This book adds a new level of sophistication to our understanding of the complex impact of Enlightenment ideas in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Mexico. In ways both subtle and blunt, reformers sought to transform ideas into action. Wills, burial records, sermons, laws, official correspondence, and other sources shed light on the sociopolitics of death; they offer a window onto that process and reactions to it. The clearly written augment of this stimulating and useful work will surely engage other scholars.
In colonial society, death had meaning and purpose for those that remained behind. It required a reaffirmation of one of the most important assets of a hierarchical structure—status. The shift of responsibility to an untried younger generation required major effort to avoid any hint of downward slippage. Funeral and burial practices, in a manner similar to marriages between powerful families, became a reinforcing event, not to be mishandled. Politically, it constituted...
