Plutarco Elías Calles and the Mexican Revolution

by Jürgen Buchenau

Overview

This biography of the Mexican revolutionary examines his rise from soldier to president to his continued influence as Jefe Maximo.

Hailing from the border state of Sonora, Plutarco Elías Calles found his calling in the early years of the revolution, quickly rising to national prominence. As president from 1924 to 1928, Calles undertook an ambitious reform program, modernized the financial system, and defended national sovereignty against an interventionist U.S. government. Yet these reforms failed to eradicate underdevelopment, corruption, and social injustice. Moreover, his unyielding campaigns against political enemies and the Catholic Church earned him a reputation as a repressive strongman.

After his term as president, Calles continued to exert broad influence as his country's foremost political figure while three weaker presidents succeeded each other in an atmosphere of constant political crisis. He played a significant role in founding a ruling party that reined in power-hungry military leaders and helped workers attain better living conditions. This dynastic party and its successors, including the present-day Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Party of the Institutional Revolution), remained in power until 2000. Through this comprehensive assessment of a quintessential Mexican politician, Buchenau opens an illuminating window into both the Mexican Revolution and contemporary Mexico.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461640950
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/14/2023
Series:	Latin American Silhouettes
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Jürgen Buchenau is professor of history and director of Latin American studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 1.A Life Adrift
Chapter 2 2.Seeking Order in Chaos
Chapter 3 3.Strongman of Sonora
Chapter 4 4.In the Shadow of the Caudillo
Chapter 5 5.El Señor Presidente
Chapter 6 6.Jefe Máximo of the Revolution
Chapter 7 7. In the Twilight

Editorial Reviews

Jürgen Buchenau's Plutarco Elías Calles and the Mexican Revolution provides a much-needed analysis of the little-understood life of Mexican strongman Plutarco Elías Calles.... Although there is much in this book for newcomers to Mexican history, specialists in the region will also benefit.... Clearly written, and easily accessible to an undergraduate audience.... A welcome addition to the newly emerging scholarship on Mexico's postrevolutionary period.

HAHR - Gregory Swedberg

Few students of modern Mexico grasp the history of its twentieth-century revolution as thoroughly across its regional, national, and international dimensions as Jürgen Buchenau. Combining illuminating biographical detail with overarching context, this first serious study of one of the Revolution's most important but least understood leaders is certain to please scholars and teachers alike. A superior achievement.

Gilbert M. Joseph

Jürgen Buchenau's well-crafted work provides important insights into the Mexican presidency and the Mexican state in the wake of the Revolution.

Linda B. Hall

Calles lived in tumultuous times and the picture one gets from this clearly written and well-researched book offers a window on the revolution and its after-math that should be read with interest by students and scholars alike.

American Historical Review

[This book] fills a very important niche in the history of postrevolutionary Mexico....This excellent and well-researched biography leaves the impression that the noncharismatic Calles may have cast a longer shadow over Mexico's history than any of these more heroic figures.

The Historian

...Jurgen Buchemau's balanced, judicious, and concise biography ably synthesizes an impressive amount of scholarly literature, and mines overlooked primary sources...

The American

...Jurgen Buchemau's balanced, judicious, and concise biography ably synthesizes an impressive amount of scholarly literature, and mines overlooked primary sources...

January 2008 The American

Calles lived in tumultuous times and the picture one gets from this clearly written and well-researched book offers a window on the revolution and its after-math that should be read with interest by students and scholars alike.

June 2008 American Historical Review