Fire And Blood: A History Of Mexico |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Holland History > Item 129
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Fire And Blood: A History Of Mexico
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by T. R. Fehrenbach
Sales Rank: 63417
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List Price: $27.95
$18.45
At Amazon
on 8-2-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 702 pages
Published by: Da Capo Press; Upd Sub edition March 21, 1995
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0306806282
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0306806285
Book Dimensions:
8.4 x 5.4 x 1.4 inches
Weighs: 1.9 pounds
Product Description
There have been many Mexicos: the country of varied terrain, of Amerindian heritage, of the Spanish Conquest, of the Revolution, and of the modern era of elections and the rule of bankers. Mexico was forged in the fires of successive civilizations, and baptized with the blood of millions, all of whom added tragic dimensions to the modern Mexican identity. T. R. Fehrenbach brilliantly shows the contrasts and conflicts between them, unraveling the history while weaving a fascinating tapestry of beauty and brutality: the Amerindians, who wrought from the vulnerable land a great indigenous Meso-American civilization by the first millennium B.C.; the successive reigns of Olmec, Maya, Toltec, and Mexic masters, who ruled through an admirably efficient bureaucracy and the power of the priests, propitiating the capricious gods with human sacrifices; the Spanish conquistadors, who used smallpox, technology, and their own ruthless individualism to erect a new tyranny over the ruins of the old; the agony of independent Mexico, struggling with the weight of its overwhelming past and awesome potential. Throughout the narrative the author resurrects the great personalities of Mexican history, such as Motecuhzoma, Cortes, Santa Anna, Juárez, Maximilian, Díaz, Pancho Villa, and Zapata. Fehrenbach, who has updated this edition to include recent events, has created a work of scholarly perspective and gripping prose.
About The Author
T. R. Fehrenbach,a native Texan, is the author of several books, including Fire and Blood: A History of Mexico and Comanches: The Destruction of a People, both available from Da Capo. He lives in San Antonio.
Reader Reviews
I am taking a Mexican History class (in Spanish and in Mexico) and have been using Fehrenbach's book to check on details of events and names of major political actors--many he does not even mention. That may be justified given that FIRE AND BLOOD is an overview rather than an in-depth analysis. Still, I noticed some glaring errors in addition to what seem like unfounded ethnocentric opinions. For example, the author claims that the Maya were living in the jungle as "savages" in the seventeenth century. He notes that "their written history carved on stone, is not readable" but does not mention the burning of the codices by Diego de Landa until 200 pages farther on in the book. Moreover, the author contends that the "Maya civilization destroyed itself without outside help," referring to squabbling between the cities that were left after the civilization had "degenerated." Mexico in the years following Independence is depicted as a society in which virtually no one had any idea of what it meant to be Mexican or how to build a nation or what the purpose of an election was. Finally, the comparisons between the United States (egalitarian, with democratic values even during colonial times) and Mexico (essentially the opposite) is a misleading oversimplification. And George Washington was not selected by Congress but by the Electoral College in the first presidential election. A book without a single footnote and only the briefest list of references, many of which are from the early twentieth century, cannot, in my view, be characterized as scholarly.
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Fire And Blood: A History Of Mexico
Available from Amazon
Price: $18.45
Updated on 8-2-2008.
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