This important study is preeminently a description of the political transformation of the Kingdom of New Spain, part of the global Spanish monarchy, into the Mexican Republic. Jaime Rodríguez seeks to reorient our understanding of Mexican independence: “[It] was not the result of an anticolonial struggle. Rather it was the product of a great political revolution that culminated in the dissolution of a worldwide political system” (p. 633). He begins with a meticulous recounting of the events between 1808 and the outbreak of the armed insurrection, making clear that the insurrection reflected the rise of an auton-omist movement that emerged as reaction to events in Spain and the viceregal capital. By placing independence in the broader context of the empire and highlighting transatlantic processes, Rodríguez ably demonstrates the powerful influence that events in Europe, especially Cádiz, had on Mexican politics, yet he does not slight the critical role of Novo-hispanos,...
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