Description
Book SynopsisExamines the religious beliefs and practices of a generation of Catholics who came of age in the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution. It centers on José de León Toral, who killed revolutionary leader Álvaro Obregón to combat anticlerical laws and bring on a millenarian vision of the Kingdom of Christ.
Trade Review'An illuminating study on the meaning of 'fanaticism' and the best study of cristero activism in Mexico City. In tough, compact prose, Robert Weis tracks the rise and fall of the Mexican 'muscular Christianity' embodied by José de León Toral, killer of revolutionary strongman, Álvaro Obregón. Toral's gendered, Catholicized, and murderous angst - interpreted as a twentieth-century stoicism - has never felt so vivid or palpable. Weis shows that Toral meant to assassinate not just Mexico's revolution but the female-dominated 'sugar Catholicism' of the jazz age.' Matthew Butler, University of Texas, Austin
'A riveting, compelling, and deeply human analysis of the radical Catholic youth in 1920s Mexico, including the assassin of Mexico's last caudillo, General Alvaro Obregón. Required reading for all those interested in the aftermath and legacy of the Mexican Revolution.' Jurgen Buchenau, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
'While the subtitle Militant Catholic Youth in Post-Revolutionary Mexico is accurate, the interpretive genius of the book is summed up in the wonderful, insightful phrase 'a generation of clumsy terrorists'. This is a must read.' William H. Beezley, University of Arizona
'… exemplary … For Christ and Country is a very useful, important, and engaging contribution to the historiography.' Edward Wright-Rios, Hispanic American Historical Review
Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Catholics and anticlericals: from reforma to revolution; 2. The enforcement of anticlericalism; 3. Sugar Catholics; 4. Imprudent youth; 5. Martyrdom; 6. Trial; Conclusions.
