The Mexican Revolution, 1910-1940

Introduction

The Mexican Revolution, as an armed movement, began in 1910; though opinions differ, it is safe to conclude that by around 1940 the revolution, as a dynamic historical process and a program of radical reform, was more or less over. The thirty-year span of the revolution can be neatly and usefully divided into the decade of armed revolution (1910–1920), followed by two decades of “institutional” revolution (1920–1940) as the new regime consolidated, introducing political and socioeconomic reforms. At the outset, the rebels overthrew first Díaz (in 1910–1911) and then President Huerta 1913–1914, who had attempted, unsuccessfully, a militarist restoration of the old regime. After 1914 the victorious revolutionaries fought among themselves, with the Carrancistas finally triumphing over the Villistas and Zapatistas, thanks in large part to the military skill of Alvaro Obregón. The last successful insurrection of the revolutionary decade, in 1920, brought Obregón to power and inaugurated the increasingly stable regime of the “Sonoran dynasty”: a group of leaders from the northwestern state of Sonora who, as progressive, populist, businesslike, centralizing, anticlerical state-builders, set their stamp on the new order (Plutarco Elías Calles, president 1924–1928, and “jefe máximo,” 1928–1934, being the chief exemplar). The decade of the 1920s thus possesses a degree of politico-economic unity. In 1930 the impact of the Great Depression prompted a rethink of policy and a lurch to the political left, typified by the radical administration of Lázaro Cárdenas 1934–1940, when socioeconomic reform—land distribution, support for organized labor, and a measure of economic nationalism (notably the expropriation of the Anglo-American oil companies in 1938)—took priority over Sonoran/Callista “jacobinism.” By the late 1930s, however, the revolution was losing its impetus: the remaining revolutionary generation was aging, or shifting to the right; conservative forces were reasserting themselves in Mexican society. And the international context favored détente with the United States, which the Cold War accelerated.

General Overviews

Since the chief historiographical trend for decades has been to disaggregate the Mexican Revolution, especially by place, general histories have been at a discount: hence, the narratives cited here tend to be rather old. The better studies are therefore multiauthored, such as Bethell 1991, and the valuable series Villegas 1977–1984, but they lack a single overarching interpretation of the process. The foundational text is Tannenbaum 1966 (first published in 1933) and its emphasis on the popular and agrarian nature of the revolution. Tannenbaum conducted studies in Mexico and developed a professional friendship with several of the leading revolutionaries, including President Cárdenas. Brenner and Leighton 1943 bolsters Tannenbaum’s interpretation of a peasant revolution with searing imagery of the revolution from over one hundred photographs in a work sympathetic to the popular revolution. The initiation of a long period of political dominance by the Institutional Revolutionary Party in Mexico in the 1940s prompted questions about the true nature of the revolution. In the 1970s historians began revising the Tannenbaum thesis of a popular peasant revolution. Scholarship such as Córdova 1973 argued that elites dominated the revolution and were dedicated to the building of a modern state. A wave of new studies in this vein enriched a growing debate about whether peasants or elites led the revolution. The dominance of the revolution in the historiography of the 20th century is reflected in the synthesis of contemporary Mexican history by Camín and Meyer 1993 and Gonzales 2002. Fresh perspectives on the revolution continue to be added to the historical literature. Certain collections in particular, such as Corrés, et al. 2000, highlight the latest theoretical and methodological approaches to the revolution. Joseph and Henderson 2002 is also an excellent collection of primary source documents and essays from leading historians about the intersection of culture and politics in the history of the revolution.

Bethell, Leslie, ed. Mexico Since Independence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A collection of chapters taken from the compendious Cambridge History of Latin America, which offers a multiauthored sweep through Mexican history, including four chapters on the 1870s–1940s period. With useful bibliographies.
Bethell, Leslie, ed. Mexico Since Independence. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Find this resource:
Brenner, Anita, and George R. Leighton. The Wind that Swept Mexico. New York: Harper, 1943.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
History of the revolution that is valuable for its rich visual content.
Brenner, Anita, and George R. Leighton. The Wind that Swept Mexico. New York: Harper, 1943.
Find this resource:
Camín, Héctor Aguilar, and Lorenzo Meyer. In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution: Contemporary Mexican History, 1910–1989. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Intelligent and somewhat traditional survey of 20th-century Mexico.
Camín, Héctor Aguilar, and Lorenzo Meyer. In the Shadow of the Mexican Revolution: Contemporary Mexican History, 1910–1989. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993.
Find this resource:
Córdova, Arnaldo. La ideología de la Revolución Mexicana: La formación del nuevo régimen. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1973.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Perceptive and influential study of the ideology of the revolution, from the Porfiriato to the late 1920s. Based largely on secondary sources, this is much better on national/elite trends than local/regional differences. Displays a mildly Leninist disdain for the peasantry as opposed to the urban working class.
Córdova, Arnaldo. La ideología de la Revolución Mexicana: La formación del nuevo régimen. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1973.
Find this resource:
Corrés, Jaime Bailón, Carlos Martínez Assad, and Pablo Serrano Alvarez, eds. El siglo de la Revolución Mexicana. 2 vols. Mexico City: INEHRM, 2000.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Rich and diverse compendium of essays on aspects of the revolution by prominent scholars.
Corrés, Jaime Bailón, Carlos Martínez Assad, and Pablo Serrano Alvarez, eds. El siglo de la Revolución Mexicana. 2 vols. Mexico City: INEHRM, 2000.
Find this resource:
Gonzales, Michael J. The Mexican Revolution, 1910–1940. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A sensible synthetic account, largely “top-down” in approach.
Gonzales, Michael J. The Mexican Revolution, 1910–1940. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002.
Find this resource:
Joseph, Gilbert M., and Timothy J. Henderson, eds. The Mexico Reader: History, Culture and Politics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Useful collection of readings. Parts 4 and 5 deal with the Porfiriato and revolution.
Joseph, Gilbert M., and Timothy J. Henderson, eds. The Mexico Reader: History, Culture and Politics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002.
Find this resource:
Tannenbaum, Frank. Peace by Revolution: Mexico Since 1910. New York: Columbia University Press, 1966.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
First published in 1933. Influential study by sympathetic leftist and Mexico watcher. Sweeping and assertive and by turns perceptive and misleading. If navigated carefully, this can still be a profitable read.
Tannenbaum, Frank. Peace by Revolution: Mexico Since 1910. New York: Columbia University Press, 1966.
Find this resource:
Villegas, Daniel Cosío. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1977–1984.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A multivolume history of the revolution from its origins to the 1960s, with good illustrations and bibliographies. A valuable work of reference, whose component volumes vary in quality and originality, though all are useful.
Villegas, Daniel Cosío. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1977–1984.
Find this resource:
The Old Regime of the Porfiriato, 1876–1911

In recent years, there has been something of a boom in Porfirian studies, accompanied by a clear commitment to rehabilitate Díaz and his national project. In the process, some revisionist studies have, arguably, “overshot,” gilding the Porfirian lily and overlooking the very clear evidence of political authoritarianism, racism, land concentration, falling living standards, and labor repression. Economic historians have rightly emphasized the success of the Porfirian project (e.g., the railway network and the export boom), at least as compared to what came before; but Porfirian success was quite compatible with—indeed, was probably premised on—growing inequality and heavy-handed government. The lively debate about the nature of politics in the Porfiriato is outlined in Politics. Economic historians have revived studies about the workings of the Porfirian economy (see The Economy). But older work situating the Porfiriato as a period of lower-class and popular ferment remains essential reading (as covered in Society and Social Protest). The rise of regions as a unit of analysis has also enriched the study of the Porfiriato and its evolution and impact across the diverse regions of Mexico. For the historian of the revolution, of course, it is the weaknesses and abuses of the Porfiriato that deserve closest attention; plenty that happened pre-1911 was not necessarily conducive to protest and rebellion and, indeed, some communities, such as San José de Gracia, the subject of Luis González’s classic microhistory (González 1974; see Microhistory), had a “good” Porfiriato, to which they looked back with fond nostalgia.

Politics

The politics of the Porfiriato has produced a wealth of studies about Díaz and the historical nature of his regime. Contemporary biographies of Díaz hailed the Mexican leader as the master of modern Mexico. Godoy 1910 is an example of the hagiographies produced about Díaz. Villegas 1972 is a voluminous narrative work about the politics of the Porfiriato. Historians revisiting the politics of the Porfiriato generated a series of important studies in the intervening years. Vanderwood 1981 is a major study on the Rurales, which was the coercive symbol of the Porfirian order. Guerra 1988 is a significant reinterpretation of the Díaz government as a traditional regime defending society from secular and modernizing revolutionaries. Garner 2001 is a solid and balanced biography of Díaz incorporating findings from the steady supply of Díaz studies. Hale 1989 is a classic examination of the complex metamorphosis from liberalism to positivism among Porfirian politicians and intellectuals. Although the power of the Díaz regime seemed ubiquitous, the collection of works in Falcón and Buve 1998 breaks new ground in revealing a myriad of challenges and limitations to Porfirian power. Recent directions in the scholarship have also adopted innovative approaches. Tenorio-Trillo 1996 is an important analysis of the Porfiriato incorporating the study of Mexico’s participation in the World’s Fairs to deconstruct the Díaz nation-building project.

Falcón, Romana, and Raymond Buve, eds. Don Porfirio Presidente . . . Nunca omnipotente: Hallazgos, reflexiones y debates, 1876–1911. Mexico City: Universidad Iberoamericana, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Important selection of expert essays dealing with Porfirian state and society (banking, railways, land, labor, politics, and public order), stressing the diversity of problems and limitations of central presidential power.
Falcón, Romana, and Raymond Buve, eds. Don Porfirio Presidente . . . Nunca omnipotente: Hallazgos, reflexiones y debates, 1876–1911. Mexico City: Universidad Iberoamericana, 1998.
Find this resource:
Garner, Paul. Porfirio Díaz. Harlow, UK: Pearson, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Useful, compact, up-to-date, balanced (or possibly fence-sitting) political biography of Díaz.
Garner, Paul. Porfirio Díaz. Harlow, UK: Pearson, 2001.
Find this resource:
Godoy, José F. Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico: Master Builder of a Great Commonwealth. New York. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1910.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Lavish piece of contemporary hagiography, indicative of the Porfirian personality cult.
Godoy, José F. Porfirio Díaz, President of Mexico: Master Builder of a Great Commonwealth. New York. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1910.
Find this resource:
Guerra, François-Xavier. México: Del antiguo régimen a la revolución. Mexico City: FCE, 1988.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Influential two-volume study that offers detailed information on and good analysis of the Porfirian regime and the roots of the revolution (it stops in 1911). But the text clings to a simplistic “tradition and modernity” analytical dichotomy that even if it works for the French Revolution (Guerra’s historiographical inspiration), it is misleading for the Mexican Revolution, which was directed against a liberal/positivistic dictatorship and not a monarchical old regime.
Guerra, François-Xavier. México: Del antiguo régimen a la revolución. Mexico City: FCE, 1988.
Find this resource:
Hale, Charles A. The Transformation of Liberalism in Late Nineteenth-Century Mexico. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A sophisticated and convincing study of how liberalism mutated into positivism between 1867 and 1910. Focuses on key Porfirian politicians and pensadores, while shedding light on government policy (e.g., regarding education).
Hale, Charles A. The Transformation of Liberalism in Late Nineteenth-Century Mexico. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.
Find this resource:
Tenorio-Trillo, Mauricio. Mexico at the World’s Fairs: Crafting a Modern Nation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Engaging study of Mexican participation in world expositions, which the author uses as a lens to view Porfirian nation-building.
Tenorio-Trillo, Mauricio. Mexico at the World’s Fairs: Crafting a Modern Nation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
Find this resource:
Vanderwood, Paul. Disorder and Progress: Bandits, Police and Mexican Development. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Illuminating study of the Porfirian rural police (a key institution) and their bandit enemies; better on the Rurales, which are shown to be corrupt and inefficient beneath their glitzy image.
Vanderwood, Paul. Disorder and Progress: Bandits, Police and Mexican Development. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981.
Find this resource:
Villegas, Daniel Cosío. Historia moderna de México: El Porfiriato, la vida política interior, parte segunda. Mexico City: Editorial Hermes, 1972.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Massive, detailed, erudite narrative of the later Porfiriato: offers abundant empirical detail but lacks analysis.
Villegas, Daniel Cosío. Historia moderna de México: El Porfiriato, la vida política interior, parte segunda. Mexico City: Editorial Hermes, 1972.
Find this resource:
The Economy

Economic historians have rightly emphasized the success of the Porfirian project (e.g., the railway network and the export boom), at least as compared to what came before. But as previously explained, Porfirian “success” was probably premised on inequality and heavy-handed government, as Hart 2005 argues (see Regions). Economic historians have introduced significant new scholarship using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. For example, Cárdenas 2003 is an excellent synthesis incorporating new knowledge about Porfirian economic history. The study of Porfirian railroads has also attracted significant scholarly attention. Coatsworth 1981 is a classic work analyzing the growth of the national railroad and its positive impact on the integration of Mexico’s internal and export economy. Revisions to this interpretation are reflected in works such as Ficker and Riguzzi 1996, which argues that the advent of the railroads failed to integrate rural Mexico and promote economic growth (with some important exceptions such as La Laguna and the mining industry). The revival of interest in the Porfirian economy has sparked new questions about the fundamental features of the Porfirian model. Carmagnani 1994 is a helpful analysis of economic liberalism during the Porfiriato. Holden 1994 challenges the conventional interpretation of Porfirian land policy: the author makes a rapacious revisionist argument that Porfirian land policy followed a rational and positivist strategy. Recent works have delved into a wider set of questions. Beatty 2001 is fundamental reexamination of the political economy of the Porfiriato. The question of US influence in the economy has continued to attract attention. Hart 2002 argues that an anti-American backlash against US penetration of the economy began during the Porfiriato. Schell 2001 evaluates the role of Americans living in Mexico City and their relative impact on Porfirian Mexico. Ficker 2010 is an excellent synthesis of recent scholarship about the economics of the Porfiriato.

