Empire And Revolution

by Hart, John Mason

• ISBN13: 9780520246713
• ISBN10: 0520246713
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-01-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

The deep relationship between the United States and Mexico has had repercussions felt around the world. This sweeping and unprecedented chronicle of the economic and social connections between the two nations opens a new window onto history from the Civil War to today and brilliantly illuminates the course of events that made the United States a global empire. The Mexican Revolution, Manifest Destiny, World War II, and NAFTA are all part of the story, but John Mason Hart's narrative transcends these moments of economic and political drama, resonating with the themes of wealth and power. Combining economic and historical analysis with personal memoirs and vivid descriptions of key episodes and players,Empire and Revolutionis based on substantial amounts of previously unexplored source material. Hart excavated recently declassified documents in the archives of the United States government and traveled extensively in rural Mexico to uncover the rich sources for this gripping story of 135 years of intervention, cooperation, and corruption. Beginning just after the American Civil War, Hart traces the activities of an elite group of financiers and industrialists who, sensing opportunities for wealth to the south, began to develop Mexico's infrastructure. He charts their activities through the pivotal regime of Porfirio Diacute;az, when Americans began to gain ownership of Mexico's natural resources, and through the Mexican Revolution, when Americans lost many of their holdings in Mexico. Hart concentrates less on traditional political history in the twentieth century and more on the hidden interactions between Americans and Mexicans, especially the unfolding story of industrial production in Mexico for export to the United States. Throughout, this masterful narrative illuminates the development and expansion of the American railroad, oil, mining, and banking industries. Hart also shows how the export of the "American Dream" has shaped such areas as religion and work attitudes in Mexico. Empire and Revolutionreveals much about the American psyche, especially the compulsion of American elites toward wealth, global power, and contact with other peoples, often in order to "save" them. These characteristics were first expressed internationally in Mexico, and Hart shows that the Mexican experience was and continues to be a prototype for U.S. expansion around the world. His work demonstrates the often inconspicuous yet profoundly damaging impact of American investment in the underdeveloped countries of Latin America, Asia, and Africa.Empire and Revolutionwill be the definitive book on U.S.-Mexico relations and their local and global ramifications.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction: Imperial Ambition	1	(6)
I. THE RISE OF AMERICAN INFLUENCE, 1865--1876	7	(64)
Arms and Capital	9	(37)
Rival Concessionaires	46	(25)
II. THE DIAZ REGIME, 1876--1910	71	(198)
Ubiquitous Financiers	73	(33)
Building the Railroads	106	(25)
Silver, Copper, Gold, and Oil	131	(36)
Absentee Landlords	167	(34)
Resident American Elite	201	(34)
Boomers, Sooners, and Settlers	235	(34)
III. THE YEARS OF REVOLUTION, 1910--1940	269	(132)
Mexico for the Mexicans	271	(34)
Interventions and Firestorms	305	(38)
Crisis in the New Regime	343	(28)
Nationalization of Land and Industry	371	(30)
IV. THE REENCOUNTER, 1940--2000	401	(98)
Cooperation and Accommodation	403	(29)
Return of the American Financiers	432	(27)
Mexico in the New World Order	459	(40)
Conclusion: Imperial America	499	(10)
Endpiece	509	(2)
Appendix 1. Partial List of American Landholdings and Ownership in Mexico, 100,000 Acres and More, 1910-1913	511	(15)
Appendix 2. Partial List of American Properties of More Than 100,000 Acres or of Special Significance, Derived via Government Portions of Land Surveys or from the Land Survey Companies, 1876-1910	526	(5)
Appendix 3. American Banking Syndicates Formed to Render Financial Support to Britain and Her Allies during World War I, September 1914-April 1917	531	(10)
Notes on Archival Sources	541	(6)
Abbreviations	547	(4)
Notes	551	(56)
Bibliography	607	(32)
Index	639