Overview

Viva Mexico! Viva la Independencia! Celebrations of September 16 examines the Independence holiday, exploring how this most important public festival in the civic calendar has given Mexicans a rich tradition of national celebration that is part creation myth, part official pomp, and part popular merrymaking. The editors examine how Independence Day festivities have provided a medium for informal education, sketching on the canvas of the public sphere national values, glorifying specific historical events and individuals, and celebrating government plans and achievements. Since 1823, this festival has served as an essential contribution to the conversion of Mexicans to common ideals, as people across the country express their national identity with the cry, Viva Mexico! Viva la Independencia!

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9780842029155

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Reviews

Historians are gradually filling in the gaps in our knowledge about nineteenth-century Mexico. The essays in Viva Mexico! Viva la Independencia! help us understand the links between popular culture, political symbolism and mythmaking, and state-building during this tumultuous century.--Mark Wasserman

Anyone who has experience the eve of September 16 in Mexico, felt the crush of bodies in the Z calo, seen the magnificent fireworks, and heard the official cries of ' Viva!' as well as the obscene popular replies instinctively knows the deep significance of Independence for the Mexican mentality. Finally, a book that reveals the political struggles behind the civic holiday that shaped Mexico's national identity. This is an important work of cultural history, as vibrant and complex as the celebration it examines.--Jeffrey Pilcher

Author Information

William H. Beezley is professor of history at the University of Arizona. David E. Lorey is program officer for Latin America at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in Menlo Park, California.

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