Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands
by Kelly Lytle Hernández
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Bad Mexicans tells the dramatic story of the magonistas, the migrant rebels who sparked the 1910 Mexican Revolution from the United States. Led by a brilliant but ill-tempered radical named Ricardo Flores Mag³n, the magonistas were a motley band of journalists, miners, migrant workers, and more, who organized thousands of Mexican workers--and American dissidents--to their cause. Determined to oust Mexico's dictator, Porfirio Daz, who encouraged the plunder of his country by U.S. imperialists such as Guggenheim and Rockefeller, the rebels had to outrun and outsmart the swarm of U. S. authorities vested in protecting the Diaz regime. The U.S. Departments of War, State, Treasury, and Justice as well as police, sheriffs, and spies, hunted the magonistas across the country. Capturing Ricardo Flores Mag³n was one of the FBI's first cases.
But the magonistas persevered. They lived in hiding, wrote in secret code, and launched armed raids into Mexico until they ignited the world's first social revolution of the twentieth century.
Taking readers to the frontlines of the magonista uprising and the counterinsurgency campaign that failed to stop them, Kelly Lytle Hern¡ndez puts the magonista revolt at the heart of U.S. history. Long ignored by textbooks, the magonistas threatened to undo the rise of Anglo-American power, on both sides of the border, and inspired a revolution that gave birth to the Mexican-American population, making the magonistas' story integral to modern American life.
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9781324064411
- Binding
- Paperback
- Authors
- Kelly Lytle Hernández
- Publisher
- W. W. Norton & Company
- Published Date
- May 9, 2023
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 384
- Physical Info
- 8.25 in L x 5.56 in W (0.64 lb)
The book was well written by the author. I found the book interesting as I didn't know about what happened.
A must for anyone curious about Mexican history and the border brouhaha . . . This book chronicles a small, dedicated cadre of revolutionary idealists following their dream of returning Mexico's vast agrarian resources back to the campesinos from whom the Mexican government stole the land.In many cases turning the land over to wealthy American financiers for railroads and agriculture. Led by Ricardo Magón the magónistas pursued their goal even in the face of ruthless pressure and the complete cooperation of the American judicial system
Fun read and historically enlightening.
Great book chronicling the impact of Flores Magon and the PLM movement on the Mexican Revolution. It is not often that we get to read about other players/movements leading up to the Mexican Revolution. Highly recommended.
Five stars for the actual book, three stars for the audio version.Dr Lytle Hernández’s book is interesting and very accessible. Her scholarship on Ricardo Flores Magón and the Magonistas fills in an important gap about the Mexican Revolution (in English texts) and helps communicate more clearly the relevance of the revolution to the US and its people—not just for Mexicans or Mexican Americans.My one complaint is that the audio book (bought the text, listening to the book on Sp*tify) is hard to listen to. The reader’s voice sounds like over-annunciating AI, and her Spanish pronunciation is dreadful. Every time Ms García (the reader) stumbles through a Spanish word, a Mexican surname or place name, I cringe and get distracted and have to rewind. It reminds just because someone has a Spanish surname doesn’t mean they speak Spanish well (or at all). I wish WW Norton would have chosen someone else to read the audio book.
