In light of this summer’s presidential election in Mexico, touted by many to be the most “democratic” ever, the publication of Peter Henderson’s latest work is particularly timely. Francisco León de la Barra’s transitional presidency in 1911 faced many of the same political issues that contemporary voters will face in July, most importantly corruption and change from the old regime (Porfirian) to the new (Maderista). Similar to his earlier study of Félix Díaz, Félix Díaz, the Porfirians, and the Mexican Revolution (1981), Henderson’s political biography of de la Barra rescues a controversial figure of the early revolutionary period from relative historiographic obscurity. Through extensive use of a variety of public and private archival sources from five countries, Henderson carefully demonstrates that de la Barra was more than a solitary and often maligned figure in Mexican history. De la Barra’s story is important to revisit (or visit for the first time)...

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