The first half of the nineteenth century in Mexico is a complex period, characterized by regionalism, mass politics, governmental instability, economic collapse, foreign intervention, and the loss of half its territory to the United States. Will Fowler offers a new interpretation of the country’s politics during those years. He calls the era Mexico in the Age of Proposals “because Mexico was characterized by the intensity of its ideological debate” (p. 13). Although he does not challenge earlier scholars directly, Fowler dismisses interpretations that divide the nation’s political idealogues into liberals and conservatives. In his view, “There were no such things as conservatives and liberals. In broad terms, there were a variety of heterogeneous traditionalist, moderate, radical, and santanista factions which changed and evolved” (p. 267). To provide a framework for understanding the evolving politics, Fowler divides the era into four periods according to significant political events: (1) the time of...
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