Beatty, Edward. Institutions and Investment: The Political Basis of Industrialization in Mexico before 1911. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Sophisticated study of Porfirian political economy.
Beatty, Edward. Institutions and Investment: The Political Basis of Industrialization in Mexico before 1911. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001.
Find this resource:
Cárdenas, Enrique. Cuando se Originó el Atraso Económico de México: La Economía Mexicana en el Largo Siglo XIX, 1780–1920. Madrid: Editorial Biblioteca Nueva, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The best single-authored general economic history of prerevolutionary Mexico.
Cárdenas, Enrique. Cuando se Originó el Atraso Económico de México: La Economía Mexicana en el Largo Siglo XIX, 1780–1920. Madrid: Editorial Biblioteca Nueva, 2003.
Find this resource:
Carmagnani, Marcello. Estado y mercado: la economía política del liberalismo Mexicano, 1850–1911. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1994.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Valuable survey of “liberal” (including Porfirian), financial, trade, and fiscal policy.
Carmagnani, Marcello. Estado y mercado: la economía política del liberalismo Mexicano, 1850–1911. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1994.
Find this resource:
Coatsworth, John C. Growth Against Development: The Economic Impact of Railroads in Porfirian Mexico. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1981.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Pioneering study of railways and their major impact on the Mexican economy, linking economic integration and exports to the growth of social protest.
Coatsworth, John C. Growth Against Development: The Economic Impact of Railroads in Porfirian Mexico. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1981.
Find this resource:
Ficker, Sandra Kuntz. Historia económica general de México: De la colonia a nuestros días. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 2010.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A valuable new multiauthored economic history, which devotes five chapters to the period c. 1850–1930 (1930, roughly the onset of the Great Depression, being a key economic watershed). Later chapters cover the rest of the 20th century, including the Cardenista 1930s.
Ficker, Sandra Kuntz. Historia económica general de México: De la colonia a nuestros días. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 2010.
Find this resource:
Ficker, Sandra Kuntz, and Paolo Riguzzi, eds. Ferrocarriles y vida económica en México: Del surgimiento tardío al decaimiento precoz, 1850–1950. Mexico City: El Colegio Mexiquense, 1996.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Useful series of essays dealing with the formation of the Mexican railway network during the Porfiriato and its subsequent evolution. Offers a revisionist rethinking of Coatsworth 1981.
Ficker, Sandra Kuntz, and Paolo Riguzzi, eds. Ferrocarriles y vida económica en México: Del surgimiento tardío al decaimiento precoz, 1850–1950. Mexico City: El Colegio Mexiquense, 1996.
Find this resource:
Hart, John Mason. Empire and Revolution: The Americans in Mexico Since the Civil War. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Hefty and contentious study of American interests in Mexico through the Porfiriato and the revolution. On the basis of abundant detail, argues that American penetration was powerful, intensely resented, and hence productive of a violent nationalist backlash. This is an argument that often depends on questionable American claims for damages.
Hart, John Mason. Empire and Revolution: The Americans in Mexico Since the Civil War. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
Find this resource:
Holden, Robert. Mexico and the Survey of Public Lands: The Management of Modernization, 1876–1910. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1994.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A well-researched revisionist critique of the old “black legend” of Porfirian land concentration, conveying a more positive and rational picture; arguably, the revisionist conclusions are helped by the author’s choice of regions and sources.
Holden, Robert. Mexico and the Survey of Public Lands: The Management of Modernization, 1876–1910. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1994.
Find this resource:
Schell, William Jr. Integral Outsiders. The America Colony in Mexico City, 1876–1911. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-researched study of the powerful American presence in Mexico. Avoids crude stereotypes and sheds light on broader questions of Porfirian economic, financial, and currency policy.
Schell, William Jr. Integral Outsiders. The America Colony in Mexico City, 1876–1911. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2001.
Find this resource:
Society and Social Protest

This section relates to society and social protest under the old regime. Navarro 1957 is an essential and comprehensive introduction to Porfirian society. Katz 1974 reevaluates the relationship between peasants and haciendas and established regional variations in the status, living standards, and the level and timing of peasant participation in the revolution. This study is also important for introducing the common analytical framework of northern, central, and southern Mexico. Cockcroft 1968 focuses on the Magonista movement as part of its important study of the intellectual precursors of the revolution. Anderson 1976 downplays radical influence in the labor movement and instead stresses working-class protest as a phenomena of political liberalism. Later studies returned to the actions of radical movements and organizations. Hart 1980 analyzes the anarchist movement with an emphasis on the influence and activities of the Magonistas.

Anderson, Rodney. Outcasts in Their Own Land: Mexican Industrial Workers, 1906–11. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1976.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Remains the best study of Mexican workers in the late Porfiriato; plays down the role of radical agitators and stresses the liberal inspiration and economistic logic of working-class protest.
Anderson, Rodney. Outcasts in Their Own Land: Mexican Industrial Workers, 1906–11. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1976.
Find this resource:
Cockcroft, James D. Intellectual Precursors of the Mexican Revolution, 1900–1913. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1968.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Charts the rise of opposition to Díaz in the late Porfiriato, focusing on Magonista leaders and intellectuals.
Cockcroft, James D. Intellectual Precursors of the Mexican Revolution, 1900–1913. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1968.
Find this resource:
Hart, John M. El anarquismo y la clase obrera Mexicana, 1860–1931. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1980.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Overview of anarchist organization and protest through the Porfiriato and armed revolution, including the Magonistas, whose influence may be exaggerated.
Hart, John M. El anarquismo y la clase obrera Mexicana, 1860–1931. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1980.
Find this resource:
Katz, Friedrich. “Labor Conditions on Porfirian Haciendas: Some Trends and Tendencies.” Hispanic American Historical Review 54.1 (1974): 1–47.
DOI: 10.2307/2512838Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Seminal article that goes somewhat beyond what the title promises, analyzing major Porfirian agrarian trends and adopting a now fairly standard tripartite division of the country (north, center, and south).
Katz, Friedrich. “Labor Conditions on Porfirian Haciendas: Some Trends and Tendencies.” Hispanic American Historical Review 54.1 (1974): 1–47.
Find this resource:
Navarro, Moisés González. Historia moderna de México: El Porfiriato, la vida social. Mexico City: Editorial Hermes, 1957.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Compendious study of Porfirian society, though the abundant information sometimes overwhelms the analysis.
Navarro, Moisés González. Historia moderna de México: El Porfiriato, la vida social. Mexico City: Editorial Hermes, 1957.
Find this resource:
Regions

Porfirian Mexico remained highly regionalized. The focus on “many Mexicos” and the study of regions has opened new lines of research that break down syntheses about the Porfiriato. Benjamin and McNellie 1984 is the key text in this scholarly trend, as scholars of the Porfiriato use regional histories to explain the successes and failures of the Porfiriato. Wasserman 1984 is a fundamental reading about Chihuahua and why this northern state became a hotbed of revolution in 1910. Wells and Joseph 1998 refines the regional approach in its rich study of the Yucatán politics and society from above and below. López 2004 tackles Oaxaca, the home state of Díaz. Hart 2005 is an important study using a socioeconomic approach to explain the origins of the Zapatista revolution in Morelos.

Benjamin, Thomas, and William McNellie. Other Mexicos: Essays on Mexico’s Regional History, 1876–1911. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Valuable collection of regional histories of the Porfiriato.
Benjamin, Thomas, and William McNellie. Other Mexicos: Essays on Mexico’s Regional History, 1876–1911. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984.
Find this resource:
Hart, Paul. Bitter Harvest: The Social Transformation of Morelos, Mexico, and the Origins of the Zapatista Revolution, 1840–1910. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-researched analysis of the socioeconomic history of the sugar-producing state of Morelos through the later 19th century; sets the scene for the Zapatista insurrection of 1910 and beyond.
Hart, Paul. Bitter Harvest: The Social Transformation of Morelos, Mexico, and the Origins of the Zapatista Revolution, 1840–1910. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005.
Find this resource:
López, Francie Chassen de. From Liberal to Revolutionary Oaxaca: The View from the South, Mexico, 1867–1911. University Park: Pennsylvania State University, 2004.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Rich, well-researched history of a major southern state, which was also the birthplace of Díaz.
López, Francie Chassen de. From Liberal to Revolutionary Oaxaca: The View from the South, Mexico, 1867–1911. University Park: Pennsylvania State University, 2004.
Find this resource:
Wasserman, Mark. Capitalists, Caciques and Revolution: The Native Elite and Foreign Enterprise in Chihuahua, Mexico, 1854–1911. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Good survey of a key state that would pioneer the 1910 Mexican Revolution.
Wasserman, Mark. Capitalists, Caciques and Revolution: The Native Elite and Foreign Enterprise in Chihuahua, Mexico, 1854–1911. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1984.
Find this resource:
Wells, Allen, and Gilbert M. Joseph. Summer of Discontent, Seasons of Upheaval: Elite Politics and Rural Insurgency in Yucatán, 1876–1915. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Detailed but lucid study of Yucateco society and politics in the Porfiriato and early revolution. Expertly blends political and social history, as well as top-down and bottom-up perspectives.
Wells, Allen, and Gilbert M. Joseph. Summer of Discontent, Seasons of Upheaval: Elite Politics and Rural Insurgency in Yucatán, 1876–1915. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998.
Find this resource:
The Armed Revolution, 1910–1920

Earlier studies (e.g., Cumberland 1952 and Cumberland 1972) tend to adopt a national, elite, and narrative approach. More recently, the plethora of local and regional studies has rightly obliged national historians to try and do justice to such variations, as Knight 1986 stresses. Hall and Coerver 1988 demonstrates this trend with an analysis of the border history, as does Espinosa 2001 in an analysis of the origins of the Zapatista revolution in Morelos. Meanwhile, a debate, both implicit and explicit, rumbles on concerning the armed revolution: Was it a “real” revolution, comparable to those of the French, Russians, or Chinese? Or, as Ruiz 1980 would say, was it just a “great rebellion”? Hart 1987 explores how antiforeign sentiment and nationalism played a role in the armed revolution. Gilly 2005 is an important work emphasizing class conflict as fundamental to the outbreak of the revolution. Katz 1985 is a masterful analysis of the role and influence of great power competition during the armed revolution in Mexico. One safe conclusion is that the answer cannot be confined to the single decade of the 1910s: much of what the revolution eventually accomplished had to wait until the 1920s and 1930s.

Cumberland, Charles. The Mexican Revolution: Genesis Under Madero. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1952.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
First volume of a two-volume narrative history of the decade of armed revolution. Conventional and a little dated but still valuable.
Cumberland, Charles. The Mexican Revolution: Genesis Under Madero. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1952.
Find this resource:
Cumberland, Charles. The Constitutionalist Years. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1972.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Second volume of a two-volume narrative history of the decade of armed revolution. Still considered a worthwhile study, although it is somewhat dated.
Cumberland, Charles. The Constitutionalist Years. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1972.
Find this resource:
Espinosa, Felipe Arturo Avila. Los orígenes del Zapatismo. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-researched account of the early phase of the Zapatista revolution in Morelos (see also biographies of Zapata).
Espinosa, Felipe Arturo Avila. Los orígenes del Zapatismo. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 2001.
Find this resource:
Gilly, Adolfo. The Mexican Revolution. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Originally written while the author was a political prisoner in Mexico. Not surprisingly, class analysis predominates over empirical detail. Translated revision of 1971 Spanish text.
Gilly, Adolfo. The Mexican Revolution. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005.
Find this resource:
Hall, Linda B., and Don M. Coerver. Revolution on the Border: The United States and Mexico, 1910–1920. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Provides a good survey of border history during the armed revolution.
Hall, Linda B., and Don M. Coerver. Revolution on the Border: The United States and Mexico, 1910–1920. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1988.
Find this resource:
Hart, John Mason. Revolutionary Mexico: The Coming and Process of the Mexican Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Stresses class antagonisms and antiforeign sentiment, perhaps too much.
Hart, John Mason. Revolutionary Mexico: The Coming and Process of the Mexican Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
Find this resource:
Katz, Friedrich. The Secret War in Mexico: Europe, the United States and the Mexican Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Dense, detailed, original study of great power rivalry in Mexico during the armed revolution. While perhaps overdoing the impact of that rivalry on Mexico, the book also tells us a lot about the revolution itself.
Katz, Friedrich. The Secret War in Mexico: Europe, the United States and the Mexican Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
Find this resource:
Knight, Alan. The Mexican Revolution: Peasants, Liberals and Porfirians and Counter-revolution and Reconstruction. 2 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Detailed two-volume history of the armed revolution, combining narrative and analysis. Stresses (“traditionally”) the revolution’s popular, peasant, and agrarian dimension.
Knight, Alan. The Mexican Revolution: Peasants, Liberals and Porfirians and Counter-revolution and Reconstruction. 2 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Find this resource:
Ruiz, Ramón Eduardo. The Great Rebellion: Mexico, 1905–1924. New York: W.W. Norton, 1980.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Serious revisionist study by a serious historian who denies that the revolution was a real revolution: since it preserved the mode of production of the old regime, it was no more than a “great rebellion.”
Ruiz, Ramón Eduardo. The Great Rebellion: Mexico, 1905–1924. New York: W.W. Norton, 1980.
Find this resource:
The Revolutionary Regime, 1920–1930

As the regime consolidated, it developed a new form of mass populist politics, which in turn was associated with social reform, particularly land and labor reform. The regime was not democratic, but it was also far from being an authoritarian clone of the Porfiriato. Meanwhile, even if the basic structures of the economy (including foreign trade and investment) had not been “revolutionized,” property owners faced new challenges from insurgent peasants (Henderson 1998 offers a graphic example; see Microhistory) and radical trade unions (see Bortz 2008 in Labor History). The initiatives of the revolutionary government attracted the attention of foreign journalists. Gruening 1928 is a vivid contemporary account of the history and politics of Mexico that examines the revolution from the perspective of a progressive journalist. Dulles 1961 is dated but still an engaging political narrative that incorporates interviews in its analysis of this crucial period. Subsequent work began to delve into the origins and emergence of important politicians and their factions. Segovia and Lajous 1978 is an intriguing study of the Maximato and the organization of the official revolutionary party. Skirius 1978 is a useful account of the ill-fated presidential campaign of former revolutionary activist and government minister José Vasconcelos and the harsh reaction against him by the revolutionary state. Later historians have continued to study Calles and the emergence of his Sonoran-based political dynasty. Representative of these works is the concise synthesis found in Cárdenas 1992. Other trajectories in the literature concentrate on questions of economics such as the economic revival and growth under Calles as examined in Meyer, et al. 1977. The onset of the global depression in 1929 pressed the revolutionary government to change its economic policies. Meyer 1978 is essential for understanding the impact of the Great Depression on Mexico, Mexican society, and the development policies of the Cárdenas government. Less attention has been given to important institutions such as the army, with the important exception of a study of the revolutionary army in Lieuwen 1981.

