A History of Mexico

by Henry Bamford Parkes

The book begins with an examination of Indian Mexico & continues with the Spanish Conquest, New Spain, the War of Independence, the age of Santa Anna, the reform, the reign of Diáz, the revolution & the period of reconstruction.
Indian Mexico
The Spanish Conquest
The Colony of New Spain
The War of Independence
The Age of Santa Anna
The Reform
The Reign of Diaz
The Revolution
The Period of Reconstruction
Modern Mexico
Bibliography
Index

Genres: History

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1938

Reviews

[Ming Wei · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting book, about a very interesting country, my knowledge about Mexico was pretty minimal before I read this book, I have learnt so much new stuff. Mexico as a very interesting history in its own right, (I will put no spoilers in this review), well written, in a style that flows through, the book gives enough depth in topics, a real interesting read, excellent writing style, excellent editorial standards, could not find any faults in this book at all. Would be good for students, or people interested in visiting Mexico.

[Felisa Rosa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never had much interest in history when I was younger. I had a standard public school education; I knew the story they were feeding us at school was bullshit, which somehow led me to believe that history itself was a waste of my time.

When I was in college and trying to finagle credit for a winter in Mexico by way of an investigative journalism project, I was dismayed when my prospective professor informed me that he'd only green light my proposal if I promised to spend the summer reading a giant list of books on Mexican history.

Luckily for me, A History of Mexico was the first book on my list. Reading it was like diving into a glittering sea: Mexican history, bizarre, bloody, and fantastic, was alive in its pages. A country I had known since birth magically gained new dimensions. In other words: this book changed my life. I changed my focus of study to history, but, perhaps more importantly, being interested in history gave me a new framework through which to see the world.

Part of this book's appeal is in its subject matter (Mexican history is incredibly dramatic), but it also benefits from Parkes' ability to ferret out the really salacious and intriguing details.

[Erik Graff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've 'planned' to read a history of Mexico since my (now former) wife took a course on the subject and started vacationing there with friends. I myself was reluctant to go, feeling uncomfortable with the idea of being a rich visitor in a relatively poor state. However, her repeated trips to the Yucatan and my reading up about the history of the Maya eventually wore down such resistance. Still, this was but a region of the country and an atypical one at that.

So, for years I skirted the subject until moving books around the apartment with the introduction of two new shelves led to the uncovering of this one just as I was preparing for a week in northwest Wisconsin. It seemed a good choice for the trip, better than one of the books on ancient history which I was feeling obligated to review for publication. It might be more challenging than a novel, but at least I wouldn't have to take notes. I brought it as my sole book for the trip.

As it happens this book was no chore at all. Like most of the better books about 'new' subjects I thoroughly enjoyed discovering how much I hadn't known and how much I had long misperceived and misunderstood. Parkes, who was born in the UK but who worked in the USA, takes a sympathetic approach to Mexico--or, perhaps better stated, to the Mexicans, treating his adopted country from a Mexican standpoint. Having written the first edition in the thirties, the tone of all but the last chapters is definitely New Deal, his concern being with the Mexican masses, his ire being directed at a variety of oppressors ranging from the traditional Catholic Church, the early conquistadors (the Indians were, after all, the original 'Mexicans' and remain very much an important element of the population), the Spanish bureaucracy to most foreign extractive corporations and the native upper classes. Yet despite this being a judgmental history, it is also quite an amusing one, his moral censures being delivered with heavy sarcasm and clever irony.

[Lydia Klima · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a BIG book, well over 400 pages. It took me forever to finish, but it was worth it. Since I'm part Hispanic, I wanted to learn about my culture. As a child, I was always interested in the Mayas and the Aztecs. Unfortunately, Mexico was exploited by the Spanish, the British, the French and the Americans. Much of her history is riddled with political corruption in an attempt to achieve stability, but there were many diverse groups that made Mexico difficult to unite. (A side note: Illegal immigration has always been a problem between the United States and Mexico.)

This is a good book for anyone interested in Mexican history, politics and culture, but it could have been cut in half.

[Steve Van Slyke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although originally published in 1938 and again most recently in 1969, the book still reads well today. And for those who would like to continue on, almost to the present, I would highly recommend Opening Mexico: The Making of a Democracy, which takes up almost where this one leaves off with only a chapter or so of overlap.

The first 400 years of the post-Columbian history of Mexico is quite sad to say the least. Had the Aztecs and Mayas been only slightly more technologically advanced and a little less superstitious, or if the Spaniards had been a good deal more enlightened and a whole lot less zealous when it came to their religion, the whole history of the country could have been entirely different.

And that of the United States would have been different as well. Texas probably would not have been ceded/annexed and the Mexican border might have run from San Francisco to Dallas and the Mississippi.

This book makes it crystal clear why that did not happen.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I discovered this in my girlfriend's grandfather's old library in New Mexico and decided to give it a read. I found it a compelling introduction to Mexico's tumultuous history (1492-1960s), and came away with a vivid picture of some of the key characters - the opportunistic Santa Anna, the delusional French emperor Maximilian, the ruthless strongman Porfirio Diaz, and the idealistic reformer Lazaro Cardenas, among others. However, I also found it very dated; Parkes likes to throw in the odd condescending (albeit affectionate) generalisation about the indigenous peoples of Mexico, and provides limited data or citations to support his conclusions. I also wanted more of a sense of the underlying 'whys' of the country, for example its climate, resources, and geography. Nevertheless, a very interesting read!

[Tom]

This book was originally published in 1938 and updated in 1950. I bought it used at our public library. Knowing very little about Mexico, I thought a 70-year old perspective might be enlightening and it was. I still don't know much about modern-day Mexico so I'll need to find a more recent account to read. For now, it seems to me that Mexico has been challenged by a culture of corruption, violence, oppression of the indigenous population and minimal arable land. I hope that the author, in later editions of this book, did a better job of denoting the dates of events. In this edition, he frequently referred to month and day without mentioning the year. This made the chronology hard to follow.

[Michael Schmid · Rating 2 out of 5]

A history of Mexico up to the 1960s written in a readable style with hardly any footnotes. Includes black and white photos of different places of interest, but these are often grouped together in sections and do therefore not correspond to the content of the previous or following page.

[Dallas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written history, and an excellent beginning to a deeper look at our Southern neighbor.

[Lola Sarur]

Good general review of Mexican history, but most of the names of people and places are misspelled. Is disappointing to the reader to find these mistakes.

[Sean]

First i thought this book was going to be boring , but now i think its is a very interesting book it tells u almost all of history of mexico. in my opinion, the author Henry Bamford parkes did a good job telling the histories about mexico and all the cool places to go and the very nice people over there.
Some of the things that the author needs to tell more about the nice people over at mexico. another things that the author Henry Bamford Parkes should add is more details about how it was before and who where the presidents. i will recommend this book for readers who like to hear about the history about mexico.