uncanny feeling for the infinitely complex strains of Mexico as a civilization.... Because he understands that historical progression is inseparable from cultural roots, he understands Zapatismo as the history, not of exotic 'peasants,' but of . . . people from the fields who did not, in the larger sense of the term, feel culturally deprived but, rather, were conscious that a social and political opportunity was given them to realize, in actuality, the latent promises of their local culture."
—Carlos Fuentes, The New York Review of Books

"The best piece of narrative history that has been written about modern Latin America in any language. In addition, it conveys an understanding of peasant revolutions that will be of great value to students of other areas beside Latin America."
—Ernest R. May

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The best piece of narrative history that has been written about modern Latin America in any language."--Ernest R. May

From the Publisher

"The best piece of narrative history that has been written about modern Latin America in any language."--Ernest R. May

Product Details

• Paperback: 435 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (August 12, 1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394708539
• ISBN-13: 978-0394708539
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #78,453 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #49 in Books > History > Americas > Mexico

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Muhammad Ali of books on Zapata, and yet...., November 22, 2000

By 

Robert S. Newman "Bob Newman" (Marblehead, Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zapata and the Mexican Revolution (Paperback)

In every field of endeavor, in every activity known to Man, whether sailboarding or physics, hairdressing or chipmunk catching, there are people who excel, people who go far beyond the rest. They reach the epitome while we mere mortals look up from below and marvel. So, when you have read the 526 pages of Womack Jr.'s book [not counting the appendices], you can tell yourself that you have read THE book on Zapata and his role in the Mexican Revolution. The author used every source available, he interviewed all those who were left alive to talk. I wonder if any new printed sources will ever be found ? Certainly everyone who played a role, however insignificant, in those long ago days of 1909-1920 is now dead, making new interviews extremely unlikely. This is a work of art, a work of love, and a vast labor that surely took a few years off the life of the author, not to mention breaking some relationships. It is the definitive work so far on the subject. If you want to know the story of why and how Emiliano Zapata, a once insignificant small town horse trader and farmer, became a legendary rebel whose name resounds throughout Mexico today---a man who fought unwaveringly for the rights of small farmers and villagers to the land they worked---then you have no choice but to read this volume. This is the epitome, this is the story in unbelievable detail; political, economic, social, military. And yet, Zapata himself almost disappears in the vast bulk of detailed historical and interpretive observations. It is not so much a work on an individual as on the whole period in a small area of Mexico.

If you want a general history of the Mexican Revolution because you are just beginning to think about the subject, if you are looking for concise explanations, then this is not the book you need. ZAPATA AND THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION is for college courses on Latin American history, or for the scholar who wants every detail in Zapata's long struggle, for the person who wants to know what the peasants and small town dwellers of the state of Morelos went through in the first two decades of the twentieth century. The work is impressive, not only for its vast wealth of detail, but for its compassion and sympathy for the aims of those people who made tremendous sacrifices for their cause. Good photographs, a good map of Morelos. If you are not that interested in Mexico, but would just like to see what a great, academic, social history book could be like, I can recommend this book without hesitation. At times, the detail is overwhelming, a vast body of characters and place names that can hardly be absorbed. [There are around 90 footnotes to each chapter, sometimes more.] But, if you want to know the whole story, this is the book for you. It is the best.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A seminal work, a great read, June 1, 2000

By 

Hector Tobar "writer, novelist, journalist" (Mexico City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zapata and the Mexican Revolution (Paperback)

This is one of the most important works of Latin American history, a highly readable account of the peasant uprising led by Emiliano Zapata in 1914. Womack's book is a social history, focusing on the long struggle of peasants in Morelos state, just south of Mexico City, to keep their communal lands, a struggle that became especially bitter with the encroachment of capitalist-style agriculture in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is a story of isolated and bloody uprisings, and of village elders who hid the papers granting the land to the campesinos (old parchments issued by the Spanih crown) by burying them under churches during times of war and turmoil. It is the story of Emiliano Zapata, a humble peasant who ends up leading a rebel army that takes Mexico City, and of his eventual betrayal and martyrdom in a hail of bullets. I read this book 15 years ago but the images from it are still etched in my memory. Read it if you want to understand Mexico and its history.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Ideal Hero, September 24, 2006

By 

Cathy "of the band, Cathy and the Wuthering H... (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Zapata and the Mexican Revolution (Paperback)

John Womack's historical account of the Mexican Revolution truly focuses on General Emiliano Zapata and his home state of Morelos. If you're looking for a broad account of the Mexican Revolution that really includes Pancho Villa's struggle and the interventions of the U.S. government, this is not the book you are looking for. But Womack does provide one of the most notable accounts of the Revolution, and nowhere else will you get this level of insight into Zapata's character and struggle.

Zapata quickly rose from his position as chief of the peasants in a village seeking agrarian reform to the leader of a state-wide movement. His single-minded dedication to the cause of justice in land-rights made him a hero to the people. However, what Womack misses in his account of the decade-long revolution in Morelos is the hellishness of war. The oppressive governments of the time, from Diaz to Huerta, were not the only one's whose armies attacked civilians and burned their homes, displacing whole villages. There was an element of banditry even among the Zapatistas. And by glossing over the moral struggles and compromises of the war, Womack does his hero a disservice; the reader does not see the difficulty Zapata faces in making moral sacrifices for the greater cause of the Revolution.

Womack's depiction of the Revolution is idealized, but despite the gloss put on certain parts, it is accurate. If you are looking for a book rich in historical fact, this is the book for you; just keep in mind that even the best historians may have a blind spot.