Cárdenas, Nicolas. La reconstrucción del estado Mexicano: Los años sonorenses (1920–1935). Mexico City: UAM, 1992.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Reliable, short and synthetic survey of the Sonoran dynasty and its policies.
Cárdenas, Nicolas. La reconstrucción del estado Mexicano: Los años sonorenses (1920–1935). Mexico City: UAM, 1992.
Find this resource:
Dulles, J. W. F. Yesterday in Mexico: A Chronicle of the Revolution, 1919–1936. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1961.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A detailed political narrative, much of it based on original interviews. Good anecdotes but weak analysis.
Dulles, J. W. F. Yesterday in Mexico: A Chronicle of the Revolution, 1919–1936. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1961.
Find this resource:
Gruening, Ernest. Mexico and Its Heritage. London: Stanley Paul, 1928.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Detailed historico-political survey of Mexico, culminating in graphic and generally reliable analysis of the Mexico that Gruening—a perceptive and well-connected journalist—witnessed in the 1920s. His depiction of the revolution, being positive but not uncritical, is an outstanding slice of contemporary history.
Gruening, Ernest. Mexico and Its Heritage. London: Stanley Paul, 1928.
Find this resource:
Lieuwen, Edwin. Mexican Militarism: The Political Rise and Fall of the Revolutionary Army, 1910–40. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Charts the rise of the revolutionary army in the 1910s and its gradual institutionalization/domestication during the 1920s and 1930s. Brief and somewhat dated. But the military has not attracted much attention from historians in recent years.
Lieuwen, Edwin. Mexican Militarism: The Political Rise and Fall of the Revolutionary Army, 1910–40. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981.
Find this resource:
Meyer, Jean, Enrique Krauze, and Cayetano Reyes. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana, 1924–1928. 2 vols. Mexico City: El Colegio de Mexico, 1977.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-crafted volumes, combining ample data and illustrations, which deal with the economic revival and growth that occurred during the 1920s under Calles’s leadership. Volume 10, La Reconstrucción Económica. Volume 11, Estado y Socieded con Calles.
Meyer, Jean, Enrique Krauze, and Cayetano Reyes. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana, 1924–1928. 2 vols. Mexico City: El Colegio de Mexico, 1977.
Find this resource:
Meyer, Lorenzo. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana, 1928–1934: El conflict social y los gobiernos del Maximato. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1978.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Describes the impact of the Great Depression and its sociopolitical consequences in Mexico.
Meyer, Lorenzo. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana, 1928–1934: El conflict social y los gobiernos del Maximato. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1978.
Find this resource:
Segovia, Rafael, and Alejandra Lajous. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana, 1928–1934: Los inicios de la institucionalización. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1978.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Offers a good political history of the Maximato—the period of Calles’s unofficial leadership of the revolutionary state and “family,” which included the formation of the official party in 1929.
Segovia, Rafael, and Alejandra Lajous. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana, 1928–1934: Los inicios de la institucionalización. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1978.
Find this resource:
Skirius, John. José Vasconcelos y la cruzada de 1929. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1978.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Useful account of Vasconcelos’s ill-fated presidential campaign of 1929 and the ruthless response of the revolutionary state.
Skirius, John. José Vasconcelos y la cruzada de 1929. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1978.
Find this resource:
The Revolutionary Regime, 1930–1940

The impact of the Depression provoked a radical reaction, as the revolutionary state—now reasonably stable and consolidated—assumed a more prominent role, adopting Keynesian policies, distributing land, and supporting labor unions in their struggles for recognition and collective contracts. In one famous but unusual case (the oil industry), the state also undertook a bold expropriation of the major foreign companies. The Cárdenas presidency (1934–1940) is therefore rightly seen as the most radical phase of the institutional revolution, when there was much talk—and perhaps a tentative implementation—of “socialism” (e.g., in the new federal schools, which practiced “socialist” education). Toward the end of the decade, however, the Cárdenas government was obliged to retrench, the radical Cardenista coalition began to fragment, and the right wing acquired fresh momentum. Again, much of the best and most revealing research has focused on events and processes at the regional level. González 1981 is the gateway for analyzing Mexico during this decade of change and provides an engaging political narrative of the Cárdenas presidency. Garrido 1982 is a classic study of the evolution of the revolutionary party undergirding the revolutionary state. With the passage of time and the long dominance of the institutional revolutionary party in Mexico, scholars began to see the Cárdenas government as the last revolutionary government. Gilly 1994 is a sympathetic assessment of Cardenismo and represents a response to revisionist studies of Cardenismo deemphasizing its revolutionary credentials. Hamilton 1982 is representative of this revisionist reassessment of Cárdenas and emphasizes how the context of global capitalism limited the autonomy of the Cardenista state to pursue its revolutionary agenda. New questions about political opposition to the revolutionary state have led to important works analyzing the decline of the revolution. Campbell 1976 is an important and concise survey of the rise of the radical right. Elízaga 1996 breaks new ground because of its examination of political violence in the 1930s. Sherman 1997 explains the right wing’s emergence as a reaction to Cardenismo and its impact on the end of the revolution. Backal 2000 explores anti-Semitism within the radical rightist movement of Los Dorados in the 1930s. Contreras 1977 is critical to understanding the 1940 election and the end of revolutionary radicalism.

Backal, Alicia Gojman de. Camisas, escudos y desfiles militares: Los Dorados y el antisemitismo en México (1934–1940). Mexico City: FCE, 2000.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Detailed original study of the radical right and its challenge to the regime in the 1930s, including the neglected theme of Mexican anti-Semitism.
Backal, Alicia Gojman de. Camisas, escudos y desfiles militares: Los Dorados y el antisemitismo en México (1934–1940). Mexico City: FCE, 2000.
Find this resource:
Campbell, Hugh S. La derecha radical en México, 1929–1949. Mexico City: SepSetentas, 1976.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Succinct study of the Mexican radical right, both secular and clerical/Catholic, which acquired a new lease on life in the late 1930s.
Campbell, Hugh S. La derecha radical en México, 1929–1949. Mexico City: SepSetentas, 1976.
Find this resource:
Contreras, Ariel José. México 1940: Industrialización y crisis política. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1977.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Useful and original study of the key 1940 presidential election. Viewed in context but colored by the odd assumption that a revolutionary moment was missed.
Contreras, Ariel José. México 1940: Industrialización y crisis política. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1977.
Find this resource:
Elízaga, Raquel Sosa. Los códigos ocultos del Cardenismo. Mexico City: Plaza y Valdés, 1996.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Good study of the politics of the 1930s, incorporating original data; stresses right-wing challenges to the regime and associated plots and political violence.
Elízaga, Raquel Sosa. Los códigos ocultos del Cardenismo. Mexico City: Plaza y Valdés, 1996.
Find this resource:
Garrido, Luis Javier. El partido de la revolución instituciónalizada: La formación del nuevo estado en México (1928–1945). Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1982.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Valuable top-down study of the formation and early development of the official revolutionary party: first PNR (1929–1938), then PRM (1938–1946), and since 1946 the PRI.
Garrido, Luis Javier. El partido de la revolución instituciónalizada: La formación del nuevo estado en México (1928–1945). Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1982.
Find this resource:
Gilly, Adolfo. El Cardenismo, una utopía Mexicana. Mexico City: Cal y Arena, 1994.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Sympathetic account of the Cárdenas presidency, with a focus on relations with the United States. The “utopianism” of Cárdenas has to be taken with a grain of salt.
Gilly, Adolfo. El Cardenismo, una utopía Mexicana. Mexico City: Cal y Arena, 1994.
Find this resource:
González, Luis. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana: Periodo 1934–1940. 2 vols. Mexico City: El Colegio de Mexico, 1981.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Two of the best volumes in the Colegio series: the first is a graphic overview of Mexico in the mid-1930s; the second is a lively, balanced, and slightly idiosyncratic narrative of the Cárdenas presidency, which is probably still the best political account of those years. A third volume in the same series, La Mecánica Cardenista, offers a good analysis of the state and society that the new president inherited. Volume 14, Los artifices del Cardenismo. Volume 15, Los días del Presidente Cárdenas.
González, Luis. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana: Periodo 1934–1940. 2 vols. Mexico City: El Colegio de Mexico, 1981.
Find this resource:
Hamilton, Nora. The Limits of State Autonomy: Post-revolutionary Mexico. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Important book by a historically informed political scientist. Adopting a flexible Marxist perspective, this book locates the revolutionary state within domestic and international capitalist contexts, showing how these constrained revolutionary reform, especially in the later 1930s.
Hamilton, Nora. The Limits of State Autonomy: Post-revolutionary Mexico. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982.
Find this resource:
Sherman, John W. The Mexican Right: The End of Revolutionary Reform, 1929–1940. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Useful survey of the Mexican right, charting its resurgence in the late 1930s as a reaction against Cardenista radicalism.
Sherman, John W. The Mexican Right: The End of Revolutionary Reform, 1929–1940. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997.
Find this resource:
State and Regional Histories

Given the salient importance of regional and local studies, they demand separate treatment. Inevitably, such studies cover a range of themes: political, social, and economic. And they may shed light on diverse topics (land reform, labor mobilization, church-state conflict, caciquismo [i.e., “boss politics”], etc.), as seen in a section highlighting the collected works of scholars. The following list therefore breaks down regional studies according to the periodization of the armed revolution of 1910–1920 and the armed and institutional revolution of 1910–1940. Adopts a conventional division of Mexico into north, center, and south and introduces the category of “microhistoria,” pioneered and best exemplified by Luis González, whose study of a single community across decades set a standard that few, if any, have equaled (González 1974; see Microhistory).

Symposia

These are collections of articles dealing with particular states and regions of revolutionary Mexico. The fundamental work is Brading 1980 because of its focus on regional case studies from leading Mexican historians. Benjamin and Wasserman 1990 also integrates regional case studies. The regional case study is further developed in Knight and Pansters 2005, an important study about regional variations of boss politics and caciquismo.

Benjamin, Thomas, and Mark Wasserman, eds. Provinces of the Revolution: Essays on Mexican Regional History, 1910–1929. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1990.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Good collection of regional histories: in general, the studies of states/regions are more useful and incisive than the discursive essays on the revolution as a whole.
Benjamin, Thomas, and Mark Wasserman, eds. Provinces of the Revolution: Essays on Mexican Regional History, 1910–1929. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1990.
Find this resource:
Brading, D. A., ed. Caudillo and Peasant in the Mexican Revolution. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1980.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Pioneering collection of regional studies of the revolution, several chapters being distillations of book-length case studies.
Brading, D. A., ed. Caudillo and Peasant in the Mexican Revolution. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1980.
Find this resource:
Knight, Alan, and W. G. Pansters, eds. Caciquismo in Twentieth-Century Mexico. London: ISA, 2005.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Diverse studies of boss politics, mostly local/regional in focus, ranging across the 20th century, from the armed revolution, through the institutional revolution of the 1920s and after, down to the “new faces” of caciquismo in recent years. Also with theoretical/conceptual discussion of the phenomenon.
Knight, Alan, and W. G. Pansters, eds. Caciquismo in Twentieth-Century Mexico. London: ISA, 2005.
Find this resource:
The Armed Revolution, 1910–1920

These are studies of particular states and regions during the armed revolution. Camín 1977 is a seminal work analyzing the distinct nature of the Sonora revolutionary leaders who became the leaders of the armed and institutional revolution. Joseph 1982 is crucial to understanding regional variations of the revolution and the impact of US influence on regional radical revolution in the Yucatán. Rancaño 1995 confirms the Zapatista popular revolt model of Morelos at play in neighboring Tlaxcala. Pasztor 2002 analyzes the revolution in Carranza’s home state of Coahuila. Ayala 2010 clarifies the response to the revolution in the state of Jalisco.

