The Course of Mexican History

Sherman, Myers and Deeds have the best book on Mexican history that can be found. It covers all aspects from the social and cultural to the military and political. It is very well written with plenty of pictures so you can visualize what happened at each point. The analysis is truly top notch and one of the great assets of this book is the wonderful suggested reading at the end of each chapter. It really allows you to learn all about Mexico and then go back and read further on the parts you find the most interesting. This is an essential book for any latin American history library and one that will live on throughout the ages. It is updated regularly although any edition is a great start to learning about Mexico. Whether you are an expert or a beginner you will find this book useful.

I grew up in Mexico. For years, the best source on Mexican history was a 4-volume set published by the Colegio de México, the authoritative and ultra-elitist "Mexican Harvard." It was the best because nobody could read it (no one dared criticize this monstrosity)!The Course of Mexican History is magnificent in contrast. Since I found the fifth edition this year, you can be sure that the authors don't neglect their incredible labor!I believe the contents and lengths of chapters are well balanced. You probably have to live in the country to understand her history, and you might only get the gist of it.A truly remarkable find!

This is a required purchase for Mexican History enthusiasts. The latest edition represents a significant improvement in coverage of "peripheral" regions. Mexican narrative histories in any language tend to privilege the central valley (Aztecs, Mexico City, etc.) I suspect that the improvement is due to the work of Susan Deeds, an expert in northern Mexico. Some may find the balance still tilts to the colonial period, but that is appropriate given the extraordinary formative power of these years for Mexican history and cultures. Nice visuals, tables and organization make this a superb value and a wonderful gift for the Mexican history enthusiast.

This is perhaps the best comprehensive history of Mexico written in English that exists. The authors have been painstaking in their research and provide many, many sources and citations but do not litter the work with a cumbersome academic citation apparatus. Best of all, the provide an annotated bibliography of works in Spanish for the Mexican scholar.The history of Mexico is astonishingly rich and complex, riven with conflict, religious strife, and fundamental disagreements about constitutionalism, liberalism (small L) and foreign entanglments. It is also a sad story with near constant violence and upheaval. The redeeming feature of the history, and what pulls the story along and saves it from the maudalin, is the stoic character of the mexican people.This is comprehensive work that deals in turn with society, culture, economics, religion and politics. Being a single volume work, it certainly gives brief treatments of many topics. As a prior reviewer notes, the colonial period is not treated as deeply as others. But then again, it was three hundered years of economic explotation and social subjugation, what is left to say?This is an excellent work for the Mexican enthusiast, for serious historians as well as for Americans of all persuasions.

Meyer and Sherman's classic work is the best starting point for understanding Mexico's rich history. It is easy to read with many illustrations, yet sophisticated and complete. The authors take us from Mexico's early Indian civilizations through the Aztecs and the Spanish Conquest. The Colonial period recieves somewhat brief treatment, but the revolution and early independence period do not. The Porfiriato and Revolution of 1910 are carefully examined,as is the post-1940 era. The authors treat their material with great reverance and are careful with their moral judgements of the many controversial actors.