These volumes are a fitting tribute to the late Daniel Cosío Villegas, who coordinated the project and wrote the introduction to the completed work shortly before his death. The publication is also a landmark in the history of El Colegio de México, which Don Daniel founded in 1940 and where most of today’s luminaries in the Mexican historical profession received theữ training. Ten contributors to this collection are from El Colegio; five are from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, and one each from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, the Academia de la Lengua, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Some of the work presented here is adopted from earlier publications, but there are also important data and interpretations that appear in print for the first time.
Following a skillful survey of Mexican geography by Bernardo García Martínez, essays by eighteen other scholars trace Mexico’s history from the earliest human arrivals to 1970: José Luis Lorenzo, “Los orígenes mexicanos;” Ignacio Bernal, “Formación y desarrollo de Mesoamérica;” Pedro Carrasco, “La sociedad mexicana antes de la conquista;” Alejandra Moreno Toscano, “El siglo de la conquista;” Andrés Lừa and Luis Muro, “El siglo de la integración;” Enrique Florescano and Isabel Gil Sánchez, “La época de las reformas borbónicas y el crecimiento económico, 1750-1808;” Luis Villoro, “La revolución de independencia;” Jorge Alberto Manrique, “Del barroco a la ilustración” and “El mundo ilustrado;” Josefina Zoraida Vázquez, “Los primeros tropiezos;” Lilia Díaz, “El liberalismo militante;” Luis González, “El liberalismo triunfante;” José Luis Martínez, “México en busca de su expresión;” Berta Ulloa, “La lucha armada, 1911-1920;” Lorenzo Meyer, “El primer tramo del camino” and “La encrucijada;” Jorge Alberto Manrique, “El proceso de las artes, 1910-1970;” and Carlos Monsiváis, “Notas sobre la cultura mexicana en el siglo XX.”
The format is chronological and follows the familiar periodization of Mexican history. Most of the essays strike a balance among social, political and economic themes, and complementary offerings (by Manrique, Martínez and Monsiváis) deal exclusively with the arts, letters and philosophy. There is some overlap of time periods, but fortunately the authors were free to supply the perspective they believed necessary to develop their analyses, and each essay stands as an independent monograph that can be consulted without reference to the others. There is, of course, no unifying theme to link the selections nor does a particular ideology predominate. The contributors incorporate new interpretations, some of which they themselves added to Mexican historiography, but, significantly, most show only mild enthusiasm for the more sweeping revisionist views that are now seeking acceptance.
The level of scholarship is high throughout, and each selection merits criticism by scholars with special expertise. Volume II (the conquest and the colonial era) is perhaps the best, highlighted by Alejandra Moreno Toscano’s synopsis of the origins of the colonial era. I was also especially impressed by Josefina Zoraida Vázquez’ analysis of finance in the period 1821-1854, and by Lorenzo Meyer’s innovative essay on the post-1940 years—a fine example of what can be done even without access to certain kinds of sources. The writing styles are on the whole lucid, sometimes sprightly. (Luis González embellishes his chapter on the Porfiriato with such terms as “gringo” and “gringada” but these excesses do not detract from his characteristically sound treatment.)
The essays are not footnoted and there are no bibliographies. Cosío Villegas says in his introduction that the Historia general is intended for mature general readers rather than specialists. I suspect that in fact the work will have greater appeal for the latter than the former. Non-historians will profit from reading these volumes, but they may be taxed by often detailed narrative and confused by references to other research that is usually identified only by authors’ last names. Specialists, on the other hand, will find the collection to be a valuable summary of recent scholarship in Mexican history, and an impressive demonstration of the excellence that Mexican professionals have attained in explaining their nation’s past.
