Synopses & Reviews
In late nineteenth-century Mexico the Mexican populace was fascinated with the countryand#8217;s booming railroad network. Newspapers and periodicals were filled with art, poetry, literature, and social commentaries exploring the symbolic power of the railroad. As a symbol of economic, political, and industrial modernization, the locomotive served to demarcate a nationand#8217;s status in the world. However, the dangers of locomotive travel, complicated by the fact that Mexicoand#8217;s railroads were foreign owned and operated, meant that the railroad could also symbolize disorder, death, and foreign domination.
In The Civilizing Machine Michael Matthews explores the ideological and cultural milieu that shaped the Mexican peopleand#8217;s understanding of technology. Intrinsically tied to the Porfiriato, the thirty-five-year dictatorship of Gen. Porfirio Dand#237;az, the booming railroad network represented material progress in a country seeking its place in the modern world. Matthews discloses how the railroadand#8217;s development represented the crowning achievement of the regime and the material incarnation of its mantra, and#8220;order and progress.and#8221; The Porfirian administration evoked the railroad in legitimizing and justifying its own reign, while political opponents employed the same rhetorical themes embodied by the railroads to challenge the manner in which that regime achieved economic development and modernization. As Matthews illustrates, the multiple symbols of the locomotive reflected deepening social divisions and foreshadowed the conflicts that eventually brought about the Mexican Revolution.
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Review
and#8220;The first cultural study of railroads in Mexico. Matthewsand#8217;s study is timely . . . with lively accounts and interesting analysis.and#8221;and#8212;James A. Garza, associate professor of history and ethnic studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Review
"Matthews's work makes a solid contribution to the growing literature on the Porfiriato."and#8212;William Schell, Jr., Americas
Review
andquot;This is an original and valuable study that deepens our understanding of Porfirian modernity.andquot;andmdash;Robert F. Alegre, American Historical Review
Review
andquot;Matthews supplies overwhelming evidence to show how the railroad engine became a cultural lightning rod. It is difficult to think of a contemporary corollary with such cultural significance, which only underscores the value of this book to understanding the late nineteenth century in Mexico.andquot;andmdash;Andrew Offenburger, Western Historical Quarterly
About the Author
Michael Matthews is an assistant professor of history at Elon University.