Ayala, Elisa Cárdenas. El Derrumbe: Jalisco, microcosmos de la Revolución Mexicana. Mexico City: Tusquets Editorial, 2010.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Detailed, original, and lucid study of the broadly Catholic and nonrevolutionary state of Jalisco during the late Porfiriato and armed revolution.
Ayala, Elisa Cárdenas. El Derrumbe: Jalisco, microcosmos de la Revolución Mexicana. Mexico City: Tusquets Editorial, 2010.
Find this resource:
Camín, Héctor Aguilar. La frontera nómada: Sonora y la Revolución Mexicana. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1977.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Influential study of the northwestern state of Sonora, cradle of the “dynasty” that would rule Mexico in the 1920s, focusing on the Porfirian background and early revolution.
Camín, Héctor Aguilar. La frontera nómada: Sonora y la Revolución Mexicana. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1977.
Find this resource:
Joseph, Gilbert M. Revolution from Without: Yucatán, Mexico and the United States, 1880–1924. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Excellent regional study of the Porfiriato and revolution in the distinctive (perhaps “dependent”) state of Yucatán, culminating in the failed radical experiment of Carrillo Puerto.
Joseph, Gilbert M. Revolution from Without: Yucatán, Mexico and the United States, 1880–1924. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Find this resource:
Pasztor, Suzanne B. The Spirit of Hidalgo. The Mexican Revolution in Coahuila. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2002.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Useful study of the revolution in the key northern state of Coahuila.
Pasztor, Suzanne B. The Spirit of Hidalgo. The Mexican Revolution in Coahuila. Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2002.
Find this resource:
Rancaño, Mario Ramírez. La Revolución en los volcanes: Domingo y Cirilo Arenas. Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciónes Sociales, UNAM, 1995.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Valuable study of popular rebellion in Tlaxcala; proof that Morelos and Zapatismo were far from unique.
Rancaño, Mario Ramírez. La Revolución en los volcanes: Domingo y Cirilo Arenas. Mexico City: Instituto de Investigaciónes Sociales, UNAM, 1995.
Find this resource:
The Armed and Institutional Revolution, 1910–1940

These studies cover both the period of the armed revolution and the ensuing period of institutional reform and state-building on a regional basis. Historians of the revolution have tended to categorize the revolution’s regions into north, central, and southern divisions. Northern Mexico became a showcase of the Porfiriato development model and a catalyst for revolutionary movements. Central Mexico gave birth to popular revolutions, such as the one led by Zapata in Morelos, and became a battleground of church and state conflict in the 1920s. The revolution extended to southern Mexico, the biggest impact occurring when the revolutionary state sought to impose its reforms.

Northern Mexico

A dynamic region during the Porfiriato, northern Mexico played a key role in the armed revolution—notably in the form of Villismo—and later supplied many of the key political leaders of the 1920s, in particular the “Sonoran dynasty.” Falcón 1984 is a rich account of boss politics in San Luis Potosi. Saragoza 1988 is an important examination of the rise of the Monterrey business elite. Mendoza 1992 dissects political machine building in Tamaulipas. Wasserman 1993 demonstrates the continuities of oligarchy in Chihuahua. Bantjes 1998 masterfully breaks down the relationship between the national state and the regional political machine in Sonora.

Bantjes, Adrian. As If Jesus Walked on Earth: Cardenismo, Sonora and the Mexican Revolution. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Superior regional study of the important northwestern state of Sonora, dealing expertly with several interlocking themes (labor, land reform, church-state relations), which reveals the limitations of the federal government vis-à-vis state governors and their machines.
Bantjes, Adrian. As If Jesus Walked on Earth: Cardenismo, Sonora and the Mexican Revolution. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1998.
Find this resource:
Falcón, Romana. Revolución y caciquismo: San Luis Potosí, 1910–1938. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1984.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Fine history of the revolution in San Luis and the formation of the Cedillo political machine; rather more critical of Cedillo than Ankerson 1984 (see under Biographies).
Falcón, Romana. Revolución y caciquismo: San Luis Potosí, 1910–1938. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1984.
Find this resource:
Mendoza, Arturo Alvarado. El Portesgilismo en Tamaulipas. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1992.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Perceptive and well-researched study of the powerful political machine built by archetypal revolutionary cacique Emilio Portes Gil in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.
Mendoza, Arturo Alvarado. El Portesgilismo en Tamaulipas. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1992.
Find this resource:
Saragoza, Alex. The Monterrey Elite and the Mexican State, 1880–1940. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Accomplished study of Mexico’s powerful northeastern industrial bourgeoisie, beneficiaries of the Porfiriato, who quite successfully defended their growing interests in the face of revolutionary hostility.
Saragoza, Alex. The Monterrey Elite and the Mexican State, 1880–1940. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988.
Find this resource:
Wasserman, Mark. Persistent Oligarchs: Elites and Politics in Chihuahua, Mexico, 1910–40. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Good survey of a key revolutionary state, focusing on political and business elites, showing how they emerged successfully from the revolutionary upheaval.
Wasserman, Mark. Persistent Oligarchs: Elites and Politics in Chihuahua, Mexico, 1910–40. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993.
Find this resource:
Central Mexico

Central Mexico was the demographic and political heartland of Porfirian Mexico, the site of major peasant movements, such as Zapatismo, and in the 1920s it was the region where church-state conflict was most acute. Salamini 1978 analyzes the rise and fall of the radical political machine of Tejeda in the critical Mexican Gulf Coast state of Veracruz. Falcón and García 1986 extends the analysis of Tejeda and his impact in chronological terms. Schryer 1980 is a hallmark study of an emerging peasant bourgeoisie in Hidalgo benefiting from agrarian reform. Warman 1980 is an essential work based on oral histories of the Zapatista revolution that questioned whether the revolution helped the peasants of Morelos. Ginzburg 1999 analyzes Cárdenas and his record as governor of Michoacán. Boyer 2003 enriches the study of this important state with its focus on how the agrarian struggle forged a distinct regional identity. The scope of scholarship on the central states has more recently been extended to regions less associated with revolution. Ugarte 1997 reveals the growth of the Osornio political machine and its impact on politics and society in Querétaro. Brewster 2003 demonstrates the power negotiations between the central state and local political bosses in Puebla.

Boyer, Christopher. Becoming Campesinos: Politics, Identity and Agrarian Struggle in Postrevolutionary Michoacán, 1920–1935. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Original and well-researched study of peasant mobilization in 1920s Michoacán, stressing notions of political and cultural identity.
Boyer, Christopher. Becoming Campesinos: Politics, Identity and Agrarian Struggle in Postrevolutionary Michoacán, 1920–1935. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003.
Find this resource:
Brewster, Keith. Militarism, Ethnicity and Politics in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, 1917–1930. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Study of the mountainous northern part of the major state of Puebla, focusing on the role of regional caudillo Gabriel Barrios, who mediated with the nascent central government in the 1920s and traded on his ethnic base.
Brewster, Keith. Militarism, Ethnicity and Politics in the Sierra Norte de Puebla, 1917–1930. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2003.
Find this resource:
Falcón, Romana, and Soledad García. La semilla en el surco: Adalberto Tejeda y el radicalismo en Veracruz, 1883–1960. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1986.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-researched study that combines the life of Tejeda with the history of his Veracruz fief, a crucial case of regional radicalism in the 1920s and 1930s.
Falcón, Romana, and Soledad García. La semilla en el surco: Adalberto Tejeda y el radicalismo en Veracruz, 1883–1960. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1986.
Find this resource:
Ginzburg, Eitan. Lázaro Cárdenas, Gobernador de Michoacán, 1928–1932. Zamora, Mexico: El Colegio de Michoacán, 1999.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-researched critical study of Cárdenas’s governorship, which served as a springboard and model for his later presidency.
Ginzburg, Eitan. Lázaro Cárdenas, Gobernador de Michoacán, 1928–1932. Zamora, Mexico: El Colegio de Michoacán, 1999.
Find this resource:
Salamini, Heather Fowler. Agrarian Radicalism in Veracruz, 1920–1938. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Convincingly describes the rise and fall of Tejedismo, the radical movement led by Veracruz caudillo Adalberto Tejeda.
Salamini, Heather Fowler. Agrarian Radicalism in Veracruz, 1920–1938. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978.
Find this resource:
Schryer, Frans J. The Rancheros of Pisaflores: The History of a Peasant Bourgeoisie in Twentieth-Century Mexico. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Regional history of the Sierra Alta de Hidalgo, combining dense research and perceptive analysis, charting the rise of a new “peasant bourgeoisie,” the agents and beneficiaries of the revolution.
Schryer, Frans J. The Rancheros of Pisaflores: The History of a Peasant Bourgeoisie in Twentieth-Century Mexico. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980.
Find this resource:
Ugarte, María Eugenia García. Génesis del porvenir: Sociedad y política en Querétaro, 1913–1940. México City: UNAM, 1997.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-researched history of a somewhat neglected state, its society and politics, from the armed revolution to World War II, which, inter alia, sheds light on the long-standing Osornio political machine.
Ugarte, María Eugenia García. Génesis del porvenir: Sociedad y política en Querétaro, 1913–1940. México City: UNAM, 1997.
Find this resource:
Warman, Arturo. We Come to Object: The Peasants of Morelos and the National State. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Translation of Venimos a Contradecir (1976). Based on oral evidence, which convincingly analyzes the cause, character, and outcome of the Zapatista revolution. Effectively complements narrative/archival histories such as Womack 1968 (see Individuals); but not all historians would share the downbeat conclusions.
Warman, Arturo. We Come to Object: The Peasants of Morelos and the National State. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.
Find this resource:
Southern Mexico

Southern Mexico was the poorest and most Indian region of Mexico, characterized by a strong plantocracy and highly exploitative labor relations. In this context, popular rebellion tended to be limited and localized, and the revolution came “from without,” by way of northern invasion in 1915. García de León 1985, Benjamin 1989, and Lewis 2005 are all useful studies of the revolution in Chiapas. Historians have also expanded their analyses to other southern states. Assad 1979 is a case study of boss politics in the state of Tabasco, Fallaw 2001 is a model study of regional resistance to Cardenista reforms in Yucatán, and Smith 2009 examines how regionalism in Oaxaca promoted resistance to state initiatives.

Assad, Carlos Martínez. El laboratorio de la Revolución: El Garridista Tabasco. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1979.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Valuable study of Garrido Canabál, the radical anticlerical boss of the state of Tabasco in the 1920s and 1930s, and his policies and political machine.
Assad, Carlos Martínez. El laboratorio de la Revolución: El Garridista Tabasco. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1979.
Find this resource:
Benjamin, Thomas. A Rich Land, A Poor People: Politics and Society in Modern Chiapas. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1989.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Useful reliable survey of the history of Chiapas, showing that contrary to some recent misapprehensions the revolution had an impact there.
Benjamin, Thomas. A Rich Land, A Poor People: Politics and Society in Modern Chiapas. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1989.
Find this resource:
Fallaw, Ben. Cárdenas Compromised: The Failure of Reform in Postrevolutionary Yucatán. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Model case study of Yucatán, its politics and economy, in the 1930s. Shows with ample data and convincing analysis how the federal government of President Cárdenas was stymied by regional intrigue and resistance.
Fallaw, Ben. Cárdenas Compromised: The Failure of Reform in Postrevolutionary Yucatán. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
Find this resource:
García de León, Antonio. Resistencia y utopía. 2 vols. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1985.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A lively and original sweep through the troubled history of the southern state of Chiapas, including Porfirian “development,” the peculiar character of the Chiapaneco revolution, and its distinctly ambivalent outcome.
García de León, Antonio. Resistencia y utopía. 2 vols. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1985.
Find this resource:
Lewis, Stephen E. The Ambivalent Revolution. Forging State and Nation in Chiapas, 1910–1945. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Lucid study of the history of Chiapas through the armed and institutional revolutions, down to the political retrenchment of the 1940s; focuses on education and state-society relations.
Lewis, Stephen E. The Ambivalent Revolution. Forging State and Nation in Chiapas, 1910–1945. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005.
Find this resource:
Smith, Benjamin. Pistoleros and Popular Movements: The Politics of State Formation in Postrevolutionary Oaxaca. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Long, complex, penetrating analysis of Oaxaca, which focuses on the prolonged and only partially successful efforts of the central government to control a large southern state known for its rugged terrain, ethnic diversity, and strong local and provincial sentiments.
Smith, Benjamin. Pistoleros and Popular Movements: The Politics of State Formation in Postrevolutionary Oaxaca. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2009.
Find this resource:
Microhistory

Microhistory is the study of small individual communities. In Mexican historiography, González 1974 introduced the village community as a unit of microhistorical analysis. This methodological breakthrough gave scholars insights into the impact of events and processes on a local level. Saldaña and Mendoza 1976 followed up González with an important work on Catholic and conservative resistance to the revolution in a village in Jalisco. Nugent 1993 demonstrates the value of the González approach with a key work on military colonies and their transformations into centers of revolutionary activity in Chihuahua. Henderson 1998 vividly provides insights into local agrarian tensions. Kouri 2004 is an excellent example of how village-level analysis can be used to explain Porfirian politics manifested at a local level.

González, Luis. San José de Gracia, Mexican Village in Transition. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1974.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Translation of classic pioneering “microhistoria” (Pueblo en Vilo, 1968), which charts the life of a fairly conservative Catholic community in Michoacán from its mid-19th-century origins, through the belle époque of the Porfiriato, to the nightmare of the revolution and Cristiada.
González, Luis. San José de Gracia, Mexican Village in Transition. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1974.
Find this resource:
Henderson, Timothy J. The Worm in the Wheat: Rosalie Evans and Agrarian Struggle in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley of Mexico, 1906–1927. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
While stylishly telling the bizarre and tragic story of Rosalie Evans’s struggle with local peasants, the book offers a classic case study of agrarian tension and revolt with international overtones.
Henderson, Timothy J. The Worm in the Wheat: Rosalie Evans and Agrarian Struggle in the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley of Mexico, 1906–1927. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1998.
Find this resource:
Kourí, Emilio. A Pueblo Divided: Business, Property and Community in Papantla, Mexico. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Detailed, finely researched study of the vanilla-producing Papantla through the 19th century; Sheds light on Porfirian politics and agrarian policy (in what is a peculiar place), but the book’s coverage stops around the eve of the revolution.
Kourí, Emilio. A Pueblo Divided: Business, Property and Community in Papantla, Mexico. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004.
Find this resource:
Nugent, Daniel. Spent Cartridges of Revolution: An Anthropological History of Namiquipa, Chihuahua. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Interesting blend of history and anthropology, which traces the history of a northern military colony turned revolutionary community, from the Porfiriato through the armed revolution to the ambivalent postrevolutionary outcome.
Nugent, Daniel. Spent Cartridges of Revolution: An Anthropological History of Namiquipa, Chihuahua. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Find this resource:
Saldaña, Tomás Martínez, and Leticia Gándara Mendoza. Política y sociedad en México: El caso de Los Altos de Jalisco. Mexico City: INAH, 1976.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Illuminating study of two communities in the Catholic/conservative region of Los Altos, from the Porfiriato to the postwar period.
Saldaña, Tomás Martínez, and Leticia Gándara Mendoza. Política y sociedad en México: El caso de Los Altos de Jalisco. Mexico City: INAH, 1976.
Find this resource:
Biographies

Biography fitted more comfortably within the old tradition of historia de bronce, that is, “top-down” history of the great (male) heroes of the revolution. Some have continued in that vein. However, the more important biographies locate their subjects within their local, regional, and sociocultural contexts, thus combining biography and regional/sociopolitical history. The practice in the field has been to produce group and individual biographies as demonstrated in the following subsections of collective and individual biographies.

