Epic Mexico: A History from Earliest Times by Terry Rugeley (review)

Temptation abounds for scholars who transition into the Socratic halls of professor emeritus status and then choose to reflect upon the object of inquiry that has engaged them for most of their professional life. Retired Professor of Mexican and Latin American History Terry Rugeley takes on this Olympian task in his exceptional portrait of Mexican social history that ranges from the Aztecs and Toltecs of pre-Columbian days, to the telenovelas, narcotraffickers, and public health challenges of contemporary Mexico. With an engaging and breezy writing style that is both eloquent and thorough, Rugeley covers much time and space from his first chapter (The First Peoples) to his eighth (A Cigar, A Cadillac, and a Ticket to the Bull-fight). The work ends on the arrival of President Lopez Obrador’s MORENA party to the presidency in 2018, with no mention of the Trump administration’s relations with Mexico and the persistent issue of the border where Central American migrants assemble.

This sweeping overview of Mexican history, people, land, and culture moves deftly between various scales of analysis in a highly readable way. Whether the discussion is about the Bourbon Reforms, the “born rebel” Miguel Hidalgo, the contribution of the Lebanese in contemporary Mexico, Porfirian reforms, or the northern cacique Don Luis, Rugeley highlights the creation of the Mexican personality and history with panache. He avoids the turgid style of chronological and mechanistic writing. The author has a penchant for describing places and regions that both entertain and inform, as evidenced by this passage:

Of all of Mexico’s different regions, the north experienced the most comprehensive changes. The area had never attracted more than a minimal population. Those who came here were mostly mestizos, and northern provincial leadership drew heavily from the caste of military officers….and from well-healed families playing their accustomed roles of bankers, merchants, and land developers…The north had frequently chafed against Mexico City’s dominance, particularly in those days when the federal government demanded taxes and allegiance but was incapable of controlling Apache raiders. But as the web of railroads linked mines to foreign markets, property values rose, and commercial agriculture suddenly found its footing. Haciendas became cities, arid stretches transformed into farming and grazing land…and the well-to-do adopted an ever more sophisticated way of life”

(pp. 132–133).

The book is replete with these kinds of broad social, economic, and cultural history descriptions that enliven place attributes and regional economies. Such bite-size morsels allow the reader to savor and enjoy many triumphs of the country in under 300 pages. Often overlooked topics such as the land disputes between the Yaquis and the non-Yaquis in the Sonoran region (p. 143), the impact of the anarchist writings in the publication Regeneración (p. 162), Lázaro Cárdenas’ (p. 203) support for orphans from the Spanish Civil War, and comparisons of the early ejido program with aspects of Theodore Roosevelt’s Works Projects Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps (p. 205), give the reader glimpses into Mexico’s wide-ranging history in refreshing ways that many historical texts fail to capture.

Epic Mexico will appeal to curious travelers and teachers of courses on all aspects of Mexico. For instance, whether geographers are interested in import-substitution industrialization, the impact of Juan Rulfo on Mexican magical realism, or how telenovelas reflect, distort, and aggrandize social relations and material culture, there is plenty of room for instructors to build off the solid groundwork laid down in this book.

Aside from a paltry subject index, a lack of place-names that are cited in the first pages of the book but do not appear on the first map of the book (p. 3), and scant mention of the borderlands and the twin-cities along its northern border, the book should find broad appeal...