Synopses & Reviews
Unprecedented in the historiography of post-independence Mexico for its combination of rich archival detail and chronological scope, this book focuses on the wealthy men and women of the state of Michoacán from the last decades of colonial rule to the 1910 Revolution. The breadth of its documentary base and the sweeping span of time it covers transcend narrow social history to enlarge our understanding of the economic, political, and intellectual history of nineteenth-century Mexico.
Though not primarily a study of development or politics, the book nonetheless suggests strikingly original answers to the central question about Mexicos first century as a nation: to what can we attribute the failures of the Mexican economy and the Mexican political system? Among her major findings, the author concludes that for Michoacán, at least, Mexicos “nineteenth-century depression” was in fact two distinct economic collapses—one following the wars of the insurgency and the other coming after the Reform of the late 1850s—separated by a period of relative prosperity in the 1840s and early 1850s.
The author further argues that the post-Reform downturn was experienced differently by elites and the middle classes from the post-1810 depression, not least because wealthy landowners were able to hold on to most of their property and ultimately to forge a mutually beneficial relationship with the middle-class liberal politicians who dominated officeholding in the second half of the nineteenth century.
The authors view of the Reform also departs from conventional wisdom, which has either emphasized its many deficiencies or treated it as only one of many episodes of political turmoil that disrupted the economy and exacerbated an ongoing pattern of decline. She finds that though the Reform undoubtedly contributed to the “second” nineteenth-century depression in the short run, at the same time it eventually accomplished much of what the liberals had hoped for: it opened up the provincial (and presumably national) economy and created space for the upwardly xmobile middle class.
This book, then, argues for a vision of Mexicos nineteenth century in which the Reform is the central, watershed event, not just in the lives of wealthy people in Michoacán or in the history of Mexican liberalism, but in Mexicos political and economic trajectory since independence.
Synopsis
Unprecedented in the historiography of post-independence Mexico for its combination of rich archival detail and chronological scope, this book focuses on the wealthy men and women of the state of Michoacán from the last decades of colonial rule to the 1930 Revolution.
Synopsis
“The intellectual content of the book is arresting and guarantees that Wealth and Power in Provincial Mexico will enjoy a respected place in nineteenth-century historiography. . . . [It] should offer a critical orientation for future studies of western Mexico, and it will serve to remind scholars of the many cross-currents hidden within seemingly homogenous national doctrines such as Liberalism.”—Latin American Research Review
Synopsis
Argues that the Reform is the central, watershed event in Mexico's political and economic trajectory since independence.
Synopsis
This book focuses on the wealthy men and women of the state of Michoacán from the last decades of colonial rule to the 1910 Revolution. The author argues that for Michoacán, at least, Mexico's 'nineteenth-century depression' was in fact two distinct economic collapses separated by a period of relative prosperity in the 1840s and early 1850s. She further argues that the second, post-Reform, downturn was experienced differently by elites and the middle classes from the post-1810 depression. She also finds that though the Reform undoubtedly contributed to the 'second' nineteenth-century depression, it eventually accomplished much of what the liberals had hoped for: it opened up the provincial (and presumably national) economy and created space for the upwardly-mobile middle class. This book argues for a vision of Mexico's nineteenth century in which the Reform is the central, watershed event in Mexico's political and economic trajectory since independence.
Synopsis
The author argues that Mexico's 'nineteenth-century depression' was in fact two economic collapses separated by a period of relative prosperity . She further argues that the second, post-Reform, downturn was experienced differently from the post-1810 depression; and that the Reform eventually accomplished much of what the liberals had hoped for.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 441-456) and index.
About the Author
Margaret Chowning is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley.
Table of Contents
Introduction; Prologue: a city, a province and a patriarch; Part I. Toward Independence: 1. 'El jardín de la Nueva España': Michoacán before 1810, through the eyes of the 'upper two-tenths; Prologue to chapter 2. The Huarte sons and sons-in-law in the Wars of Independence; 2. Imperial crisis, economic collapse and political realignment: from the Consolidación de Vales Reales to Independence, 1804-21; Part II. In the Aftermath of Independence: Building the State and Rebuilding the Economy: Prologue to chapter 3. The Huarte children after Independence: political power and economic powerlessness; 3. Celebrating too soon: Euphoria and disillusionment in the 1820s and early 1830s; Prologue to chapter 4. Financial revival in the third generation: Manuel Alzúa Huarte and Cayetano Gómez (m. Dolores Alzúa Huarte); 4. A new elite, a new system and old habits of mind: politics, economics and society in the 1830s and early 1840s; Part III. Challenging the Midcentury Status Quo: The Liberal Reform: Prologue to chapter 5. The high tide of the Gómez family fortune; 5. The seeds of their own demise: upper-class complacency and middle-class discontent in the 1840s and 1850s; Prologue to chapter 6. From riches to rags: the Gómez Alzúa children after the reform: economic retreat and political marginalization, 1854-85; Epilogue; Conclusion; Appendices; Notes; Index.