Collective

Mexican publishers have specialized in producing collected biographies of crucial actors in the revolution. Krauze 1994 is a primary example, and its analysis of the leading intellectuals of the revolution such as Vasconcelos is fundamental reading. Krauze 1998 is a massive set of political biographies of the major revolutionary figures and reflects the continued popularity of the “great men” analysis of the history of the revolution. Fowler 2004 is a useful survey of Mexican presidents, and Sefcovich 1999 mines the biographies of the wives of Mexican presidents for historical insights.

Fowler, Will, ed. Presidentes Mexicanos. Vol. 2, 1911–2000. Mexico City: INEHRM, 2004.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Hefty collection of essays on Mexican presidents, somewhat variable in quality. But this is a useful compendium.
Fowler, Will, ed. Presidentes Mexicanos. Vol. 2, 1911–2000. Mexico City: INEHRM, 2004.
Find this resource:
Krauze, Enrique. Caudillos culturales en la Revolución Mexicana. Mexico City: Siglo XXI, 1994.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A penetrating study of major revolutionary political intellectuals: including Marxist labor leader Lombardo Toledano; writer, education minister, and activist José Vasconcelos; and state-building technocrat turned opposition leader Manuel Gómez Morín.
Krauze, Enrique. Caudillos culturales en la Revolución Mexicana. Mexico City: Siglo XXI, 1994.
Find this resource:
Krauze, Enrique. Mexico: Biography of Power. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A series of eight glossy, well-illustrated political biographies, dealing with Díaz, Madero, Zapata, Villa, Carranza, Obregón, Calles, and Cárdenas. Better on Madero, Carranza, and Calles than Zapata, Villa, and Cárdenas. The entire work has been criticized for its excessive focus on the “great men” of the revolution, which certainly runs counter to recent social, cultural, and popular historiographical trends.
Krauze, Enrique. Mexico: Biography of Power. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998.
Find this resource:
Sefcovich, Sara. La suerte de la consorte. Mexico City: Océano, 1999.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-researched original study of Mexican presidential wives through the 19th and 20th centuries, often shedding fresh light on their husbands’ careers and administrations.
Sefcovich, Sara. La suerte de la consorte. Mexico City: Océano, 1999.
Find this resource:
Individual

The Mexican Revolution in the popular imagination is the domain of larger-than-life historical figures that each left a massive mark on Mexican history. Biographies of the “great men” of the revolution abound and reflect the sustained scholarly interest in these characters. Womack 1968 is the classic biography of Zapata. The work is rich in biographical and regional history, and continues to be a popular choice for undergraduate reading lists. The scholarly push to explain the revolution through biography continued with Meyer 1972, which focuses not on a revolutionary leader but on the reactionary general Huerta. Richmond 1983 examines the political life of the unpopular Carranza. Hall 1981 is an insightful analysis of Obregón and the revolution. The focus of study has at times shifted to lower-level actors in the revolution such as regional political bosses, as analyzed in Ankerson 1984. Biographies about “great men” have returned more recently in the scholarship. Katz 1998 is the definitive and authoritative account of the life of Villa and his revolutionary movement. Brunk 1998 reassesses Zapata and Zapatismo and is useful in conjunction with Womack 1968. Buchenau 2007 is a sound synthesis of Calles as the architect of the institutional revolution.

Ankerson, Dudley. Agrarian Warlord. Saturnino Cedillo and the Mexican Revolution in San Luis Potosí. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1984.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Lively account of the revolution in San Luis, the rise from ranchero to state boss and classic cacique, and his ouster by the Cárdenas government.
Ankerson, Dudley. Agrarian Warlord. Saturnino Cedillo and the Mexican Revolution in San Luis Potosí. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1984.
Find this resource:
Brunk, Samuel. Emiliano Zapata! Revolution and Betrayal in Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Careful and clear-eyed biography of Zapata that notes the divisions and limitations of Zapatismo. Supplements rather than subverts Womack’s classic study.
Brunk, Samuel. Emiliano Zapata! Revolution and Betrayal in Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
Find this resource:
Buchenau, Jürgen. Plutarco Elías Calles and the Mexican Revolution. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Reliable synthetic study of the great architect of the revolutionary state.
Buchenau, Jürgen. Plutarco Elías Calles and the Mexican Revolution. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
Find this resource:
Hall, Linda. Alvaro Obregón: Power and Revolution in Mexico, 1911–1920. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1981.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Sympathetic but convincing study of the rise of the great self-taught Sonoran general, whose military skill decided the final outcome of the armed revolution. Note that the book does not cover his presidency (1920–1924).
Hall, Linda. Alvaro Obregón: Power and Revolution in Mexico, 1911–1920. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1981.
Find this resource:
Katz, Friedrich. The Life and Times of Pancho Villa. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Massive, magisterial study of the great popular caudillo of the northern revolution, blending narrative and analysis, while also providing a regional history of revolutionary Chihuahua.
Katz, Friedrich. The Life and Times of Pancho Villa. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1998.
Find this resource:
Meyer, Michael C. Huerta: A Political Portrait. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Brave attempt to revise and rehabilitate the regime of Victoriano Huerta (1913–1914), traditionally seen as the reactionary villain of the revolutionary decade. The book does not really succeed but offers a useful portrait of the regime and its abortive struggle against the revolution.
Meyer, Michael C. Huerta: A Political Portrait. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1972.
Find this resource:
Richmond, Douglas W. Venustiano Carranza’s Nationalist Struggle, 1893–1920. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Informative political biography of the first chief of the constitutionalist revolution. Combines ample research with an uncritical, even hagiographic, approach to its subject.
Richmond, Douglas W. Venustiano Carranza’s Nationalist Struggle, 1893–1920. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983.
Find this resource:
Womack, John Jr. Zapata and the Mexican Revolution. New York: Knopf, 1968.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Classic biography of the popular southern caudillo and also a valuable history of revolutionary Morelos that has aged well: graphic, empathetic, and a touch romantic.
Womack, John Jr. Zapata and the Mexican Revolution. New York: Knopf, 1968.
Find this resource:
Elite Memoirs and Oral History

Oral history has created a valuable extra dimension to historical work on the revolution. The most innovative has been popular oral history: for example, oral histories of revolutionary schoolteachers (see Los Maestros 1987 under Popular Oral History), which has enabled historians to flesh out narratives, memories, and attitudes in contexts where written records are lacking. Elite memories, too, can be revealing, especially when they are penned with the frank chutzpah of Santos 1986. However, many elite oral accounts (and some popular ones) can read like much-rehearsed scripts (rollos), such as Obregón 1959. Wilkie and Wilkie 1995 includes interviews with a host of activists and revolutionaries with similar results. Far more entertaining and paradoxical are the idiosyncratic memoirs of revolutionary activists such as Siqueiros 1986 and Vasconcelos 1972.

Obregón, Alvaro. Ocho mil kilometros en Campaña. Mexico City: FCE, 1959.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Obregón’s detailed account of his key military campaigns; an important if somewhat stolid text.
Obregón, Alvaro. Ocho mil kilometros en Campaña. Mexico City: FCE, 1959.
Find this resource:
Santos, Gonzalo N. Memorias. Mexico City: Grijalbo, 1986.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Long, detailed, diverting (and at times scurrilous) memoirs of an egregious Mexican revolutionary, national político, and longtime boss of the state of San Luis. Bombast aside, it provides a graphic insight into the macho mentality and modus operandi of the revolutionary generation.
Santos, Gonzalo N. Memorias. Mexico City: Grijalbo, 1986.
Find this resource:
Siqueiros, David Alfaro. Me llamaban el Coronelazo. Mexico: Grijalbo, 1986.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Swaggering and entertaining autobiography of the great painter and committed Communist, including his labor activism among the miners of Jalisco and his involvement in the assassination plots against Trotsky.
Siqueiros, David Alfaro. Me llamaban el Coronelazo. Mexico: Grijalbo, 1986.
Find this resource:
Vasconcelos, José. A Mexican Ulysses: Autobiography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1972.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Abridged English translation of multivolume Ulíses Criollo, autobiography of a major Mexican writer, philosopher, education minister, and (thereafter) unsuccessful politico. Having supported the revolution and run as a democratic opponent of the regime in 1929, Vasconcelos veered to the political right and in the 1930s flirted with fascism (as well as with many women).
Vasconcelos, José. A Mexican Ulysses: Autobiography. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1972.
Find this resource:
Wilkie, James W., and Edna Monzón Wilkie. Frente a la Revolución Mexicana: 17 protagonistas de la etapa constructiva. 3 vols. Mexico City: UAM, 1995.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Valuable compendium of long interviews with prominent Mexican politicians and intellectuals, most of whom have their rollo (or “line”) well scripted.
Wilkie, James W., and Edna Monzón Wilkie. Frente a la Revolución Mexicana: 17 protagonistas de la etapa constructiva. 3 vols. Mexico City: UAM, 1995.
Find this resource:
Popular Oral History

Popular oral history is about the lives of common people. The emergence of oral history as a methodological tool for historians has generated significant insights from everyday people about their perceptions, participation, and interpretation of the revolution. The multivolume Mi Pueblo Durante la Revolución 1985 is a valuable resource to access the revolutionary experiences of the anonymous participants and observers of the revolution. Los Maestros 1987 is an innovative series of oral histories of the schoolteachers who played a critical role in the development of revolutionary schools. Horcasitas and Jiménez 2000 is an essential work concentrating on the experiences of an indigenous woman, complete with Náhuatl and Spanish text.

Horcasitas, Fernando, and Luz Jiménez. De Porfirio Díaz a Zapata: memoria náhuatl de Milpa Alta. Mexico City: UNAM, 2000.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Graphic account of a woman from Milpa Alta, on the borders of Mexico City and Morelos, describing the harsh experiences of both the late Porfiriato and Zapatista revolutions; includes Náhuatl and Spanish texts.
Horcasitas, Fernando, and Luz Jiménez. De Porfirio Díaz a Zapata: memoria náhuatl de Milpa Alta. Mexico City: UNAM, 2000.
Find this resource:
Los Maestros y la cultura nacional. 5 vols. Mexico City: SEP, 1987.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Five volumes, organized by region (north, center, south), containing graphic and informative oral accounts of schoolteachers from the 1920s onward; given the important role of the revolutionary school, this is a key source.
Los Maestros y la cultura nacional. 5 vols. Mexico City: SEP, 1987.
Find this resource:
Mi pueblo durante la revolución. 3 vols. Mexico City: INAH, 1985.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Valuable three-volume series of oral interviews relating the revolutionary experiences of largely anonymous participants and observers from across Mexico.
Mi pueblo durante la revolución. 3 vols. Mexico City: INAH, 1985.
Find this resource:
Foreign Eyewitnesses

Plenty of foreigners witnessed the revolution firsthand. A few were victims (though fewer than often supposed, especially if we are concerned with book- and letter-writing Anglo-Americans, rather than, say, anonymous Chinese). In particular, the 1920s and 1930s saw a stream of curious foreigners—journalists, authors, artists, and simple tourists—make their way to Mexico (see Delpar 1992). Some came to admire the revolution; some came to carp and criticize: as radicals such as John Turner (see Turner 1912) had done toward the end of the Porfiriato, or Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh (see Greene 1939 and Waugh 1939) did during the radical years of Cardenismo. Written by a British hacienda manager and consul representative in La Laguna, O’Hea 1966 provides a unique perspective on revolutionary events in Mexico. Reed 1914 is a classic journalistic personal narrative of the northern revolution. Beals 1931 is a radical overview of the revolution. Chase 1931 probes into deeper questions about the confrontation of modernization and traditional folk culture and society. Prewett 1941 is important for its eyewitness account of the 1940 presidential election.

