This book is part of the Scholarly Resources Human Tradition series, which in their own words seeks to provide “minibiographies of ‘real people’ who, with their idiosyncratic behavior, personalize the collective experience of grand themes, national myths, ethnic stereotypes, and gender relationships.” This volume covers the history of Mexico from colonial times to the present. Pilcher, the book editor, provides a narrative framework through a general introduction, sections summaries for the periods of Mexican history into which the book is organized, and introductions to each chapter which link the chapter subject to a landmark on the Mexico, D.F. subway system. This last gimmick is sometimes poignant and sometimes irrelevant.
As usual for edited volumes the success or failure is dependent on the individual contributions. In this case the result is mixed. Some of the contributing authors get into the true spirit of the series and do real miniature biographies of their subjects. Other authors submit more typical historical essays with the supposed biographical subject as simply one example among many. Women are very well represented, but we hear far less from the great mass of indigenous and mestizo peasants and workers who make up the Mexican population. This is perhaps natural in that biographies of the lower sort are difficult to assemble.
I was most interest in the selections from the colonial and early republican period as well as the those on the quixotic hopes of Alejando Prieto, a científico of the Porfiriato , on Rosa Torre González, a feminist of the revolutionary era and on Moises de la Peña, an idealistic economist who began under the liberal Cárdenas but quit in frustration as the PRI turned increasingly conservative. Most disappointing was the section on modern Mexico. The introduction made mention of NAFTA, the bracero program, union activism, student organizing and the massacre of Tlatelolco and the dissolution of the PRI’s national dominance. However, the four biographies are of a movie star, a chef, a rock musician and a tequila taster. Having read Judith Hellerman’s Mexican Lives I know they could have done better.
Specialists will find little of use here. For teachers, some of the chapters may provide useful texture to a class on Mexican history, but I doubt that many will assign the book in its entirety. ( )