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quisby's review against another edition
3.0
This is what you get when you bend historical analysis into literary criticism, for better or worse. Two stars as history, four stars as machismo fever dream.
franschulman9's review against another edition
5.0
Since the history of Mexico is tied to “strong men,” Krauze structures the book with short biographies, starting with Cortes. The translation is very easy to read, almost like fiction. I knew very little about Mexico or it’s history, so very different from our own despite both being discovered by Spanish explorers. The book shows the consequences of authoritarian presidents and weak legislators, very important given our current situation. Highly recommend.
giovannigf's review
Read half-way through and am just taking a break, as it is a very long and very detailed book. Definitely coming back to it, though.
mgerboc's review against another edition
5.0
An incredibly well researched, in depth analysis of the history of Mexico and a legitimate analysis of how that country got to where it is now. At the time of its writing, the PRI was still in power with no real end in sight, and the EZLN was still an issue being contented with. Those issues have changed, but otherwise, the major problems of Mexico remain.
Krauze’s classically liberal politics are a tad right for my taste, and I think contemporary Mexico shows that the democratic opening of the country’s politics, especially with the emergence of the PAN and their two consecutive presidencies (2000-2012), have not solved the age old issues of inequality or the rise of the drug cartels.
Other than that (which he couldn’t have seen at the time of writing in 1997), this book is a real wealth of information which does point to Krauze’s main point - Mexico as a whole, through its various political and structural iterations, has been entirely too dependent on the individual in the supreme executive power.
Krauze’s classically liberal politics are a tad right for my taste, and I think contemporary Mexico shows that the democratic opening of the country’s politics, especially with the emergence of the PAN and their two consecutive presidencies (2000-2012), have not solved the age old issues of inequality or the rise of the drug cartels.
Other than that (which he couldn’t have seen at the time of writing in 1997), this book is a real wealth of information which does point to Krauze’s main point - Mexico as a whole, through its various political and structural iterations, has been entirely too dependent on the individual in the supreme executive power.
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