Synopses & Reviews
Antonio Land#243;pez de Santa Anna (1794and#8211;1876) is one of the most famous, and infamous, figures in Mexican history. Six times the countryand#8217;s president, he is consistently depicted as a traitor, a turncoat, and a tyrantand#8212;the exclusive cause of all of Mexicoand#8217;s misfortunes following the countryand#8217;s independence from Spain. He is also, as this biography makes clear, grossly misrepresented.and#160;Drawing on seventeen years of research into the politics of independent Mexico, Will Fowler provides a revised picture of Santa Annaand#8217;s life, with new insights into his activities in his bailiwick of Veracruz and in his numerous military engagements. The Santa Anna who emerges from this book is an intelligent, dynamic, yet reluctant leader, ingeniously deceptive at times, courageous and patriotic at others. His extraordinary story is that of a middle-class provincial criollo, a high-ranking officer, an arbitrator, a dedicated landowner, and a political leader who tried to prosper personally and help his country develop at a time of severe and repeated crises, as the colony that was New Spain gave way to a young, troubled, besieged, and beleaguered Mexican nation.and#160;Deconstructing the myths surrounding Santa Annaand#8217;s life, the book offers a fresh view of a critical chapter in Mexicoand#8217;s history.
Review
"[Malcontents, Rebels, and Pronunciados] is a highly welcome contribution to the historiography of nineteenth century Mexico. It sheds light on an important characteristic of political culture in this period."and#8212;Silke Hensel, Hispanic American Historical Review
Review
"Drawing on archives in Mexico, Spain, Britain, and Texas as well as published sources, Fowler supplies a much-needed corrective to existing impressions of Santa Anna with this balanced and well-written work."and#8212;Library Journal
Review
"Building on recent historiography, this is a breakthrough study of Santa Anna."and#8212;S. F. Voss, Choice
Review
"[Santa Anna of Mexico] is carefully documented and well-written. Historians of Mexico on both sides of the border should read this excellent effort."and#8212;Joseph A. Stout, Jr., Journal of Arizona History
Review
and#8220;Superb. . . . Fowler has produced an elegantly-written and engaging study about one of Mexicoand#8217;s most notorious and misunderstood leaders. His evenhanded assessment of Santa Anna as more than just a power-hungry, opportunistic, and corrupt politician makes this biography a most welcome and valuable addition to Mexican historiography.and#8221;and#8212;Journal of Military History
Review
"This reevalution of Antonio Land#243;pez de Santa Anna is long overdue given the sophistication of our understanding of Mexico's turbulent decades following independence in 1810. . . .This biography will become obligatory text for students of the period that will also hold the attention of the casual reader."and#8212;Michael Ducey, A Contracorriente
Review
"Fowler has written an unsurpassed biography of one of Mexico's most famous leaders. Everyone with an interest in Mexican history should read it."and#8212;Donald F. Stevens, Journal of Latin American Studies
Review
"This biography is a marvellous introduction to Santa Anna's life and times."and#8212;Matthew Brown, Bulletin of Latin American Research
Review
"Santa Ann of Mexico is a well-research and clearly written biography that provides an appreciation for the political complexity and volatility of Mexico and the man who led the nation during this turbulent period."and#8212;Ana Luisa Martinez-Catsam, Journal of Southern Historyand#160;
Review
"This is a detailed biography for those with a passion for Mexican history, Texas history and American relations with Mexico."and#8212;Cmdr. Youssef Aboul-Enein, Waterline
Review
"In this compelling biography of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the author sets the record straight about the man who served Mexico six times as president yet is vilified today as a tyrant and traitor to his country."and#8212;Patricia L.P. Thompson, Historian
Review
"Fowler's balanced and well-researched biography of Santa Anna correctly adds nuance to the existing black legend of Mexico's favorite villain."and#8212;Andrae M. Marak, Journal of the West
Review
and#8220;There have been many other biographies of Santa Anna, both by Anglophone and Mexican scholars, but none as balanced or revisionist in tone as Fowlerand#8217;s. He seeks to look at Santa Anna and#8216;warts and alland#8217; in a searching way in which few authors of even longer works have done. This book will be an important contribution to the field because it gives us a compelling narrative that is scrupulously researched and nicely written. . . . Fowlerand#8217;s bibliography constitutes an excellent entry-point into the historiography on the Santa Anna period.and#8221;and#8212;Eric Van Young, author of The Other Rebellion: Popular Violence, Ideology, and the Mexican Struggle for Independence, 1810and#8211;1821
Review
and#8220;Assessing the many findings made in the last thirty years of historiography on the topic, Fowler develops a persuasive new understanding of Santa Anna and the problems that beset the then-young Mexican republic. Fowlerand#8217;s writing style is eloquent, rigorous, and accessible. He articulates complex ideas with clarity and simplicity, and establishes clear connections between themes. The text is an enjoyable readand#8212;and one which is sure to make an important contribution to Mexican historiography.and#8221;and#8212;Abdiel Oand#241;ate, professor of history at San Francisco State University
