On November 20, 1910, Mexicans initiated the world?s first popular social revolution. The unbalanced progress of the previous regime triggered violence and mobilized individuals from all classes to demand social and economic justice. In the process they shaped modern Mexico at a cost of two million lives.

Mexico Since Independence brings together six chapters from Volumes III, V and VII of the Cambridge History of Latin America to provide in a single volume an economic, social and political history of Mexico since independence from Spain in 1821. This, it is hoped, will be useful for both teachers and students of Latin American history. Each chapter is accompanied by a bibliographical essay.

Examines Mexican politics and government from the dictatorship of General Porfirio Dâiaz to the presidency of General Lâazaro Câardenas.

After Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821, it began the work of forging its identity as an independent nation, a process that would endure throughout the crucial nineteenth century. A weakened Mexico faced American territorial ambitions and economic pressure, and the U.S.-Mexican War threatened the fledgling nation’s survival. In 1876 Porfirio Díaz became president of Mexico, bringing political stability to the troubled nation. Although Díaz initiated long-delayed economic development and laid the foundation of modern Mexico, his government was an oligarchy created at the expense of most Mexicans. This accessible account guides the reader through a pivotal time in Mexican history, including such critical episodes as the reign of Santa Anna, the U.S.-Mexican War, and the Porfiriato. Colin M. MacLachlan and William H. Beezley recount how the century between Mexico’s independence and the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution had a lasting impact on the course of the nation’s history.

In ¡México, la patria! Monica A. Rankin examines the pervasive domestic and foreign propaganda strategies in Mexico during World War II and their impact on Mexican culture, charting the evolution of these campaigns through popular culture, advertisements, art, and government publications throughout the war and beyond. In particular, Rankin shows how World War II allowed the wartime government of Ávila Camacho to justify an aggressive industrialization program following the Mexican Revolution. Finally, tracing how the American government's wartime propaganda laid the basis for a long-term effor.

Using a wide array of new archival sources, Alexander demonstrates that the transformative political decisions made by civilian government officials, after the 1946 election, represented both their collective values as a generation and their effort to adapt those values to the realities of the Cold War.