The Möbius Strip: A Spatial History of Colonial Society in Guerrero, Mexico

One of the things you notice in talking to Latin Americanist historians about the work of celebrity biogeographer Jared Diamond is their almost visceral reaction to his two-dimensional view of history, particularly evident in the wildly successful Guns, Germs, and Steel (W. W. Norton, 1997). As a colleague observed, “He doesn’t understand that Latin American history plays out in three dimensions, not two,” and this allusion to John V. Murra’s notion of verticality could easily have been extended to n-dimensions. If you keep that in mind, Jonathan Amith’s ambitious and impressive account of the historical geography and ecology of the Iguala Valley in central Guerrero falls into place, down to the enigmatic title. Perhaps one should add that Amith’s argument is neither Diamond’s nor Murra’s, despite the fact some historical geographers in Mexico, such as Bernardo García Martínez, have observed that portions of Guerrero bear more than a passing...