Overview
In Routes of Compromise Michael K. Bess studies the social, economic, and political implications of road building and state formation in Mexico through a comparative analysis of Nuevo Leon and Veracruz from the 1920s to the 1950s. He examines how both foreign and domestic actors, working at local, national, and transnational levels, helped determine how Mexico would build and finance its roadways. While Veracruz offered a radical model for regional construction that empowered agrarian communities, national consensus would solidify around policies championed by Nuevo Leon's political and commercial elites. Bess shows that no single political figure or central agency dominated the process of determining Mexico's road-building policies. Instead, provincial road-building efforts highlight the contingent nature of power and state formation in midcentury Mexico.
Full Product Details
Author: Michael K. Bess
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Imprint: University of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803299344
ISBN 10: 0803299346
Pages: 234
Publication Date: 01 December 2017
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
A compelling analysis of the essential but overlooked impact of road building in modern Mexico. Exhaustively researched and cogently argued, few recent works are as important to understanding how state power, economic modernization, and nation-building converged in twentieth century Mexico. -Susan Gauss, associate professor of Latin American and Iberian studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston -- Susan Gauss Comparative in approach and sensitive to the transnational dimension and the agendas of politicians, bureaucrats, and members of an array of social groups, Michael Bess's nuanced treatment of Mexican road-building is a must-read for anyone interested in Mexico's postrevolutionary experience. -Samuel Brunk, professor of history at the University of Texas, El Paso, and author of The Posthumous Career of Emiliano Zapata: Myth, Memory, and Mexico's Twentieth Century -- Samuel Brunk A richly documented study of the national, regional, and local politics surrounding road construction in Mexico. Obligatory reading for students interested in state-building, economic development, and everyday conflicts over the spoils of modernization. -Barry Carr, professor emeritus at La Trobe University and coeditor of The New Latin American Left: Cracks in the Empire -- Barry Carr
A richly documented study of the national, regional, and local politics surrounding road construction in Mexico. Obligatory reading for students interested in state-building, economic development, and everyday conflicts over the spoils of modernization. -Barry Carr, professor emeritus at La Trobe University and coeditor of The New Latin American Left: Cracks in the Empire -- Barry Carr Comparative in approach and sensitive to the transnational dimension and the agendas of politicians, bureaucrats, and members of an array of social groups, Michael Bess's nuanced treatment of Mexican road-building is a must-read for anyone interested in Mexico's postrevolutionary experience. -Samuel Brunk, professor of history at the University of Texas, El Paso, and author of The Posthumous Career of Emiliano Zapata: Myth, Memory, and Mexico's Twentieth Century -- Samuel Brunk A compelling analysis of the essential but overlooked impact of road building in modern Mexico. Exhaustively researched and cogently argued, few recent works are as important to understanding how state power, economic modernization, and nation-building converged in twentieth-century Mexico. -Susan Gauss, associate professor of Latin American and Iberian studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston -- Susan Gauss
A compelling analysis of the essential but overlooked impact of road building in modern Mexico. Exhaustively researched and cogently argued, few recent works are as important to understanding how state power, economic modernization, and nation-building converged in twentieth-century Mexico. -Susan Gauss, associate professor of Latin American and Iberian studies at the University of Massachusetts, Boston -- Susan Gauss Comparative in approach and sensitive to the transnational dimension and the agendas of politicians, bureaucrats, and members of an array of social groups, Michael Bess's nuanced treatment of Mexican road-building is a must-read for anyone interested in Mexico's postrevolutionary experience. -Samuel Brunk, professor of history at the University of Texas, El Paso, and author of The Posthumous Career of Emiliano Zapata: Myth, Memory, and Mexico's Twentieth Century -- Samuel Brunk A richly documented study of the national, regional, and local politics surrounding road construction in Mexico. Obligatory reading for students interested in state-building, economic development, and everyday conflicts over the spoils of modernization. -Barry Carr, professor emeritus at La Trobe University and coeditor of The New Latin American Left: Cracks in the Empire -- Barry Carr Michael K. Bess's new book on road building in post-Revolutionary Mexico uses the network of federal highways and local dirt roads constructed in the first half of the twentieth century as an apt metaphor for the mediated and uneven penetration of state power during that era. -Casey Marina Lurtz, Journal of Social History -- Casey Marina Lurtz * Journal of Social History *
Author Information
Michael K. Bess teaches history at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas in Mexico.
