Ciudad Juárez: Saga of a Legendary Border City by Oscar J. Martínez (review)

Oscar J. Martínez is perhaps the leading pioneer of contemporary borderlands history. Even before the concept of borderlands history and studies came into vogue, Martínez was developing this field. His 1978 book Border Boom Town: Ciudad Juárez since 1848 (University of Texas Press) is now a classic. A son of this border community, Martínez knows it not only personally but also historically. Ciudad Juárez: Saga of a Legendary Border City is a welcome revised and enlarged edition of the 1978 book on its fortieth anniversary. Martínez has incorporated new material and added critical new chapters covering the last forty years. The result is a meticulously researched new text that stands on its own.

What is in part important to Martínez's study is his understanding that border history cannot just be the study of one side, but must be a study of both. He cannot understand the history of Ciudad Juárez without also understanding El Paso, Texas, across the border. The histories of these cities have always been interconnected like twins, so even though the book is ostensibly a history of a Mexican community, it is also a history of El Paso and thus a contribution to Texas history. Focusing a good deal on economic history, Martínez traces the evolution of the interrelated economies of both towns from the conclusion of the U.S.–Mexico War, which created the border, to the present. It is ambitious, but in Martínez's skillful hands it succeeds.

What is clear is that Juárez has always been and remains at a disadvantage in relation to El Paso. This relationship is a microcosm of the economic relationships between Mexico and the United States, one a developing nation and the other a developed one. This theme is discussed in chapters about the early stages of both locations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially with the coming of the railroads; the impact of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 on both cities; the effects of Prohibition in the United States and how this worked to Juárez's advantage but also led to its unfortunate development into a "sin city"; the impacts of the Great Depression and World War II; and post-war border economies. Later chapters discuss the development of neo-liberal economic policies on both sides, highlighted by the North American Free Trade Agreement, and include the rise of drug-related violence such as femicides (the murders of young women). Despite all of Ciudad Juárez's problems over the years, especially in the last three decades, Martínez remains optimistic that, given the strength of its people, better days are still ahead.

The updating of Martínez's early classic is welcome and a reminder of the pioneering work of one borderlands historian. It is also a reminder that the history of Texas is in part also borderlands history from El Paso to the Gulf of Mexico.

On a personal note, I recall researching my own history of El Paso at the same time that Oscar Martínez was doing his research in the mid-1970s. We were each a bit suspicious of the other's research, perhaps believing that we were duplicating each other. However, in time we pleasantly discovered that our two studies were distinct and complementary. As two sons of the Ciudad Juárez–El Paso borderlands, our work over the years has remained so and helped lay a foundation for contemporary borderlands history.