The Mexican Revolution: A Brief History with Documents (Bedford Cultural Editions Series)

During the Mexican Revolution a remarkable alliance of peasants, working and middle classes, and elites banded together to end General Porfirio Diaz’s thirty-five year rule as dictator-president and created a radical new constitution that demanded education for all children, redistributed land and water resources, and established progressive labor laws. In this collection, Mark Wasserman examines the causes, conduct, and consequences of the revolution and carefully untangles the shifting alliances of the participants. In his introduction Wasserman outlines the context for the revolution, rebels’ differing goals for land redistribution, and the resulting battles between rebel leaders and their generals. He also examines daily life and the conduct of the revolution, as well as its national and international legacy. The accompanying selected sources include political documents along with dozens of accounts from politicians and generals to male and female soldiers, civilians, and journalists. Collectively they offer insight into the reasons for fighting, the politics behind the war, and the revolution’s international legacy. Document headnotes, a chronology, selected bibliography, and questions for consideration provide pedagogical support.