New York: W. W. Norton, 2006.
800 p.
This summer I did things a little differently. I was interested in reading a fairly new book on Mexican history and found one recommended (see the SF Chronicle) that we did not have in our school library collection. This is a fairly long book for a school collection and so I bought and read the eBook version for my Nook.
At first I didn't think I'd care for the book. It is very much concerned with discovering the unique nature of the Mexican character - something that I'm not so interested in, and - frankly - something I'm a little suspicious of. However, the book really started getting interesting to me during its treatment of the US-Mexican war, and I found myself learning a lot about the war that I had never known.
Shorris' coverage of the Mexican Revolution was equally interesting and so I stuck with the book to the end and I'm glad that I did. The book offers the reader a lot to think about - including what policies and events make nations rich and poor. It also takes the reader through the tumultuous early years of the 21st century when NAFTA was wreaking havoc on the economy of Mexico, the the maquiladoras were springing up at a phenomenal pace, and the PRI was losing its grip on complete control of the nation's political system.
I was hoping that Earl Shorris might eventually write a revised version, but I found out that he died about the same time that I was reading his book.
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