Description
Book SynopsisThis innovative history argues that we can understand important facets of the Mexican Revolution by analyzing the architecture designed and built in Mexico City during the formative years from 1920 to 1940. These artifacts allow us to trace and understand the path of the consolidation of the Mexican Revolution. Each individual building or development, by providing indelible evidence of the process by which the revolution evolved into a government, offers important insights into Mexican history. Seen in aggregate, they reveal an ongoing urban process at work; seen as a composition, they reveal changes over time in societal values and aspirations and in the direction of the revolution.This book focuses on structure, change, and process for this remarkable city in the true image of the gigantic heaven. The changes described in Fuentes'' narrative are man-made, not wrought by impersonal or natural forces except on the rare occasions of earthquake and flood. Patrice Elizabeth Olsen views Me
Trade ReviewOlsen has provided us a very useful study chronicling some of the key early twentieth century challenges and changes sustained by the Mexico City built environment. * A Contracorriente *
Olsen has produced a valuable study that reminds historians about the importance of the built environment, not just as a space where history unfolds, but as a layered historical archive. . . . This meticulously researched foray will inspire further research into the connections between architectural, political, and cultural history. * Hispanic American Historical Review *
Table of ContentsPreface: Architecture Never Lies Chapter 1: La Revolución Constructiva (1920–1928) Chapter 2: Gobernar a la Ciudad Es Servirla : The Maximato and Further Institutionalization of the Revolution Chapter 3: La Ciudad, La Casa de Todos Chapter 4: The City and the Expanding Revolution Chapter 5: The Cityscape and New Conceptions of the State Chapter 6: A Home for the Revolution: Patterns and Meaning in Residential Development Chapter 7: Conclusion: The City and the Revolution, in Aggregate
