Synopses & Reviews
In the late nineteenth century, Mexican citizens quickly adopted new technologies imported from abroad to sew cloth, manufacture glass bottles, refine minerals, and provide many goods and services. Rapid technological change supported economic growth and also brought cultural change and social dislocation.
Drawing on three detailed case studiesand#151;the sewing machine, a glass bottleand#150;blowing factory, and the cyanide process for gold and silver refiningand#151;Edward Beatty explores a central paradox of economic growth in nineteenth-century Mexico: while Mexicans made significant efforts to integrate new machines and products, difficulties in assimilating the skills required to use emerging technologies resulted in a persistent dependence on international expertise.
Synopsis
and#147;Beattyand#8217;s exemplary archival research and superb synthesis of disparate materials illuminate new aspects of Mexican economic history.and#8221;and#151; Richard J. Salvucci, author of Politics and Markets in Mexico's 'London Debt', 1823-1887
Synopsis
and#147;Edward Beattyand#8217;s exemplary archival research and superb synthesis of disparate materials illuminate new aspects of Mexican economic history.and#8221;and#151;Richard J. Salvucci, author of
Politics, Markets, and Mexico's "London Debt," 1823and#150;1887 "This is a scholarly, readable, and highly original study of a majorand#151;but neglectedand#151;historical topic: technology transfer and its impact on Mexico, ca. 1870and#150;1920. Combining perceptive general analysis with three illuminating case studies, it will be essentialand#151;but also enjoyableand#151;reading for those interested in Mexican and, more broadly, Latin American economic and social history."and#151;Alan Knight, Professor Emeritus of the History of Latin America, Oxford University
About the Author
Edward Beatty is Associate Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame and the author of Institutions and Investment: The Political Basis of Industrialization in Mexico before 1911.