Having published three years ago Juan Sánchez Azcona’s La etapa maderista de la Revolución Mexicana, the National Institute of Historical Studies of the Mexican Revolution now offers a second volume by the same author which, despite its title, is limited in coverage essentially to the same period as the earlier volume. Sánchez Azcona had planned to write a volume of memoirs, reconstructing his impressions and recollections of revolutionary events during the second and third decades of the century. He began the undertaking by publishing in 1930, a series of retrospective articles in El Universal Gráfico under the title “The Last Twenty Years.” The author never did carry out his original intention, and the newspaper series covered only the maderista period. The volume at hand includes sixty-seven articles divided into five sections: Madero’s character and ideology; the electoral campaign; the armed rebellion; the interim government and Madero’s presidency; and the martyrdom of the revolutionary leader. Despite this organization, the volume remains a series of journalistic articles rather than an organic book. It suffers from a lack of strict historical chronology and the repetition of ideas and concepts.
Sánchez Azcona served as Madero’s secretary and was a close friend, associate, and loyal follower of Madero. As might be expected he rejects criticisms and allegations of shortcomings of the revolutionary leader. While to a large extent the articles are based on recollections recorded two decades after the events, the author interspersed appropriate selections from Madero’s correspondence, speeches and other contemporaneous materials. It is a convenience to have these recollections by a participant in the events readily accessible in a single volume.
