Though actually a work of fiction, this book, a kind of literary hybrid, will interest some HAHR readers, for it addresses issues in history and political science. Presented by the author, a political scientist, as a depiction of Mexican political history, it constitutes an exercise in “elitelore” by setting forth a first-person account of the career of a mythical but representative politician, Lic. Antonio Gutiérrez Enríquez. This fictitious character is “a composite of politicians who grew up during the last decades of the Porfiriato, were educated during the second and third decade of this century, and dominated political life from 1920 to 1940” (p. ix). In this rendition, Gutiérrez, a country boy from Michoacán, rises from humble beginnings to positions of power and prestige, first as a deputy, later as a governor, and then as a senator. The narrative contains philosophical ruminations about the leaders and issues of the day, and, more importantly, illustrates various characteristics of the Mexican political system. For Gutiérrez and others like him, advancement depended inordinately on fortuitous access to educational opportunity. Moreover, his progress required an abundance of personal connections with ambitious and upwardly mobile men, often lawyers and professors who made up the equipo and the camarilla.
This “memoir” takes on an air of authenticity. The author has based it on anecdotal materials collected over the years through interviews and letters. As a goal, Roderic A. Camp wanted “to bring political history alive to the North American student by approaching it from a different perspective” (p. viii). His chosen means, a fictionalized memoir, makes possible a personalized view but entails liabilities. As Camp notes, “this work takes on all of the stylistic conventions, both good and bad, of the typical Mexican political autobiography.” Characterized by Camp as “straightforward and rather dry,” such works “divulge very little that is personal about the author” and “are limited in their political insight by the secrecy surrounding the decision-making process” (pp. x, xvi). In this respect, Camp achieves his aim almost too well, for the novel at times verges on the cryptic. Nonetheless, for discerning readers, it also shows some of the attributes of Mexican political culture in accessible and readable ways.