Beals, Carleton. Mexican Maze. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1931.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Evocative portrait of revolutionary Mexico by an experienced radical journalist.
Beals, Carleton. Mexican Maze. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1931.
Find this resource:
Chase, Stuart. Mexico: A Study of Two Americas. New York: Literary Guild, 1931.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Perceptive study of Mexico by a sociologist inquiring whether industrialization and economic growth were compatible with the maintenance of “folk” ways.
Chase, Stuart. Mexico: A Study of Two Americas. New York: Literary Guild, 1931.
Find this resource:
Delpar, Helen. The Enormous Vogue of Things Mexican: Cultural Relations between the United States and Mexico, 1920–1935. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1992.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Good overview of the US-Mexican cultural relationship after 1920, when Mexico became something of a magnet for American political and cultural tourists, especially those on the left.
Delpar, Helen. The Enormous Vogue of Things Mexican: Cultural Relations between the United States and Mexico, 1920–1935. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1992.
Find this resource:
Greene, Graham. The Lawless Roads. London: Heineman, 1939.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Misanthropic, Mexico-phobic travel account by a major Catholic novelist (the basis for his superior novel, The Power and the Glory); exaggerates revolutionary anticlericalism but produces some memorable vignettes, such as the portrait of aging caudillo Saturnino Cedillo.
Greene, Graham. The Lawless Roads. London: Heineman, 1939.
Find this resource:
O’Hea, Patrick. Reminiscences of the Mexican Revolution. Mexico City: Centro Anglo-Mexicano del Libro, 1966.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Valuable little-used account of the revolution in the key Laguna region of northern Mexico, by British hacienda manager and consular representative.
O’Hea, Patrick. Reminiscences of the Mexican Revolution. Mexico City: Centro Anglo-Mexicano del Libro, 1966.
Find this resource:
Prewett, Virginia. Reportage on Mexico. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1941.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Interesting eyewitness account of Mexico in the late 1930s, including the contentious 1940 presidential election (chapters 1–4, the historical preamble, should be skipped).
Prewett, Virginia. Reportage on Mexico. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1941.
Find this resource:
Reed, John. Insurgent Mexico. New York: D. Appleton, 1914.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Graphic, sometimes embellished, journalistic account of the revolution in northern Mexico.
Reed, John. Insurgent Mexico. New York: D. Appleton, 1914.
Find this resource:
Turner, John Kenneth. Barbarous Mexico. New York: Cassell, 1912.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Muckraking journalist’s denunciation of the abuses of the Porfiriato, especially debt-peonage; strives for effect, hence to be used with care. Yet remains an important historical source.
Turner, John Kenneth. Barbarous Mexico. New York: Cassell, 1912.
Find this resource:
Waugh, Evelyn. Robbery Under Law: A Mexican Object-Lesson. London: Chapman & Hall, 1939.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Another English Catholic novelist slags off revolutionary Mexico, Waugh doing so at the behest of the recently expropriated oil companies (hence the title). Compared to Greene, the touch is lighter and the judgments, though usually hostile, are more nuanced and at times perceptive.
Waugh, Evelyn. Robbery Under Law: A Mexican Object-Lesson. London: Chapman & Hall, 1939.
Find this resource:
Economic History

Like political history, recent economic history has benefited from disaggregation. The main general overviews of the Mexican economy (e.g., Reynolds 1970 and Solís 1970) are quite old. Work in the 21st century has focused on particular themes and sectors, while offering some interesting theoretical perspectives that link growth to political stability and the protection (or not) of property rights. Meanwhile, studies of government budgets give the lie to the notion of an emergent Leviathan: the revolutionary state taxed and spent in moderation. But, as Wilkie 1970 (cited under Political Economy) shows, the balance of spending suggests changing political priorities. Haber 1989 is a fundamental overview of Mexican industrialization and captures the growth and revival of Mexican industry. Bortz and Haber 2002 addresses the importance of institutional history in explaining Porfirian and revolutionary economic history. Cárdenas 1987 disaggregates the Keynesian-style economic policies of the 1930s.

Bortz, Jeffery L., and Stephen Haber, eds. The Mexican Economy, 1870–1930: Essays on the Economic History of Institutions, Revolution and Growth. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
High-quality collection of essays by expert scholars dealing with Porfirian and revolutionary economic history, including trade, banking, property rights, and labor relations.
Bortz, Jeffery L., and Stephen Haber, eds. The Mexican Economy, 1870–1930: Essays on the Economic History of Institutions, Revolution and Growth. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2002.
Find this resource:
Cárdenas, Enrique. La Industrialización de México durante la Gran Depresión. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1987.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Significant study of Mexico’s economic development during the 1930s, stressing the speed of industrialization and the relative success of the government’s Keynesian (but not profligately populist) policies.
Cárdenas, Enrique. La Industrialización de México durante la Gran Depresión. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1987.
Find this resource:
Haber, Stephen. Industry and Underdevelopment: The Industrialization of Mexico, 1890–1940. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1989.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Good overview of Mexican industrialization, stressing the spurt of growth in the 1890s and relatively rapid recovery, following revolutionary upheaval, in the late 1910s and 1920s.
Haber, Stephen. Industry and Underdevelopment: The Industrialization of Mexico, 1890–1940. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1989.
Find this resource:
Reynolds, Clark W. The Mexican Economy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1970.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Major, if now somewhat dated, overview of Mexican economic history in the 20th century. Still useful.
Reynolds, Clark W. The Mexican Economy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1970.
Find this resource:
Solís, Leopoldo. La realidad económica Mexicana: Retrovisión y perspectivas. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1970.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
First major overview of Mexican economic history through the 20th century. Now somewhat dated, but it remains a relevant source.
Solís, Leopoldo. La realidad económica Mexicana: Retrovisión y perspectivas. Mexico City: Siglo Veintiuno, 1970.
Find this resource:
Political Economy

These sources deal with the interface between politics and the economy. Wilkie 1970 is dated but valuable because of its statistical surveys on the priorities of revolutionary budgets. Zebadúa 1994 surveys the rebuilding of the economy after the armed conflict and the development of financial institutions during the Calles presidency. Questions about the revolutionary state have extended to its fiscal strengths and limitations, as explored in Aboites 2003.

Aboites, Luis. Excepciones y privilegios: Modernización tributaria y centralización en México, 1922–1972. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Detailed and convincing treatment of a crucial yet little-studied feature of Mexican political economy: the relative fiscal weakness of the revolutionary state.
Aboites, Luis. Excepciones y privilegios: Modernización tributaria y centralización en México, 1922–1972. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 2003.
Find this resource:
Wilkie, James W. The Mexican Revolution. Federal Expenditure and Social Change since 1910. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Statistical survey of Mexican government budgets, which sheds useful light on the scope and priorities of successive administrations, from the Porfiriato through the revolution. Shows that the revolution did not produce a Leviathan state. But the final “poverty index,” which is an indicator of welfare, has been seen as methodologically flawed.
Wilkie, James W. The Mexican Revolution. Federal Expenditure and Social Change since 1910. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970.
Find this resource:
Zebadúa, Emilio. Banqueros y revolucionarios: La soberanía financiera de México, 1914–1929. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1994.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Useful survey of state and finance during the crucial period when the economy recovered from revolution and basic financial institutions were established under Calles.
Zebadúa, Emilio. Banqueros y revolucionarios: La soberanía financiera de México, 1914–1929. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1994.
Find this resource:
Agrarian History

In a country that in 1910 was over three-quarters rural, peasant and agrarian protest were key to the armed revolution. And the post-1917 land reform was probably the most important single policy undertaken by the new revolutionary state: this happened slowly at first, but by the 1930s land reform was being implemented more rapidly and radically. It was also a policy unique in Latin America at the time. Regional and local studies often deal with this process; what follows are books that focus squarely on the agrarian question. Tannenbaum 2008 is the pioneering work about land reform in revolutionary Mexico. The ejidos were the new land reform communities of the 1930s created to bring about meaningful land reform. Whetten 1948 remains a useful broad survey of Mexican agrarian history during the first half of the 20th century. Indicative of new methodological approaches to agrarian studies combining historical and anthropological analysis, Friedrich 1979 is a classic study of agrarian tension and rebellion in Michoacán. Friedrich 1986 re-analyzes the same community with emphasis on the tension between caciquismo and land reform. Case study approaches generated a number of important studies in the field, revealing successes and failures of revolutionary land reform. Craig 1983 demonstrates careful use of archival and oral histories to explain land reform efforts in the conservative state of Jalisco. Castro 1989 continues this line of regional and local inquiry by explaining weaknesses of agrarian reform in a Mexican village in Michoacán. Debates about the nature and relative success or failure of land reform have led to important reevaluations. Dwyer 2008 stands out as a strong analysis of agrarian reform and the impact of nationalism on this important question in northwestern Mexico.

Castro, Fernando Salmerón. Los límites del agrarismo: Proceso político y estructuras de poder en Taretan, Michoacán. Zamora, Mexico: El Colegio de Michoacán, 1989.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Illuminating case study that highlights flaws and failings in the process of land reform.
Castro, Fernando Salmerón. Los límites del agrarismo: Proceso político y estructuras de poder en Taretan, Michoacán. Zamora, Mexico: El Colegio de Michoacán, 1989.
Find this resource:
Craig, Ann L. The First Agraristas: An Oral History of a Mexican Reform Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Evocative and illuminating case study of a land reform movement—its origins, make-up, modus operandi, and accomplishments—in the conservative context of Jalisco, based on both archival and oral evidence.
Craig, Ann L. The First Agraristas: An Oral History of a Mexican Reform Movement. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
Find this resource:
Dwyer, John J. The Agrarian Dispute: The Expropriation of American-Owned Rural Land in Postrevolutionary Mexico. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-researched study of land reform involving American properties in the northwest of Mexico, where agrarianism and nationalism meshed.
Dwyer, John J. The Agrarian Dispute: The Expropriation of American-Owned Rural Land in Postrevolutionary Mexico. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008.
Find this resource:
Friedrich, Paul. Agrarian Revolt in a Mexican Village. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1979.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Short, classic study of agrarian tension and rebellion in the Michoacán community of Naranja, including the life and death of the charismatic peasant leader Primo Tapia.
Friedrich, Paul. Agrarian Revolt in a Mexican Village. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1979.
Find this resource:
Friedrich, Paul. The Princes of Naranja: An Essay in Anthrohistorical Method. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Highly informative, perceptive and idiosyncratic book, based on field work in Naranja, Michoacán (hence a continuation of the author’s Agrarian Revolt in a Mexican Village). Depicts how the land reform consorted with caciquismo factionalism and violence.
Friedrich, Paul. The Princes of Naranja: An Essay in Anthrohistorical Method. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986.
Find this resource:
Simpson, Eyler N. The Ejido: Mexico’s Way Out. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1937.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Classic study of rural Mexico and revolutionary land reform, by a perceptive agronomist who knew Mexico intimately. Combines stacks of data with valuable case studies of new ejidos (land reform communities): its sole defect is that by not extending its coverage beyond the mid-1930s, it cannot evaluate the full effects of the radical Cardenista reparto.
Simpson, Eyler N. The Ejido: Mexico’s Way Out. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1937.
Find this resource:
Tannenbaum, Frank. The Mexican Agrarian Revolution. New York: ACLS History E-BookProject, 2008.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The first and probably best excursion of this prominent leftist Latin Americanist into Mexican affairs. Contains useful data on rural Mexico and the agrarian question just as the revolutionary land reform was getting under way. First published in 1923.
Tannenbaum, Frank. The Mexican Agrarian Revolution. New York: ACLS History E-BookProject, 2008.
Find this resource:
Whetten, Nathan L. Rural Mexico. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Another valuable compendious work that surveys rural Mexico, including geographical, social, political, and cultural features, through the first half of the 20th century. Lacks Simpson 1937’s eyewitness insight, but by covering the 1930s and broaching the 1940s this book has the merit of rounding out the revolutionary period.
Whetten, Nathan L. Rural Mexico. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948.
Find this resource:
Labor History

The urban working class was a small minority in Porfirian Mexico and its contribution to the armed revolution was limited, by both numbers and urban social control. But unionization accelerated after 1911, and by the 1920s Mexico possessed a precociously strong labor movement, unequalled in Latin America and closely tied to the fortunes of the revolutionary state. Ruiz 1976 is a useful entry into revolutionary labor history, and Middlebrook 1995 provides a more recent analysis of state and labor relations during the revolutionary period. In the body of literature about Mexican labor history, questions about the political role of radical labor organizations in the revolution have attracted the attention of various scholars. Carr 1981 is important for understanding the dynamic power politics between the labor movement and the revolutionary state. Debates have also centered on the relationship of unions with Cárdenas. Anguiano 1975 challenges the Cárdenas pro-labor thesis and argues that Cardenismo attempted to incorporate labor unions as part of a statist strategy. Recent trends in labor history scholarship reflect the diversity of theoretical and thematic approaches. French 1996 is an analysis of working-class formation during the Porfiriato through the study of manners and morals in a northern Mexican town. Lear 2001 is a valuable analysis of Mexico City workers because of the integration of multiple themes of inquiry such as economics and culture. While studies of women workers have not received the same attention as their male counterparts, Wood 2001 is an important treatment of the radical movement led by women in Veracruz. Recently, historians have returned to studying labor at the local level and by sectors. Bortz 2008 is an essential study about cotton workers and their relationship with the state. Snodgrass 2003 is fundamental to understanding relations between the labor movement and the emerging Monterrey business elite.

