For all its historical riches, the nineteenth century, particularly the first half, is a period in Mexican history neglected by historians for far too long. Almost forty years ago, Nettie Lee Benson lamented the lacunae when she stated that much was yet to be learned about what actually happened during the period between 1810-1857. Fifteen years ago the refrain was much the same when Eric Van Young called this early national period a "hueco." Four years later, Josefina Zoraida Vázquez focused on the lack of attention to nineteenth century Mexico when she characterized this period the "forgotten years." As late as eight years ago, Professor Vázquez exhorted the historical community to apply social and economic histories to clarify who the actors were and what role they played in the political life of nineteenth-century Mexico instead of shrouding the political realities behind the themes of foreign aggressors and pronunciamentos.
It would be misleading, however, to interpret the introductory paragraph on this review as characterizing a complete void in historical studies of the period in question-much has been done in the last forty years. Seemingly as a response to Professor Vázquez, Mark Wasserman, whose book is the subject of this review, masterfully synthesized a suite of extant historical works-books and articles-which previously had to be consulted collectively to order and place in perspective this neglected period of Mexican history known erroneously for its chaos and disorder.
Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico demarcates the nineteenth century into three periods, from the formation of the nation-state until the disastrous war with the United States; Guadalupe Hidalgo through the internecine wars of the Reform ending in the triumph of Liberalism and the Tuxtepec Revolution; and the Profiriato until the dawn of the Mexican Revolution. Wasserman introduces each period with a biographical sketch of the leading figure of the period, in this case being Antonio López de Santa Anna, Benito Juárez and Porfirio Díaz. Additionally, the author provides a brief but useful timeline that orders the period in question.
The overarching theme that the author provides for nineteenth-century Mexico is that it was a time of pervasive wars, the most disastrous one for Mexico being the war with the United States followed by the Reform civil wars. And it is this constant warfare that resulted in the nation's economic stagnation and hence inability to develop fully. Furthermore, this constant warfare reverberated in the social space by creating demographic shifts, particularly of women. War and the resulting migrations also irrevocably altered gender relations as women fought wars with greater frequency than had been thought, and migrated to industrialized urban centers and became workers.
This book is clearly meant for the introductory survey level, hence its limited bibliography and lack of footnotes. While the bibliography is limited, many more studies were consulted in constructing this synthesis as evidenced by the acknowledgement section of the book and the footnoted acknowledgements at the beginning of each chapter.
Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico provides a much needed synthesis of nineteenth-century Mexico with an excellent balance of political economy, social and gender history that will surely become the de rigueur introductory survey for students of Mexican history in general and nineteenth-century Mexican history in particular.
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