Scholars in the modern Mexican field will celebrate the appearance of this monumental analytical and systematic bibliography on books and pamphlets as sources for the study of the contemporary development of Mexico. Subsequent volumes to be published by El Colegio de México will provide guides to periodical literature and to documentary collections in various governmental archives. Investigators in comparable fields for other Latin American nations will envy the availability to their colleagues of this invaluable research tool.
Students of many and varied aspects of Mexican life and development in the present century now have available to them a guide to more than 24,000 published items. The contrast to the best earlier compilation is striking: Roberto Ramos’ original effort included only 3,600 unannotated titles, and the majority of these were drawn from the collection of a single depository. Even the more recent edition bringing Ramos ’ work up to date included only 5,500 published titles.
The initial volume includes a superb preliminary study of the history of Mexican bibliography by Luís González y González. There also is an introduction in which the method and limitations of the guide are detailed. Included in the compilation are books and pamphlets by Mexicans or on Mexico published between 1910 and 1940; books and pamphlets printed outside of Mexico during those years which were written by Mexicans or which treat of Mexican life of that period; and books and pamphlets which have appeared since 1940 dealing with the three preceding decades. Bibliographical and publication data are given for every entry, and descriptive and evaluative commentary is provided for many. Appended to the final volume are author and subject matter indices which eliminate any awkwardness of consultation which might have been experienced with the initial volume.
This first volume, which was available before its companions, contains 7,000 entries grouped in three broad sections: general (including bibliographies, encyclopedias, almanacs, directories, etc.; studies which seek to define and describe Mexico and the Mexicans; statistical studies and compilations; general histories; biographies; and governmental documents), territory, and society. The second volume includes three major sections: economy, politics, and religion. The final volume also consists of three main parts: education, philosophy and sciences, and letters and arts.
Those interested in the Mexican field are indebted to Luís González y González and his associates at El Colegio de México—Guadalupe Monroy, Luís Muro and Susana Uribe—for the preparation of these volumes. Not only members of the Seminar on Contemporary Mexican History at El Colegio and historians everywhere specializing on Mexico, but scholars in a variety of disciplines will be aided by the availability of this fundamental bibliography. It is an essential reference work for any institutional or serious personal library and it should serve as a model for comparable compilations for other areas.