Anguiano, Arturo. El estado y la política obrera del Cardenismo. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1975.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Boldly argues that Cardenista labor policy served to subordinate the trade unions to the Leviathan state; recent research would dissent from such “state-centric” imputations of presidential power.
Anguiano, Arturo. El estado y la política obrera del Cardenismo. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1975.
Find this resource:
Bortz, Jeffrey. Revolution Within the Revolution: Cotton Textile Workers and the Mexican Labor Regime, 1910–1923. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-researched study of the textile workers, convincingly arguing that they posed a powerful, radical, and partly successful challenge to employers.
Bortz, Jeffrey. Revolution Within the Revolution: Cotton Textile Workers and the Mexican Labor Regime, 1910–1923. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2008.
Find this resource:
Carr, Barry. El movimiento obrero y la política en México, 1910–1929. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1981.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Remains the best overview of labor politics and the hegemony of the CROM in the 1920s.
Carr, Barry. El movimiento obrero y la política en México, 1910–1929. Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 1981.
Find this resource:
French, William E. A Peaceful and Working People: Manners, Morals, and Class Formation in Northern Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Perceptive study of the working class—its formation, manners, and morals—in the northern mining community of Parral during the Porfiriato.
French, William E. A Peaceful and Working People: Manners, Morals, and Class Formation in Northern Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996.
Find this resource:
Lear, John. Workers, Neighbors and Citizens: The Revolution in Mexico City. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Fine history of the workers of Mexico City during the armed revolution, which originally combines economic, political, and cultural themes.
Lear, John. Workers, Neighbors and Citizens: The Revolution in Mexico City. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2001.
Find this resource:
Middlebrook, Kevin. The Paradox of Revolution. Labor, the State and Authoritarianism in Mexico. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Part 1 usefully analyzes state-labor relations from the revolution to World War II. Part 2 continues the story into the postwar era.
Middlebrook, Kevin. The Paradox of Revolution. Labor, the State and Authoritarianism in Mexico. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
Find this resource:
Ruiz, Ramón Eduardo. Labor and the Ambivalent Revolutionaries. Mexico, 1911–1923. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Succinct and original study of organized labor during the armed revolution and its immediate aftermath.
Ruiz, Ramón Eduardo. Labor and the Ambivalent Revolutionaries. Mexico, 1911–1923. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.
Find this resource:
Snodgrass, Michael. Deference and Defiance in Monterrey: Workers, Paternalism and Revolution in Mexico, 1890–1950. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511512056Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Study of the Monterrey working class and their relation with the powerful Monterrey bourgeoisie, from the late Porfiriato to the 1940s. Combining deep research and cogent analysis, the book sheds light on labor, business, and regional politics.
Snodgrass, Michael. Deference and Defiance in Monterrey: Workers, Paternalism and Revolution in Mexico, 1890–1950. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Find this resource:
Wood, Andrew Grant. Revolution in the Street: Women, Workers and Urban Protest in Veracruz, 1870–1927. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Lively portrait of the radical movement that sprang up in the port of Veracruz during and after the armed revolution, involving workers, artisans, tenants, and women, including the working girls of the red-light zone.
Wood, Andrew Grant. Revolution in the Street: Women, Workers and Urban Protest in Veracruz, 1870–1927. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2001.
Find this resource:
Women’s History and Gender

Women played a major role in the revolution, but they did so anonymously, with few individual names rising above the faceless ranks of soldaderas (roughly translating to “camp-followers”). After 1917 women played a greater part in politics, some espousing feminist agendas; but the prevailing ethos of the revolutionary state remained resolutely macho. So it is hard to argue that the revolution had a strong and successful feminist agenda (women did not get the vote in federal elections until 1953). However, recent research has somewhat corrected the previous neglect of women’s roles not only in the revolution but also on the other side of the barricades: as supporters of the Catholic Church, including the Cristero rebels of the 1920s. Soto 1990 is a standard entry point into the historical scholarship of women in the revolution. The collected works in Olcott, et al. 2006 demonstrate emerging richness and diversity of gender themes since Soto, with treatments of topics such as female colonels, divorce, and the representation of indigenous women in film. Mitchell and Schell 2007 analyzes how women shaped the revolution and how the revolution shaped women. A representative primary source document accompanies each essay as the contributors explain the meaning of the revolution to Mexican women. Olcott 2005 provides a comparative regional analysis of radical women and expands the debate about women and the meaning of citizenship. Reflecting the push into new lines of inquiry, Bliss 2001 is a pioneering work on the revolutionary state’s politicization of prostitution through reforms such as public health.

Bliss, Katharine. Compromised Positions: Prostitution, Public Health and Gender Politics in Revolutionary Mexico City. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Intelligent and innovative study of prostitution and public policy in the capital.
Bliss, Katharine. Compromised Positions: Prostitution, Public Health and Gender Politics in Revolutionary Mexico City. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2001.
Find this resource:
Mitchell, Stephanie, and Patience A. Schell, eds. The Women’s Revolution in Mexico, 1910–1953. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Another good symposium with essays ranging from the outbreak of revolution to the belated introduction of women’s suffrage in 1953.
Mitchell, Stephanie, and Patience A. Schell, eds. The Women’s Revolution in Mexico, 1910–1953. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
Find this resource:
Olcott, Jocelyn. Revolutionary Women in Postrevolutionary Mexico. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Good study of radical women in the 1920s and 1930s, focusing on key regions such as La Laguna.
Olcott, Jocelyn. Revolutionary Women in Postrevolutionary Mexico. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005.
Find this resource:
Olcott, Jocelyn, Mary Kay Vaughan, and Gabriela Cano, eds. Sex in Revolution: Gender, Politics and Power in Modern Mexico. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Valuable collection of essays indicating the drift of recent research in this relatively new area of investigation.
Olcott, Jocelyn, Mary Kay Vaughan, and Gabriela Cano, eds. Sex in Revolution: Gender, Politics and Power in Modern Mexico. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2006.
Find this resource:
Soto, Shirlene. Emergence of the Modern Mexican Woman: Her Participation in Revolution and Struggle for Equality, 1910–1940. Denver, CO: Arden, 1990.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Workmanlike overview of women’s role in the revolution, both armed and institutional, by a pioneer of Mexican women’s history.
Soto, Shirlene. Emergence of the Modern Mexican Woman: Her Participation in Revolution and Struggle for Equality, 1910–1940. Denver, CO: Arden, 1990.
Find this resource:
Church and State

Although anticlericalism was largely absent from the early revolution—both liberal leaders such as Madero and popular peasant caudillos such as Zapata spurned anticlericalism—it shot to prominence after 1913, in part because of the church’s dalliance with Huerta but also in part because the new mass politics of the revolution involved a battle for hearts and minds. Quirk 1973 is the standard reference for the revolutionary state’s evolving and complex relationships with the Catholic Church. The Sonorans, Calles in particular, saw Catholicism (as both an institution and a religion) as a major obstacle to Mexico’s progress. Their anticlerical measures provoked the major Catholic rebellion, strong in the center-west of the country, known as the Cristiada, which lasted from 1926 to 1929. Meyer 2007 is a reinterpretation of the Cristiada as a manifestation of popular discontent against the state. The debate about the nature of the Cristiada is extended in Bailey 1974. More recent scholarship has focused on explaining the diverse local and regional variations of church and state relations. Becker 1995 relies on local archival sources and oral histories to explain how popular religious culture contested and reshaped the state’s relationship with society. Purnell 1999 is a careful and convincing analysis of how local historical experiences during the Porfiriato and the armed revolution explain why some peasant communities in Michoacán fought as anti-state rebels sympathetic to the Catholic Church while other peasant communities fought as pro-government agraristas against the Catholic Church. The methodological emphasis on comparative studies of peasants and the role of popular faith in the Cristiada is continued in Butler 2004. After a brief détente in 1929, church-state conflict again revived in the early 1930s, with education now as a key battleground. One consequence was the rise of a mass “integralist” Catholic protest movement, the Unión Nacional Sinarquista. Meyer 1979 is the fundamental work on the Sinarquista movement. President Cárdenas then initiated a renewed process of détente that gathered strength in the 1940s. The wealth of scholarship on church and state relations has in recent years expanded to incorporate studies of Catholic political parties, such as Madrazo 2001. The collection of works in Butler 2007 points to the many manifestations of religious responses to the revolution and the revolutionary state.

Bailey, David C. Viva Cristo Rey! The Cristero Rebellion and the Church-State Conflict in Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1974.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Narrative account of the Cristero rebellion with a US-Mexican focus.
Bailey, David C. Viva Cristo Rey! The Cristero Rebellion and the Church-State Conflict in Mexico. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1974.
Find this resource:
Becker, Marjorie. Setting the Virgin on Fire: Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán Peasants, and the Redemption of the Mexican Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Interesting but flawed study, supposedly depicting how the central government of Cárdenas rode roughshod over devout local campesinos. A febrile style and an overreliance on oral accounts make for a lively but hardly convincing read.
Becker, Marjorie. Setting the Virgin on Fire: Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán Peasants, and the Redemption of the Mexican Revolution. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995.
Find this resource:
Butler, Matthew. Popular Piety and Political Identity in Mexico’s Cristero Rebellion: Michoacán, 1927–1929. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Sophisticated and cogent study of Catholic mobilization in a key state, demonstrating the variety of local responses and the importance of long-term politico-religious identities.
Butler, Matthew. Popular Piety and Political Identity in Mexico’s Cristero Rebellion: Michoacán, 1927–1929. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Find this resource:
Butler, Matthew, ed. Faith and Impiety in Revolutionary Mexico. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
DOI: 10.1057/9780230608801Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A collection of original studies, several regional or local, dealing with diverse politico-religious themes (Protestantism, pilgrimages, Spiritism, revolutionary anticlericalism), which usefully suggests where we stand in this field of rapid historiographical reassessment.
Butler, Matthew, ed. Faith and Impiety in Revolutionary Mexico. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Find this resource:
Madrazo, Laura O’Dogherty. De urnas a sotanas: El Partido Católico Nacional en Jalisco. Mexico City: Conaculta, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A detailed scholarly study of the National Catholic Party in the strongly Catholic state of Jalisco; sheds light on a short-lived but important episode in Mexican sectarian politics.
Madrazo, Laura O’Dogherty. De urnas a sotanas: El Partido Católico Nacional en Jalisco. Mexico City: Conaculta, 2001.
Find this resource:
Meyer, Jean. El Sinarquismo: Un Fascismo Mexicano? Mexico City: Joaquín Mortiz, 1979.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Pioneering academic study of the Sinarquista movement of the 1930s, which posed a mass Catholic challenge to the revolutionary state and its policies.
Meyer, Jean. El Sinarquismo: Un Fascismo Mexicano? Mexico City: Joaquín Mortiz, 1979.
Find this resource:
Meyer, Jean. La Cristiada. 3 vols. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Massive, magisterial study of the Cristero rebellion of 1926–1929, heavily based on Cristero sources and oral accounts. Stresses the religious motivation and popular autonomous character of the rebellion, thus offers a powerful (and often successful) revisionist challenge to the old orthodoxy (of naïve peasants serving unscrupulous reactionaries) but at times overshoots its mark. A shorter English distillation is available: The Cristero Rebellion: The Mexican People Between Church and State (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976).
Meyer, Jean. La Cristiada. 3 vols. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007.
Find this resource:
Purnell, Jennie. Popular Movements and State Formation in Revolutionary Mexico: The Agraristas and Cristeros of Michoacán. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Convincing study of several regions/communities. Intelligently teases out the motivations of Catholic rebels and their pro-government agrarista rivals.
Purnell, Jennie. Popular Movements and State Formation in Revolutionary Mexico: The Agraristas and Cristeros of Michoacán. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1999.
Find this resource:
Quirk, Robert E. The Mexican Revolution and the Catholic Church, 1910–1929. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Solid top-down account of the church-state conflict, though overtaken by more recent “bottom-up” reinterpretations. Remains a good source for official (revolutionary) thinking and policy.
Quirk, Robert E. The Mexican Revolution and the Catholic Church, 1910–1929. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973.
Find this resource:
Mining and Oil

Historically dependent on mining, the Mexican economy acquired a major petroleum sector in the 1910s, which weathered the armed revolution and became an important source of revenue for the fragile revolutionary state. Brown 1993 is a pivotal study of oil and its emergence as a fundamental feature of the Mexican economy. Efforts to control and tax the oil industry provoked a series of conflicts, which soured US-Mexican relations through the 1920s. In the 1930s, a militant national oil-workers union was formed, and the ensuing disputes paved the way to the dramatic nationalization of 1938. Meyer 1977 is a key work interpreting the nationalization of oil as a revolutionary project expressing Mexican nationalism. Subsequent studies included in works such as Brown and Knight 1992 challenged this interpretation and provided a deeper analysis of this vital national resource. The mining industry followed a more low-key trajectory, with Bernstein 1964 being the standard work of reference.

Bernstein, Marvin. The Mexican Mining Industry, 1880–1950: A Study of the Interaction of Politics, Economics and Technology. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1964.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Remains the best overview of Mexican mining: does what the title says.
Bernstein, Marvin. The Mexican Mining Industry, 1880–1950: A Study of the Interaction of Politics, Economics and Technology. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1964.
Find this resource:
Brown, Jonathan C. Oil and Revolution in Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The best English text on the origins of the Mexican oil industry and its travails during the revolution, 1910–1920; detailed research enables the author to question or dispel some hoary myths.
Brown, Jonathan C. Oil and Revolution in Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
Find this resource:
Brown, Jonathan C., and Alan Knight, eds. The Mexican Oil Industry in the Twentieth Century. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Contains diverse articles on the oil industry before, during, and after the revolution.
Brown, Jonathan C., and Alan Knight, eds. The Mexican Oil Industry in the Twentieth Century. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992.
Find this resource:
Meyer, Lorenzo. Mexico and the United States in the Oil Controversy, 1917–1942. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1977.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Translation of 1972 Spanish volume, for many years the standard, somewhat revolutionary-nationalist, text on the oil dispute; still useful, though partly superseded by more recent work.
Meyer, Lorenzo. Mexico and the United States in the Oil Controversy, 1917–1942. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1977.
Find this resource:
Education

The Porfirian state had espoused public education, but its impact was limited and largely urban. The revolutionaries placed great faith in the power of education—to “rationalize and nationalize” the Mexican people—while also serving to legitimize the new regime. As Vaughan 1982 notes, enrollment rose rapidly, and by the 1930s an ambitious program of “socialist” education was attempted, provoking strenuous resistance and probably achieving modest results. Raby 1974 is an important study of the ambitious Cardenista revolutionary education program. Lerner 1979 follows this line of inquiry with a fact-filled survey of the national initiative. Vaughan 1982 is a pioneering work, examining the revolutionary state’s education program. Schell 2003 is an important addition to the debate about the scope and nature of education in revolutionary Mexico with its compare-and-contrast analysis of revolutionary public schools and parochial schools in Mexico City. Vaughan 1997 is a major reassessment of the debate and is significant for its proposition that the struggle over education between state and society created a lasting cultural legacy of mediation between the two.

