The postrevolutionary reconstruction of the Mexican government did not easily or immediately reach all corners of the country. At every level, political intermediaries negotiated, resisted, appropriated, or ignored the dictates of the central government. National policy reverberated through Mexico's local and political networks in countless different ways and resulted in a myriad of regional arrangements. It is this process of diffusion, politicking, and conflict that Benjamin T. Smith examines in Pistoleros and Popular Movements.
Oaxaca's urban social movements and the tension between federal, state, and local governments illuminate the multivalent contradictions, fragmentations, and crises of the state-building effort at the regional level. A better understanding of these local transformations yields a more realistic overall view of the national project of state building. Smith places Oaxaca within this larger framework of postrevolutionary Mexico by comparing the region to other states and linking local politics to state and national developments. Drawing on an impressive range of regional case studies, this volume is a comprehensive and engaging study of postrevolutionary Oaxaca's role in the formation of modern Mexico.
The postrevolutionary reconstruction of the Mexican government did not easily or immediately reach all corners of the country. At every level, political intermediaries negotiated, resisted, appropriated, or ignored the dictates of the central government. National policy reverberated through Mexico's local and political networks in countless different ways and resulted in a myriad of regional arrangements. It is this process of diffusion, politicking, and conflict that Benjamin T. Smith examines in Pistoleros and Popular Movements.
Oaxaca's urban social movements and the tension between federal, state, and local governments illuminate the multivalent contradictions, fragmentations, and crises of the state-building effort at the regional level. A better understanding of these local transformations yields a more realistic overall view of the national project of state building. Smith places Oaxaca within this larger framework of postrevolutionary Mexico by comparing the region to other states and linking local politics to state and national developments. Drawing on an impressive range of regional case studies, this volume is a comprehensive and engaging study of postrevolutionary Oaxaca's role in the formation of modern Mexico.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Revolution and Stasis in Oaxaca, 1876–1928
2. The Caudillo and the State, 1928–34
3. The Rise of Cardenismo and the Decline of Chicolopismo, 1932–36
4. The Politics of Cardenismo, 1936–40
5. Cárdenas's Caciques, 1936–40
6. Politics and Socioeconomic Reform, 1936–40
7. The Problems with Cardenista Politics and the Rise of the Urban Social Movement, 1940–44
8. The Rise and Fall of Edmundo Sánchez Cano, 1944–47
9. The Vallistocracia Governor, 1947–50
10. The Short Reign of Manuel Mayoral Heredia, 1950–52
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
A comprehensive study of postrevolutionary Oaxaca and the region's role in the making of modern Mexico
Benjamin T. Smith is an assistant professor of history at Michigan State University. His articles have appeared in Journal of Latin American Studies, Bulletin of Latin American Research, Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, and multiple edited volumes.
"Benjamin Smith's exhaustive research and expansive view allow him to place modern Oaxaca within the larger context of Mexican and world history, which is precisely what the very best regional histories do. Elegantly written, Pistoleros and Popular Movements is a veritable model of well-conceived regional history, and a truly invaluable contribution to the field."--Timothy J. Henderson, author of A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and its War with the United States "Ben Smith has written a wonderful and important book that will remain obligatory reading for many years to come for those interested in state formation, and for scholars interested in the fascinating postrevolutionary history of Oaxaca. The combination of methodological rigor, theoretical proficiency, and good writing makes this a book that deserves many readers from history students to political science professors." - Wil Pansters, European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, October 2012
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