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Mexico

A Concise Illustrated History

  • Textbook
Mexico cover

Mexico

A Concise Illustrated History

  • Textbook
Quantity
Pre-order. Available 16 Apr 2026
$144.00 RRP $160.00 Website price saving $16.00 (10%)

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Description

This accessible, sweeping survey of Mexican history, from pre-Columbian times to the present, introduces critical political and economic processes that have defined the country.

With ample maps and illustrations, along with historiographical inserts, this book is a guide from the earliest beginnings of a great nation down to the present day. This 2nd edition includes the following changes:

- 2 additional chapters, covering contemporary Mexico in the 21st century
- Fresh and substantial content about the cartels, criminal organizations, and the drug war
- The latest updates on pre-Columbian archaeological discoveries
- 20 new illustrations
- 10 inserts addressing historiography and referencing over 100 scholarly books
- An expanded and updated Suggestions for Further Reading section

To understand this complex and diverse land is to study the splendor of its pre-Columbian cultures, learn the legacies of a violent conquest, and appreciate the fluorescence of 3 centuries of viceregal Spanish rule. The struggle for independence, war with the United States, French Intervention, Benito Juárez, dictatorship under Porfirio Díaz, revolutionary upheaval under “Pancho” Villa – all are laid out in crystal clear narrative. Nor does this book shirk from addressing the darker side of history. Examining the corruption of 20th-century presidents, security apparatuses, and the PRI party, it explores the roots of present-day cartels and rising patterns of social violence.

Table of Contents

Preface
Note about the Cover Image

Part I: Ancient Civilizations
1. Great Pyramids in the Highlands
2. The Maya of Yucatán
3. Olmecs, Téenek, Aztecs
4. Conquests

Part II: Colonial Centuries
5. The Creation of New Spain
6. Mid-Colonial Economics
7. Glimpses of Colonial Society
8. Late Colonial Reform and Revolt

Part III: Independence and Modernity
9. The Insurmountable Divide
10. Showdown with the Americans
11. Juárez, War, and the French
12. Age of the Railroad

Part IV: The Age of Rebellion
13. Twilight of the Porfirians
14. The Season of Rebellions
15. Return of the Strong Arm
16. The Limits of Idealism

Part V: Structures of Power
17. Miguel Alemán – Legacy President
18. PRI-Eminence
19. Bombast, Boom, Bust
20. Crises and Control

Afterword
Suggestions for Further Reading
Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 16 Apr 2026
Format Hardback
Edition 2nd
Extent 304
ISBN 9798881804602
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions 229 x 152 mm
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

John W. Sherman

John W. Sherman is a Professor of History at Wrigh…

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