Overview

Largely absent from our history books is the social history of railroad development in nineteenth-century Mexico, which promoted rapid economic growth that greatly benefited elites but also heavily impacted rural and provincial Mexican residents in communities traversed by the rails. In this beautifully written and original book, Teresa Van Hoy connects foreign investment in Mexico, largely in railroad development, with its effects on the people living in the isthmus of Tehuantepec, Mexico's region of greatest ethnic diversity. Students will be drawn to a fascinating cast of characters, as muleteers, artisans, hacienda peons, convict laborers, dockworkers, priests, and the rural police force (rurales) join railroad regulars in this rich social history. New empirical evidence, some drawn from two private collections, elaborates on the huge informal economy that supported railroad development. Railroad officials sought to gain access to local resources such as land, water, construction materials, labor, customer patronage, and political favors. Residents, in turn, maneuvered to maximize their gains from the wages, contracts, free passes, surplus materials, and services (including piped water) controlled by the railroad. Those areas of Mexico suffering poverty and isolation attracted public investment and infrastructure. A Social History of Mexico's Railroads is the dynamic story of the people and times that were changed by the railroads and is sure to engage students and general readers alike.

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9780742553279

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Reviews

Van Hoy has written an important book...The author is best where she burrows into railroad working culture. American Historical Review, April 2009 The book is well-researched and based on a broad array of archival sources from Mexico, the United States, and Great Britain. This study is as much a social history as it is a top-down economic history of a railroad construction and operation. Van Hoy provides a valuable corrective to the history of Mexico's railroad industry. This is an important book and should be essential reading for anyone interested in the railroad industry or nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Mexico. Hispanic American Historical Review, August 2008 Van Hoy has produced an outstanding work that expands our collective knowledge and challenges our innate assumptions regarding Mexico's railroads. Most scholarship on railroads provides little more than a glimpse into the lives of these workers. This provides a panoramic view. The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History, October 2009 How refreshing! At last we have a study about modernization and capital penetration in Latin America that takes into account ordinary citizens-and not merely as victims but as agents. Van Hoy has done research in a wide range of documents that reveal life along the tracks, where Mexican workers entered freely into labor contracts, small holders negotiated favorable settlements from bureaucrats, suppliers developed local businesses, and the poor also caught the travel bug. Moreover, her analysis of Mexican railways during the Porfiriato forces us historians to reassess our views of the period as well as our conceptions of the social costs of development. -- Jonathan C. Brown, University of Texas

How refreshing! At last we have a study about modernization and capital penetration in Latin America that takes into account ordinary citizens and not merely as victims but as agents. Van Hoy has done research in a wide range of documents that reveal life along the tracks, where Mexican workers entered freely into labor contracts, small holders negotiated favorable settlements from bureaucrats, suppliers developed local businesses, and the poor also caught the travel bug. Moreover, her analysis of Mexican railways during the Porfiriato forces us historians to reassess our views of the period as well as our conceptions of the social costs of development.--Brown, Jonathan C.

Van Hoy has written an important book. . . . The author is best where she burrows into railroad working culture. * American Historical Review * The book is well researched and based on a broad array of archival sources from Mexico, the United States, and Great Britain. This study is as much a social history as it is a top-down economic history of a railroad construction and operation. Van Hoy provides a valuable corrective to the history of Mexico's railroad industry. This is an important book and should be essential reading for anyone interested in the railroad industry or nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Mexico. * Hispanic American Historical Review * Van Hoy has produced an outstanding work that expands our collective knowledge and challenges our innate assumptions regarding Mexico's railroads. Most scholarship on railroads provides little more than a glimpse into the lives of these workers. This provides a panoramic view. * The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History * How refreshing! At last we have a study about modernization and capital penetration in Latin America that takes into account ordinary citizens-and not merely as victims but as agents. Van Hoy has done research in a wide range of documents that reveal life along the tracks, where Mexican workers entered freely into labor contracts, small holders negotiated favorable settlements from bureaucrats, suppliers developed local businesses, and the poor also caught the travel bug. Moreover, her analysis of Mexican railways during the Porfiriato forces us historians to reassess our views of the period as well as our conceptions of the social costs of development. -- Jonathan C. Brown, University of Texas

Author Information

Teresa Van Hoy is assistant professor of history at St. Mary's University.

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