Book Review: Mexico. Revolution to Evolution. 1940–1960
| Author | Willard F. Barber |
| Date | 01 March 1963 |
| Published date | 01 March 1963 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206301800128 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
118
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
Yes,
the
volume
is
a
"non-book"
in
the
sense
that
integration
is
more
apparent
than
real.
And
true,
much
of
the
material
is
dated.
But
it
is
also
true
that
such
a collection
is
a
useful
juxtaposition
of
good
thinking
by
experienced
scholars,
all
of
them
"engaged,"
all
concerned
about
social
change
and
social
values,
and
all
willing to
search their
analyses
for
reasonable
generalizations.
Patch
is
particularly
im-
pressive
in
discussing
the
relationship
between
national
and
local
politics
in
Bolivia,
and
Holmberg
is
always
good
to
read
on
the
con-
troversial
Vicos
experiment
in
directed
culture
change.
This
book
is
meritorious
for
the
intelligent
layman
for
whom
it
was
written.
The
expert
will
not
need
it
except
for
assigned
class
readings.
It
used
to
be
fashionable
to
excuse
mediocre
work
on
Latin
America
by
taking
into
account
the
general
low
level
of
research
and
writing
on
the
area.
Let
us
wash our hands
of
such
easy
politeness
which
but
invites
to
continued
stretching
of
the
normal
standards
of
academic
judgement.
Dartmouth
College
KALMAN
H.
SILVERT
MEXICO.
REVOLUTION
TO
EVOLUTION.
1940-1960.
By
Howard
F.
Cline.
1962.
(London:
Toronto:
Oxford
University
Press.
viii,
375pp.
$6.75.)
One
of
a
new
series
of
the
Royal
Institute
of
International
Affairs
on
Latin
America-there
are others
on
Argentina,
Bolivia,
Chile,
Ecuador and
Venezuela-,
this
treatise
deals
with
Mexico's
history,
land,
people,
political
evolution
through the
Revolution
of
1910,
cur-
rent
economy,
and
place
on
the
world
scene.
The
order
of
the
chapters
is
neither
chronological
nor
functional,
but
a
mixture,
thus
causing
some
confusion.
There
are
many
statistical charts
and
small
maps.
The
volume
has
far
too
much
of
sociological
and
economic
description
to
be
called
a
history,
and
not
enough
on
governmental
structure
to
be
a
political
analysis.
It
seems
best
to
call
it
a
treatise.
At
times
unusual
or
not
generally
remembered
facts
are
brought
to
mind:
the
Mexicans
proclaimed
in
1848
that
they
would
dictate
a
victor's
peace
in
Washington;
there
is
no
statue
to
President
Porfirio
Diaz
in
the
land;
the
governmental
system
does
not
provide
for
a
vice-president
in
a
strong-president
form
of
administration;
foreigners
can
not
own
land
near
the
borders or
the
coast line.
The
unusual
becomes
incongruous when
the
author states
in
a
chapter
entitled
"The
Mexican
Melting
Pot"
that
at
no
time
since
1900
has
the
foreign
population
reached
even
one
per
cent.
of
the
total.
Regarding
Mexico's
policies
of
taxation,
finance,
trade,
industry
and
labour,
Dr.
Cline
is
invariably
optimistic,
citing uncritically
and
repeatedly from
official
reports
and
presidential
addresses.
He
tells
of
the
rapid
increase
in
population,
urban
trends,
and
the
three-fold
increase
in
the capital's
residents
since
1940.
He
describes
the
constitution's
lengthy
articles
on
land
tenure
as
"a
bureaucratic
set
of
operating
regulations".
A
discussion of
the
constitution's
articles
on
labour
neglects
to
Inform
the
reader
of
their
actual
provisions.
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