Lerner, Victoria. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana: Periodo 1934–1940, la educación socialista. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1979.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Informative overview of 1930s “socialist” education; interpretation takes second place to (usefully abundant) facts.
Lerner, Victoria. Historia de la Revolución Mexicana: Periodo 1934–1940, la educación socialista. Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 1979.
Find this resource:
Raby, David. Educación y revolución social en México. Mexico City: SepSetentas, 1974.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Pioneering study of socialist education in the 1930s. Still worth a read.
Raby, David. Educación y revolución social en México. Mexico City: SepSetentas, 1974.
Find this resource:
Schell, Patience. Church and State Education in Revolutionary Mexico City. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2003.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Original sociocultural study of education in 1920s Mexico City. Unlike many educational histories, focuses on an urban (not rural) setting and includes private Catholic as well as public “revolutionary” schools.
Schell, Patience. Church and State Education in Revolutionary Mexico City. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2003.
Find this resource:
Vaughan, Mary Kay. State, Education and Social Class in Mexico, 1880–1928. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1982.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Lucid analysis of education from the Porfiriato through the 1920s, the bulk of the book dealing with the impact of the revolution in terms of educational expansion and ideology, including “cultural nationalism.”
Vaughan, Mary Kay. State, Education and Social Class in Mexico, 1880–1928. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1982.
Find this resource:
Vaughan, Mary Kay. Cultural Politics in Revolution. Teachers, Peasants and Schools in Mexico, 1930–1940. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1997.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Major book focusing on case studies. Convincingly analyzes state-society relations, as mediated through the expanding federal school system, in dialectical terms: that is, as neither an imposition “from above,” nor an entirely popular initiative “from below.”
Vaughan, Mary Kay. Cultural Politics in Revolution. Teachers, Peasants and Schools in Mexico, 1930–1940. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1997.
Find this resource:
Social and Cultural History

The revolution was above all political and economic. The state could transform politics and substantially affect the economy. When it came to changing hearts and minds, its power was very limited (hence the scant success of socialist education). The Mexican revolutionary regime was far from totalitarian, thus much different from its Stalinist counterpart. Much of Mexican culture remained obstinately indifferent (or even hostile) to the official revolutionary project. Thus, it would be otiose to produce a long list of cultural trends (in art, poetry, literature, film, music, and architecture) that had little to do with “the revolution.” What follows relates more specifically to the state’s cultural policy and its (limited) impact. Beezley, et al. 1994 is a collection of articles about how the pre-revolutionary state tried to impose a cultural program in Mexico through public rituals and how popular culture resisted and subverted these attempts at forging an imposed national culture. Benjamin 2000 is a significant study about how the revolutionary state used public iconography and imagery to validate its creation and institutionalization. Piccato 2001 is a pioneering study about the state’s institutional response to crime and how social classes and groups mediated responses to these policies in Mexico City.

Beezley, William H., Cheryl English Martin, and William E. French. Rituals of Rule, Rituals of Resistance: Public Celebrations and Popular Culture in Mexico. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1994.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Diverse collection of articles dealing with public ritual, from the colony through the 19th century to the revolution: themes include fiestas, schools, iconoclasm, theater, and village (musical) bands.
Beezley, William H., Cheryl English Martin, and William E. French. Rituals of Rule, Rituals of Resistance: Public Celebrations and Popular Culture in Mexico. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1994.
Find this resource:
Benjamin, Thomas. La Revolución: Mexico’s Great Revolution as Memory, Myth and History. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Ably traces how, from the 1920s, the revolutionary state set about creating a legitimizing myth by means of icons, images, buildings, and texts.
Benjamin, Thomas. La Revolución: Mexico’s Great Revolution as Memory, Myth and History. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000.
Find this resource:
Piccato, Pablo. City of Suspects: Crime in Mexico City, 1900–1931. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Innovative and well-researched study of crime: the upheaval of the armed revolution sparked an increase in crime in Mexico City.
Piccato, Pablo. City of Suspects: Crime in Mexico City, 1900–1931. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
Find this resource:
Art

Art associated with the Mexican Revolution developed in the wake of the state’s goal to create a genuine Mexican national identity. In the 1920s and 1930s the Mexican mural became the national expression of Mexican art and of Mexican history and national identity. Diego Rivera became the global face of the mural movement with major pieces in Mexico and the United States. Rivera’s work sought to incorporate the Mexican Revolution as part of the forging of a distinct Mexican identity. The work of Jose Clemente Orozco provides an artistic critique to the nationalist concepts of race and identity. Siqueiros participated in the Mexican Revolution and the Spanish civil war, and he made public art and politics central to his artistic practice. Craven 2002 places revolutionary art in the context of Latin America, and Rochfort 1998 analyzes in text and in illustration the distinctive nature of these artists.

Craven, David. Art and Revolution in Latin America, 1910–1990. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Locates Mexican revolutionary art (chapter 1) within an interesting broader context.
Craven, David. Art and Revolution in Latin America, 1910–1990. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
Find this resource:
Rochfort, Desmond. Mexican Muralists: Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros. San Francisco: Chronicle, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A good, well-illustrated guide to the “big three” muralists, written by a practicing painter.
Rochfort, Desmond. Mexican Muralists: Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros. San Francisco: Chronicle, 1998.
Find this resource:
Foreign Relations

Though often billed as a major nationalist (even xenophobic) popular movement, the Mexican Revolution was not virulently nationalist and still less xenophobic (as compared, say, to the Chinese Revolution). Given Mexico’s complex relationship with its northern neighbor, Knight 1987 is a useful starting point for an analysis of Mexico’s foreign relations with the States. The Díaz policy of counterbalancing US investment with British investment drew these two great powers into diplomatic conflict during the revolution, as analyzed in Calvert 2008. Ulloa 1976 demonstrates that the Mexican government and its people reacted against foreign (usually American) interventions. But the close liaison with American capital remained after 1917; at most, the Callista state sought to tax and regulate foreign capital at a time when state resources were lacking, as discussed in Smith 1972. Hall 1995 analyzes how Mexico’s vast oil reserves became the centerpiece of US economic interest in Mexico. The Great Depression sparked economic nationalism, and Schuler 1998 moves beyond the nationalist rhetoric of Cardenas to provide an insightful study of Mexico’s foreign relations in the turbulent 1930s. Buchenau 1996 widens the analytical lens beyond relations with the United States to include Mexico’s evolving relations with Central American republics. Niblo 1995 tackles the question of how dynamic reform policies of Cárdenas became muted under his successor to the presidency, Avila Camacho.

Buchenau, Jürgen. In the Shadow of the Giant: The Making of Mexico’s Central American Policy, 1876–1930. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1996.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Expands the usual bilateral focus to explore Mexico’s policy toward Central America, which became particularly significant (and alarming to the United States) in the 1920s.
Buchenau, Jürgen. In the Shadow of the Giant: The Making of Mexico’s Central American Policy, 1876–1930. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1996.
Find this resource:
Calvert, P. A. R. The Mexican Revolution, 1910–1914: The Diplomacy of Anglo-American Conflict. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Dense account of British and American policy toward the early Mexican Revolution and the Anglo-American misunderstandings that ensued.
Calvert, P. A. R. The Mexican Revolution, 1910–1914: The Diplomacy of Anglo-American Conflict. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Find this resource:
Hall, Linda B. Oil, Banks and Politics. The United States and Postrevolutionary Mexico, 1917–1924. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Careful and convincing study of the interplay of banks and oil companies in the fragile US-Mexican relationship at the time.
Hall, Linda B. Oil, Banks and Politics. The United States and Postrevolutionary Mexico, 1917–1924. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995.
Find this resource:
Knight, Alan. US-Mexican Relations, 1910–1940: An Interpretation. San Diego: Center for US-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego, 1987.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Offers a broad analysis of the bilateral relationship.
Knight, Alan. US-Mexican Relations, 1910–1940: An Interpretation. San Diego: Center for US-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego, 1987.
Find this resource:
Niblo, Stephen R. War, Diplomacy and Development: The United States and Mexico, 1938–1954. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1995.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Densely researched account of the transition from Cardenismo to Avilacamachismo as manifested in US-Mexican relations.
Niblo, Stephen R. War, Diplomacy and Development: The United States and Mexico, 1938–1954. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1995.
Find this resource:
Schuler, Friedrich E. Mexico between Hitler and Roosevelt: Mexican Foreign Relations in the Age of Lázaro Cárdenas, 1934–1940. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Well-researched study of Mexican foreign policy in the turbulent 1930s, which weaves domestic and international politics together well.
Schuler, Friedrich E. Mexico between Hitler and Roosevelt: Mexican Foreign Relations in the Age of Lázaro Cárdenas, 1934–1940. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
Find this resource:
Smith, Robert Freeman. The United States and Revolutionary Nationalism in Mexico, 1916–1932. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Remains one of the best studies of the US-Mexican relationship in the revolutionary period, focusing on political economy and the novel threat to US interests and assumptions posed by revolutionary nationalism.
Smith, Robert Freeman. The United States and Revolutionary Nationalism in Mexico, 1916–1932. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972.
Find this resource:
Ulloa, Berta. La Revolución Intervenida: las Relaciones entre México y Estados Unidos (1910–14). México: El Colegio de México, 1976.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
A detailed study of US-Mexican relations during the first half of the armed revolution, imbued with a mildly nationalist flavor.
Ulloa, Berta. La Revolución Intervenida: las Relaciones entre México y Estados Unidos (1910–14). México: El Colegio de México, 1976.
Find this resource:
Novels

Novels are not usually reliable sources for historical research: at best, and with caution, they can add some flavor to interpretations that depend on quite different (and more suitable) sources. But two novelists of the revolution, committed to forms of literary realism, are useful reporters: the Villista medical doctor Mariano Azuela (whose novel, Azuela 1941, is cited in this section) and the radical German migrant B. Traven, whose life and work are best approached by reading Zogbaum 1992.

Azuela, Mariano. Los de abajo. Mexico City: Ediciones Botas, 1941.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The classic novel of the Mexican Revolution, written by a participant. Graphically describes the violence and chaos of the northern (Villista) revolution. First published in 1915.
Azuela, Mariano. Los de abajo. Mexico City: Ediciones Botas, 1941.
Find this resource:
Zogbaum, Heidi. B. Traven: A Vision of Mexico. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1992.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Perceptive study of the “mysterious” Traven (whom Zogbaum shows not to have been so mysterious), whose series of “jungle novels” depicted the evils of southern peonage and racism. A good guide to Traven’s life and work.
Zogbaum, Heidi. B. Traven: A Vision of Mexico. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1992.
Find this resource:
Theoretical and Comparative Perspectives

This is a catch-all of sources that relate the Mexican Revolution to other revolutions, or to general concepts/theories. They are chosen not on the basis of their contribution to a “general theory of revolutions” (which is a chimera) but on their ability to shed light on the Mexican Revolution itself. Wolf 1999 has inspired scholars to evaluate the peasant revolution as a critical concept and force behind the violence and reforms of the revolution. Reflecting a new wave of interest in peasant studies in the 1960s, this is a fundamental read for comparing and contrasting Mexico’s peasant revolutions with transformative peasant revolutions in countries such as Russia and China. Blasier 1976 continues the peasant framework of analysis by comparing Mexico’s revolution with Cuba’s and Bolivia’s, paying careful attention to US responses to these revolutions. Waterbury 1975 challenges the theory of a unitary peasant revolution in Mexico by comparing and contrasting peasant insurrection in Morelos with peasant passivity in the neighboring state of Oaxaca. As revisionist scholarship increasingly questioned whether Mexico had experienced a real revolution, Knight 1985 is a rigorous response to these theories and underlines the revolutionary nature of the Mexican case. Joseph and Nugent 1995 revives theoretical analysis by collecting works shaped by the theory of state formation as a process shaped by popular culture. More recent works engaging in economic theory and methodology are collected in Haber, et al. 2003.

Blasier, Cole. The Hovering Giant: US Responses to Revolutionary Change in Latin America. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1976.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Intelligent comparison of US policy toward the Mexican, Bolivian, and Cuban revolutions.
Blasier, Cole. The Hovering Giant: US Responses to Revolutionary Change in Latin America. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1976.
Find this resource:
Haber, Stephen, Armando Razo, and Noel Maurer. The Politics of Property Rights. Political Instability, Credible Commitments and Economic Growth in Mexico, 1876–1929. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511615610Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Stimulating overview of Mexican political economy from the Porfiriato to the Great Depression, focusing on specific sectors (finance, industry, oil, etc.), and deploying a “new institutional economics” approach to property rights, state policy, and economic outcomes. Some thought-provoking, if not always persuasive, theory lurks beneath the jargon.
Haber, Stephen, Armando Razo, and Noel Maurer. The Politics of Property Rights. Political Instability, Credible Commitments and Economic Growth in Mexico, 1876–1929. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Find this resource:
Joseph, Gilbert M., and Daniel Nugent, eds. Everyday Forms of State Formation: Revolution and the Negotiation of Rule in Modern Mexico. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
An interesting if not wholly successful attempt to get historians of the revolution to engage with relevant social theory, especially regarding the process of state formation; James Scott and Derek Sayer provide the chief theoretical angles.
Joseph, Gilbert M., and Daniel Nugent, eds. Everyday Forms of State Formation: Revolution and the Negotiation of Rule in Modern Mexico. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995.
Find this resource:
Knight, Alan. “The Mexican Revolution: Bourgeois? Nationalist? Or Just a ‘Great Rebellion’?” Bulletin of Latin American Research 4.2 (1985): 1–37.
DOI: 10.2307/3338313Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Analyzes the nature of the Mexican Revolution, arguing, contra some revisionism, that it was a real revolution, roughly comparable to other bourgeois revolutions.
Knight, Alan. “The Mexican Revolution: Bourgeois? Nationalist? Or Just a ‘Great Rebellion’?” Bulletin of Latin American Research 4.2 (1985): 1–37.
Find this resource:
Waterbury, Ronald. “Non-Revolutionary Peasants: Oaxaca Compared to Morelos in the Mexican Revolution.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 17.4 (October 1975): 410–442.
DOI: 10.1017/S0010417500007957Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Somewhat dated but still useful comparison of two contrasting states and why, broadly speaking, peasants rebelled in one (Morelos) but not the other (Oaxaca).
Waterbury, Ronald. “Non-Revolutionary Peasants: Oaxaca Compared to Morelos in the Mexican Revolution.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 17.4 (October 1975): 410–442.
Find this resource:
Wolf, Eric. Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Pioneering comparative study of peasant revolution in six countries, including Mexico. The Mexico chapter, apart from locating Mexico in a global context, remains a good introduction to the (peasant) revolution.
Wolf, Eric. Peasant Wars of the Twentieth Century. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999.
Find this resource: