Description
Book SynopsisHonorable Mention for the 2024 SECOLAS Alfred B. Thomas Book Award
Two generals from the northwestern state of Sonora, Álvaro Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles, dominated Mexico between 1920 and 1934, having risen to prominence in the course of the Mexican Revolution. Torn between popular demands for ending the privileges of wealthy foreign investors and opposition by a hawkish U.S. administration and enemies at home, the two generals and their allies from their home state mixed radical rhetoric with the accommodation of entrenched interests.
In
The Sonoran Dynasty in Mexico Jürgen Buchenau tells the story of this ruling group, which rejected the Indigenous and Catholic past during the decades of the revolution and aimed to reinvent Mexico along the lines of the modern and secular societies in western Europe and the United States. In addition to Obregón and Calles, the Sonoran Dynasty included Adolfo de la Huerta and Abela
Trade Review“
The Sonoran Dynasty in Mexico is a major contribution to the field. As Jürgen Buchenau points out, the Mexican Revolution, in contrast to other modern revolutions, had no overriding ideology, though it did produce a progressive, nationalist constitution. That meant that the priorities of Mexico’s leaders during the 1920s—the crucial period of reconstruction following a bloody ten-year civil war—would determine what ‘the revolution’ meant as they selectively enforced or disregarded the provisions of the constitution. Understanding those priorities is vital to understanding the modern history of Mexico. Buchenau illuminates that theme in an insightful and compelling narrative.”—Timothy J. Henderson, author of
The Mexican Wars for Independence: A HistoryTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Preface
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Part 1. The Sonorenses in the Revolution, 1910–1915
1. The Making of a Faction
2. The School of War
Part 2. The Road to Power, 1915–1920
3. Inside the Revolutionary Regime
4. The Triumph of the Sonoran Alliance
Part 3. The Sonoran Triangle, 1920–1924
5. The Sonorenses in Power
6. The Triangle Broken
Part 4. The Duarchy, 1924–1928
7. On Trial before the World
8. Almost Porfirio
Part 5. The Maximato, 1928–1934
9. From Caudillos to Institutions
10. The End of an Era
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
