Description
Book SynopsisReflecting the authors' masterful use of archival sources and their magisterial knowledge of the era's complex metropolitan and colonial institutions, this volume is the capstone of a research endeavor spanning nearly sixty years.
Trade ReviewIn a sophisticated, literate, and detailed analysis, eminent historians Barbara Stein and Stanley Stein dissect the interwoven responses between 1808 and 1810 in Spain and New Spain (Mexico) to the challenges resulting from Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian peninsula and the Bourbon monarchs' abdications... Based heavily on extensive archival and published primary sources, this deftly argued, magisterial work, along with its three preceding volumes- Silver, Trade, and War; Apogee of Empire; and Edge of Crisis-belongs in every academic and large public library. Essential. Choice This book is a gold mine for the sheer amount of primary sources brought to the surface...[and] a valuable contribution to the shelf of any historian dealing with the independence era in any of the Spanish colonies. H-Net Reviews
Table of ContentsPrologue
Part One: Metropole
1. A National Drama, Act II: Aranjuez
2. Bayonne
3. Dos de Mayo: Insurgency
4. Sevilla: The Struggle for Supremacy in Spain and New Spain
Part Two: Colony
5. A Contested Authority
6. New Spain's Cuban Counterpoint
7. The Powerful and Insecure: Mexico City'sAlmaceneros, 1808 191
8. The Audiencia de México, Iturrigaray, and Talamantes
9. Melchor Talamantes: Criollo Exponent of New Spain's Interests
10. Sevilla's Comisionados and Mexico City's Juntas
11. Viceroy Iturrigaray: Criollos and a Viceroy's Grand Design
12. Anatomy of a Colonial Coup d'État: Mexico City, 1808
Part Three: Metropole
13. Junta de Sevilla, Consejo de Castilla, and the Genesis of the Junta Central
14. Junta Central: Ideologues and Ideology
15. Junta Central versus Junta de Sevilla: The Colonial Question
16. Financing the Resistance in Spain
17. Dissolution of the Junta Central
18. Regencia and Junta de Cadiz
19. The Pivotal Orden of 17 May 1810
20. Colonial Insurrection and the Call for the Cortes
Part Four: Colony
21. An Eroding Colonial System: New Spain, 1808–1810
22. Fissures in the Colonial Elite: Merchants
23. Fire under the Embers: Between Preemptive Coup and Insurrection
24. The Regencia's Comisionados and Bishop-Elect Abad y Queipo
25. Oprimidos y Opresores
26. "No Hay Más Recurso Que Ir a Coger Gachupines"
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
