This is the second Borzoi volume on the Mexican Revolution. Unlike the first (Stanley Ross’ Is the Mexican Revolution Dead?), it does not focus on a central theme; rather its compilers through judicious selection and editing offer a synthesis covering the first three decades of the movement. Thirteen of the forty-eight selections are from Mexican sources. The majority are contemporary descriptions or analyses. While most of the choices have been extracted from previously published works, a few appear in print here for the first time.
In an age of student disquietude with the entire university structure many of us have learned that in course evaluations, required readings often fare considerably worse than the person standing behind the lectern. Students cannot justifiably criticize this book for its organization, its exposition of ideas, or its relevance to the subject it treats. (The relevance of the subject itself, of course, is another matter entirely.) Nor can they call it boring. Wilkie and Michaels apparently decided to compile an interesting book of readings, and where others have failed, they have succeeded. Without sacrificing significance to sensationalism, they treat all of the major themes of the period—the armed struggle, the Constitution of 1917, the social legislation growing out of the Constitution, the Church-state struggle, the oil controversy, and the internal political convulsions of the period 1910-1940. The bibliographical essay appended at the end constitutes a good, up-to-date introduction for the undergraduate student.
Certainly anyone who has taught a survey course in Mexican history could quibble with the significance of this or that excerpt. But let such a quibbler reflect on the myriad frustrations involved in carrying out an endeavor of this sort. Securing permissions from Mexican publishing houses, often negligent in answering correspondence, is only the most obvious. In short, Wilkie and Michaels have given us an excellent book of readings and one which must rank near the top of Lewis Hanke’s fine Latin American series.
