Il regno del cotone in Messico describes the growth of the cotton economy in the Laguna region of Mexico between 1855 and 1910. The book follows the different aspects of this process, and analyzes each of the factors that favored the region’s economic growth: land, capital, water, and crops. Plana states that the key element for the Laguna economic boom was a group of local landowners whose trade interests were closely linked to the United States. They had enough capital to start a new economic activity and were able to invest in and profit from cotton. The existence of this nationalistic group, which was opposed both to the compañías deslindadoras and to the direct investment of U.S. capital in the area, made the Laguna unique among other regions in northern Mexico. Besides its initiative and business foresight, this group was able to grow and consolidate economically because of the special favors it obtained from the national government: railroad construction, suppression of the alcabala, and tax exemptions. All of these became crucial for the establishment of a cotton-centered economy, which, in turn, made a decisive contribution to Mexico’s economic growth. In Planas view, another factor for the ascendancy of the Laguna landowners was the persistence of regional alliances and the capacity of growers and manufacturers to act as a unified group.
However, one wonders whether the political coherence of the region was not the product of a rapidly growing economy. Although the economic aggressiveness of the Laguneros would lead us to believe that they were a true bourgeoisie with an entrepreneurial spirit and modern mentalities, the author points out that in the Laguna some characteristics of the traditional latifundio still persisted: land concentration, internal colonization, traditional forms of rent, and absorption of federal areas. By focusing on economic regional growth from a long-term perspective, Plana is able to analyze and evaluate the different stages and factors of development; thus he shows how Indian raids and social conflicts were serious obstacles to economic growth. On the other hand, the single most important factor in triggering the Laguna economic growth was capital availability and access to water resources.
Plana's most important contribution to our knowledge of class formation and regional economic growth in late nineteenth-century Mexico is his analysis of the internal class conflicts and alliances that made the Laguna’s growth possible. To reconstruct this process, the book relies on a variety of sources mostly from the Registro Público de la Propiedad and municipal records. Unfortunately, no hacienda records were used to further detail the intricacies of the cotton economy and its masters. Plana's study draws its strength from its detailed analysis of the process, and yet this is also the main weakness of the book. The Laguna appears as an isolated region with no background or comparison to similar processes elsewhere in Mexico.
