The above mentioned book is exactly what its title suggests. The author, who is primarily a dramatist, desired to provide a short narrative history of Coyoacán, the city immediately adjacent to Mexico’s capital on the south. Since a work of original scholarship was not his intention, Novo relied upon standard sources, especially in the pre-Conquest and Conquest periods, often using them quite effectively for his purposes. The writer displays both the virtues and the defects of a playwright venturing into historical writing: The quality of the writing is first-rate, with humor and irony used especially well. Novo likewise displays a keen sense of the dramatic and esthetic aspects of history. On the other hand his account is somewhat too episodic and insufficiently analytical.
After a brief explanation, with sketches, of the volcanic origins of the area provided by Dr. Atl, the author recounts the Tepanac period in pre-Conquest history in some detail. The Conquest, insofar as it related to Coyoacán, is also given fairly fully. The author takes an exceedingly dim view of Cortés, who for a time established his residence at Coyoacán. Novo intersperses this part of his narrative with frequent quotations, occasionally overly long.
Regrettably, only about a fourth of the book concerns Coyoacán since the 16th century. In this part the author does not attempt a connected narrative, preferring descriptions, anecdotes, references to historic buildings or streets, comments on the undoubted beauties of his city, and occasional population statistics. The one reference to the United States is an unflattering one, relating to an incident in the advance on Mexico City during the Mexican War. As a consequence of this episodic technique, the reader gains very little understanding of Coyoacán’s political, social, and demographic relationship to the revolutionary changes that have taken place in Mexico in this century.
The chief utility of this book is for students of Indian and early colonial Mexico. The narrative is not sufficiently well sustained for the scholar of the modern history of the country to find much of value.
