Basically, in his book “Forge of progress, crucible of revolt origins of the Mexican Revolution in La Comarca Lagunera, 1880-1911” William Meyers is intended to present a scholarly discussion of the origins of Mexican Revolution that occurred in the northern part of the country. Author’s main argument is linked to the identification of circumstances and consequences of any revolution followed by proper revision of basic principles. He uses the deductive approach by investigating human interactions between Mexicans, reaching the conclusions about reasons for revolutions and appropriate ways of handling them. Throughout his writing we notice his love to country and people.
To be more specific, Meyer is aimed at exploring meteoric economic development of the Laguna region during Porfirio Diaz’s regime of centralization and modernization. He is very precise and concise when highlighting the economic and social consequences, which led to Revolution in 1910. Due to rapid economic change, society faces numerous dislocations, which induced instability of politics, affecting the whole country, not only the northern region. He also speaks about the solidification of popular-based regime that was typical for post-revolutionary Mexico. This regime has been enhanced by means of centralization and imposing of general authority interests, where most people were devoid of consideration of their personal economic and political views.
Meyers is also intended to investigate three competing social zones that initiated conflict based upon lack of political and economic unity. The author explains that the dramatic growth of agriculture and industry as well as rapid demographic growth in the northern part of the country seriously jeopardized the other two regions. Respectively, the essentially diverse social groups posed a great danger to electorate and the future power, sharing completely different interests, which came to an outbreak from 1907 to 1910. On more strong point about the book is that the provided information is relevant and valid, because they author refers to the great number of diverse academic sources like state and national government archives, regional newspapers and historical biographies.
References
Meyers, William K. (2001). Forge of Progress, Crucible of Revolt, The Origins of the
Mexican Revolution in La Comarca Lagunera, 1880-1911. Printon Press, New …