A Companion to Mexican History and Culture features 40 carefully chosen essays that focus on new approaches to Mexican history. Essays by a variety of international scholars serve to broaden accounts of the Mexican experience through the incorporation of ethnic, gender, environmental, and cultural studies.

List of Figures xi Notes on Contributors xv Introduction: The Dimensions of the Mexican Experience 1 Part I: The Mexican Experience 11 1. Living the Vida Local: Contours of Everyday Life 13 William E. French 2. On the Street Corner where Stereotypes are Born: Mexico City, 1940–1968 34 Ricardo Pérez Montfort 3. Consumption and Material Culture from Pre-Contact through the Porfiriato 54 Steven B. Bunker and Víctor M. Macías-González 4. Consumption and Material Culture in the Twentieth Century 83 Steven B. Bunker and Víctor M. Macías-González 5. Geographic Regionalism and Natural Diversity 119 Christopher R. Boyer 6. The Cactus Metaphor 131 David Yetman Part II: The Indigenous World Before the Europeans 143 7. The Gods Depart: Riddles of the Rise, Fall, and Regeneration of Mesoamerica’s Indigenous Societies 145 Susan Kellogg 8. Painting History, Reading Painted Histories: Ethnoliteracy in Prehispanic Oaxaca and Colonial Central Mexico 163 Elizabeth Bakewell and Byron Ellsworth Hamann Part III: The Silver Heart of the Spanish Empire: Colonial Experiences 193 9. The Gods Return: Conquest and Conquest Society (1502–1610) 195 Matthew Restall and Robert Schwaller 10. The Kingdom of New Spain in the Seventeenth Century 209 Linda A. Curcio-Nagy 11. The Enlightened Colony 230 Susan M. Deeds Part IV: Two Centuries of Independence: The Republican Century 249 12. Independence and the Generation of the Generals, 1810–1848 251 Christon I. Archer 13. The U.S. Intervention in Mexico, 1846–1848 262 Linda Arnold 14. Republicans and Monarchists, 1848–1867 273 Erika Pani 15. The Civilian and the General, 1867–1911 288 Paul Garner Special Themes 16. The Penal Code of 1871: From Religious to Civil Control of Everyday Life 302 Kathryn A. Sloan 17. Conquering the Environment and Surviving Natural Disasters 316 James A. Garza 18. Indigenism in General and the Maya in Particular in the Nineteenth Century 328 Terry Rugeley and Michele M. Stephens 19. A Brief History of the Historia moderna de México 339 Servando Ortoll and Pablo Piccato 20. The House at Sadi Carnot 33: Amateur Photography and Domestic Architecture in Porfirian Culture 361 Patricia Massé 21. Disorder and Control: Crime, Justice and Punishment in Porfirian and Revolutionary Society 371 Elisa Speckman Guerra 22. Military and Nation in Mexico, 1821–1916 390 Stephen Neufeld Part V: Two Centuries of Independence: The Revolutionary Century 405 23. The Sonoran Dynasty and the Reconstruction of the Mexican State 407 Jürgen Buchenau 24. Creating a Revolutionary Culture: Vasconcelos, Indians, Anthropologists, and Calendar Girls 420 William H. Beezley 25. Counter Revolutionary Programs: Social Catholicism and the Cristeros 439 Daniel Newcomer 26. The Apogee of Revolution, 1934–1946 453 Susie Porter 27. The Revolution’s Second Generation: The Miracle, 1946–1982 and Collapse of the PRI, 1982–2000 468 Roderic Ai. Camp Special Themes 28. Photographing Indian Peoples: Ethnography as Kaleidoscope 480 Deborah Dorotinsky 29. Challenges, Political Opposition, Economic Disaster, Natural Disaster and Democratization, 1968 to 2000 493 Ariel Rodríguez Kuri 30. Fighting Bacteria, the Bible, and the Bottle: Projects to Create New Men, Women, and Children, 1910–1940 505 Gretchen Pierce 31. Environment and Environmentalism 518 Emily Wakild 32. Peculiarities of Mexican Diplomacy 538 Monica Rankin and Dina Berger 33. Science and Public Health in the Century of Revolution 561 Gabriela Soto Laveaga and Claudia Agostoni 34. A Century of Childhood: Growing up in Twentieth-Century Mexico 575 Elena Jackson Albarrán 35. ¡De Pie y en Lucha! Indigenous Mobilizations After 1940 589 María L. Olin Muñoz 36. Mexican Immigration to the United States 604 Timothy J. Henderson 37. Sex, Death and Structuralism: Alternative Views of the Twentieth Century 616 Paul Gillingham 38. For Further Research: Space, Sense, and Sensibility 633 Ageeth Sluis Index 654

A Companion to Mexican History and Culture features 40 carefully chosen essays that focus on new approaches to the rich tradition of Mexican history. Essays by a variety of international scholars serve to broaden accounts of the Mexican experience through the incorporation of ethnic, gender, environmental, and cultural studies. An introductory section providing overall context is followed by essays focusing on the major chronological eras in Mexican history: Indigenous Cultures before Columbus, Colonial New Spain, and Independent Mexico, which is divided into two sections. Principal historic figures, institutions, the environment, and scientific and medical developments are discussed in individual essays. Also covered are recent historical interpretations with critical historiographical sources. The readings in A Companion to Mexican History and Culture reflect the important new trends in the study of history that have led to a more sensitive narrative and revealing portrait of Mexico's dramatic and complex past and rich cultural traditions.

“This book is definitely a valuable contribution to the understanding of Mexican politics during the different eras and it is the first volume to incorporate a discussion of popular music in political analysis.”  (Reference Reviews, 2012) "Summing Up: Recommend. All levels/libraries." (Choice, 1 January 2012)

Introduction: The Dimensions of the Mexican Experience Part I: The Mexican Experience Part II: The Indigenous World Before the Europeans Part III: The Silver Heart of the Spanish Empire: Colonial Experiences Part IV: Two Centuries of Independence: The Republican Century Part V: Two Centuries of Independence: The Revolutionary Century Index