History of the struggle of the Mexican people for nationhood, and analysis of U.S.-Mexican relations in the light of that struggle.

Vigil has transformed the long and complex history of Mexico and its relationship with Europe and eventually the U.S. into a brief and readable book. He breaks this history into four major stages: pre-Columbian, Spanish colonial, Mexican independence and nationalism, and Anglo-American and highlights each section with b & w pictures depicting the people, art, and architecture of each period. Within each section he analyzes the events and the underlying conditions that affected them, emphasizing the cultural changes the people experienced throughout each era.

An unfettered, probing dialogue between Mexican and American political analysts on the complex relationship between their countries. Few nations are as closely interrelated as the United States and Mexico. Few relationships between nations are so prickly. America's inveterate problem-solving strikes Mexicans as clandestine imperialism. Mexicans are accused of ignoring the flow of drugs through their country; Americans are accused of saddling Mexico with their drug problem. Americans brood over the influx of Mexican immigrants; Mexicans worry that their culture and traditions are being diluted from the north. These differences are now aired−and their origins made clear−in this landmark book by a former official in the Carter administration and one of Mexico's most respected political scholars. In alternating chapters on foreign policy, economic relations, immigration, and social influence, Robert A. Pastor and JorgeC. Castañeda offer a multifaceted view of the ties and conflicts between their countries.

"This is an extraordinarily important history of both U.S.-Mexico relations and of the political, economic, social, and cultural activities of Americans in Mexico."—Friedrich Katz, author of The Life and Times of Pancho Villa "Empire and Revolution is empowering as well as informative, providing a detailed record and judicious interpretation of the protean relations between the United States and Mexico. As John Mason Hart convincingly narrates, the association is of dynamic importance for people of both countries. While there have been studies on discrete parts and periods of the U.S.-Mexico relation, this book charts and anchors the relation globally. Hart allows the reader intellectual as well as imaginative insight into the multifaceted social, cultural, and political reality of the sharing of North America—then, now, and in the future."—Juan Gomez-Quinones, author of Mexican-American Labor, 1790-1990