Judas at the Jockey Club: And Other Episodes of Porfirian Mexico
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Book Overview
This brilliant and eminently readable cultural history looks at Mexican life during the dictatorship of Porfirio D az, from 1876 to 1911. At that time Mexico underwent modernization, which produced a fierce struggle between the traditional and the new and exacerbating class antagonisms. In these pages, the noted historian William H. Beezley illuminates many facets of everyday Mexican life lying at the heart of this conflict and change, including sports, storytelling, healthcare, technology, and the traditional Easter-time Judas burnings that became a primary focus of the strife during those years. This second edition features a new preface by the author as well as updated and expanded text, notes, and bibliography.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0803262175
ISBN13:9780803262171
Release Date:April 2004
Publisher:Bison Books
Length:183 Pages
Weight:0.35 lbs.
Dimensions:0.5" x 5.3" x 8.5"
Customer Reviews
3 ratings
Great review of Mexican life
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 18 years ago
Profilo Diaz was the dictator in charge before the Mexican Revolution and the structure of society was clearly coming apart at the seams when he was in power. Beezley does an excellent job of showing how the society was coming apart through various aspects of the culture including religious festivals and life at the Jockey Club. The book is very well written but if you do not know what is happening in Mexico during the Profirian period than this will be a hard book to follow. For those who know a lot about Mexico this is a must read.
How could they let this book go out of print?
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
This is one of the books I recommend most frequently when people ask for fun stuff to read, in English, about Mexico. And I frequently assign it to students in intro-level history classes. I'm not entirely convinced by the chapter on rural life, but the book as a whole belongs among the best histories of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century period in Latin America. Dang! Now what will I assign my students? Bring this back into print, please!
Who knew that cultural history could be this much fun?
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
This is a book that deserves to be more widely known. It is a serious historical treatise about culture, social life and customs during the Porfiriato regime of Mexico (1875-1910)- but don't let the academic theme frighten you. Judas at the Jockey Club is an excellent and fascinating read that considers topics like "why and how horse-racing came to Mexico", "why and how baseball became popular", "why cricket faded from popularity", and "what bicycles have to do with politics". Serious scholarship should all be this much fun.
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