Review
andldquo;Independent Mexico is one of the best college history texts I have read in a long time. The book is imaginative, well conceived, and well researched. . . . Will Fowler has put together a fascinating book on one of the most contested topics in the current debate about Latin America: the role of force in history.andrdquo;andmdash;Abdiel Oandntilde;ate, professor of Latin American studies at San Francisco State Universityand#160;
Review
andquot;The Plan de San Diego is one of the most valuable and original additions to the literature of the Mexican Revolution to be released in recent years.andquot;andmdash;Mark E. Benbow, American Historical Review
Review
andquot;Harris and Sadlerand#39;s efforts to re-insert Mexico, the Mexican Revolution, and diplomacy into the history of the Plan de San Diego add an important dimension to our understanding both of this incident and of the early-twentieth-century U. S. Southwest and Borderlands more broadly.andquot;andmdash;Lisa Pinley Covert, New Mexico Historical Review
Synopsis
Behind every
pronunciamiento, a formal list of grievances designed to spark political change in nineteenth-century Mexico, was a disgruntled individual, rebel, or
pronunciado. Initially a role undertaken by soldiers, a pronunciado rallied military communities to petition for local, regional, and even national interests. As the popularity of these petitions grew, however, they evolved from a military-led practice to one endorsed and engaged by civilians, priests, indigenous communities, and politicians.
The second in a series of books exploring the phenomenon of the pronunciamiento, this volume examines case studies of individual and collective pronunciados in regions across Mexico. Top scholars examine the motivations of individual pronunciados and the reasons they succeeded or failed; why garrisons, town councils, and communities adopted the pronunciamiento as a political tool and form of representation and used it to address local and national grievances; and whether institutions upheld corporate aims in endorsing, supporting, or launching pronunciamientos. The essays provide a better understanding of the rebel leaders behind these public acts of defiance and reveal how an insurrectionary repertoire became part of a national political culture.
Synopsis
The Plan of San Diego, a rebellion proposed in 1915 to overthrow the U.S. government in the Southwest and establish a Hispanic republic in its stead, remains one of the most tantalizing documents of the Mexican Revolution. The plan called for an insurrection of Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and African Americans in support of the Mexican Revolution and the waging of a genocidal war against Anglos. The resulting violence approached a race war and has usually been portrayed as a Hispanic struggle for liberation brutally crushed by the Texas Rangers, among others.
The Plan de San Diego: Tejano Rebellion, Mexican Intrigue, based on newly available archival documents, is a revisionist interpretation focusing on both south Texas and Mexico. Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler argue convincingly that the insurrection in Texas was made possible by support from Mexico when it suited the regime of President Venustiano Carranza, who co-opted and manipulated the plan and its supporters for his own political and diplomatic purposes in support of the Mexican Revolution.
The study examines the papers of Augustine Garza, a leading promoter of the plan, as well as recently released and hitherto unexamined archival material from the Federal Bureau of Investigation documenting the day-to-day events of the conflict.
Synopsis
In mid-nineteenth-century Mexico, garrisons, town councils, state legislatures, and an array of political actors, groups, and communities began aggressively petitioning the government at both local and national levels to address their grievances. Often viewed as a revolt or a coup dandrsquo;andeacute;tat, these
pronunciamientos were actually a complex form of insurrectionary action that relied first on the proclamation and circulation of a plan that listed the petitionersandrsquo; demands and then on endorsement by copycat pronunciamientos that forced the authorities, be they national or regional, to the negotiating table.and#160;In
Independent Mexico, Will Fowler provides a comprehensive overview of the pronunciamiento practice following the Plan of Iguala. This fourth and final installment in, and culmination of, a larger exploration of the pronunciamiento highlights the extent to which this model of political contestation evolved. The result of more than three decades of pronunciamiento politics was the bloody Civil War of the Reforma (1858andndash;60) and the ensuing French Intervention (1862andndash;67). Given the frequency and importance of the pronunciamiento, this book is also a concise political history of independent Mexico.
and#160;
About the Author
Will Fowler is a professor of Latin American Studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. His many books include Forceful Negotiations: The Origins of the Pronunciamiento in Nineteenth-Century Mexico (Nebraska, 2010) and Santa Anna of Mexico (available in a Bison Books edition).and#160;Contributors include Catherine Andrews, Linda Arnold, Raymond Buve, Sergio Caand#241;edo Gamboa, Eduardo Flores Clair, Juan Ortiz Escamilla, Erika Pani, Terry Rugeley, Anne Staples, Guy P.C. Thomson, and Josefina Zoraida Vazquez.