This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1993.

Analyzing the effects of Mexico's newly flourishing petroleum industry, Dr. Millor first traces the evolution of Mexico's oil development and provides a detailed assessment of its socioeconomic, political, and ecological consequences and of the Mexican government's current energy policies. In his subsequent examination of U.S.-Mexican relations, he emphasizes that, aside from the issues directly related to Mexico's petroleum, a complex assortment of concerns remain unresolved between the two nations—illegal immigration, drug traffic, terms of technical and scientific cooperation, restrictions on Mexican exports in the U.S. market, and the more assertive foreign policy stance recently taken by Mexico. Dr. Millor argues that, far from representing a clear case of positive growth for Mexico, petroleum could bring about distorted development and increased dependency, as well as a difficult period of relations with the U.S. If a stable association between the two governments is to emerge, he concludes, U.S. policymakers must understand the changes taking place in Mexico and accept its emergence as a middle power with autonomous goals. Representing both the Mexican and the U.S. point of view, this study contributes much to a better understanding of the significance of oil for Mexican development and to a balanced assessment of present and future U.S.-Mexican relations.

Publisher Description

'Try this tequila oil, Hugito. Just as the alcohol hits your stomach, the chilli will as well and blow it back into your brain. It will take your head off.' Explorer Hugh Thomson takes on Mexico. It's 1979, Hugh Thomson is eighteen, far from home, with time to kill - and on his way to Mexico. When a stranger tells him there's money to be made by driving a car over the US border to sell on the black market in Central America, Hugh decides to give it a go. Throwing himself on the mercy of Mexicans he meets or crashes into, Hugh and his Oldsmobile 98 journey through the region, meeting their fate in the slums of Belize City. Thirty years on, Hugh returns - older but not necessarily wiser - to complete his journey.

The oil spill was the largest in U.S. history. In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank. Oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico from a deep ocean well. For months, the energy company BP tried to control the leak. More than four million barrels of oil flowed into the Gulf before the well was stopped. Fishers, shrimpers, and many others along the Gulf coast lost their income as polluted water prevented fishing and stifled tourism. Meanwhile, countless workers tried to contain the spilled oil. Boat crews skimmed the oil slicks on the surface. Scientists poured chemicals into the water to break up the oil. Then bacteria could remove the smaller oil droplets from the water. Wildlife organizations rescued oil-slicked pelicans, turtles, and other animals. The government, together with BP and volunteers, rallied to help coastal areas recover. Oil Spill! explores the Gulf of Mexico disaster from the beginning. With vivid images and diagrams, it breaks down the murky mess to look at how it happened, how it affected the Gulf, how it compares to past spills, and how kids can help the area recover.