Many associate the Mexican Revolution with the 1910 overthrow of President Porfiro Diaz, the rise of Pancho Villa and the ensuing US intervention. Yet even these pertinent facts fail to tell the full story and relate the subsequent events which established the Mexican Constitution, introduced reforms and indelibly determined the future of the country. In addition to creating directives which redistributed land and wealth between the populous, the Revolution instituted new measures for the separation of church and state, ensured voting rights for all citizens and pushed for equal opportunity education. Much of the 1917 constitution established the current system of government that the country of Mexico has grown accustomed to. The establishment of a Congress of the Union coincided with the allocation of legislative and judiciary bodies at the same time that federal and state constituencies were introduced.
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Yet in the years following the revolution, Mexican society was much the same. Despite progressive initiatives toward equanimity and accountability in governmental policies, the balance of power began to shift back to its pre-revolutionary status with wealth and authority disproportionately administered through the upper classes. Many of the same problems of unstable government, political corruption, religious discriminiation and poverty (the most readily apparent by-product of the pre-revolutionary days) continued unabated into the second half of the twentieth century. As the new millenium dawned, much of the ideals fought for in the Revolution as well as the goals allocated by the 1917 constitution remained unfulfilled. Issues of cross-societal inequality and economic disparity are as constant as ever with more recent problems of illegal drug trafficking and border conflicts still unresolved.
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Beller outlines the key components of the Mexican Revolution, its initial causes, principle contentions and eventual resolutions, chiefly highlighting the state of affairs following the fighting in this well-detailed, abundantly illustrated and easy-to-understand non fiction book. This volume is one of several in the "Aftermath of History" series, a set of books chronicling some of history's most high profile events and distinguishing the conflict itself from the residual outcomes through the subsequent years. In what is clearly the unique objective of the series, the book is an especially accessible education resource, well-tailored for use by persons of all ages and instrumental in curtailing the implications of such an important period in history. Along with this volume, the library carries another title, The Aftermath of the Anglo-Zulu War (968.4045 WELTIG) in the collection. (972.0816 BELLER)
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