Setting the Virgin on Fire: Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán Peasants and the Redemption of the Mexican Revolution

by Marjorie Becker

In this beautifully written work, Marjorie Becker reconstructs the cultural encounters which led to Mexico's post-revolutionary government. She sets aside the mythology surrounding president Lázaro Cárdenas to reveal his dilemma: until he and his followers understood peasant culture, they could not govern.

This dilemma is vividly illustrated in Michoacán. There, peasants were passionately engaged in a Catholic culture focusing on the Virgin Mary. The Cardenistas, inspired by revolutionary ideas of equality and modernity, were oblivious to the peasants' spirituality and determined to transform them. A series of dramatic conflicts forced Cárdenas to develop a government that embodied some of the peasants' complex culture.

Becker brilliantly combines concerns with culture and power and a deep historical empathy to bring to life the men and women of her story. She shows how Mexico's government today owes much of its subtlety to the peasants of Michoacán.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

210 pages, Paperback

First published December 5, 1995

Reviews

[Patti Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as a prelude to another book that I purchased recently from the University of Texas press on the Mexican state of Michoacan. Michoacan is fascinating, because of its rurality and how it has retained so much of its indigenous heritage while incorporating the Spanish and mestizo cultures within it.

I am looking forward to reading the new book on Michoacan and its tourism development under Cardenas. Cardenas was the president who led the agenda for the modernism of the region while dispensing with the controlling religious impact of the Catholic church and the criollo landowners to disburse land to the peasants.

[Nick Mariner · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the standards in the historiography of the Mex Rev I’m happy to have finally checked off my to-read list. As readable as it is insightful.

[Ben Harrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for something more generally on Cardenas (hard to find in English as it turns out) but I enjoyed this glimpse into his policy and governance. Very interview driven which had pros and cons.

[🌸🦋 María 🦋🌸 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5