Overview

In the aftermath of the 1910 Mexican Revolution, Mexican and U.S. political leaders, business executives, and ordinary citizens shaped modern Mexico by making industrial capitalism the key to upward mobility into the middle class, material prosperity, and a new form of democracy--consumer democracy. Julio Moreno describes how Mexico's industrial capitalism between 1920 and 1950 shaped the country's national identity, contributed to Mexico's emergence as a modern nation-state, and transformed U.S.-Mexican relations. According to Moreno, government programs and incentives were central to legitimizing the postrevolutionary government as well as encouraging commercial growth. Moreover, Mexican nationalism and revolutionary rhetoric gave Mexicans the leverage to set the terms for U.S. businesses and diplomats anxious to court Mexico in the midst of the dual crises of the Great Depression and World War II. Diplomats like Nelson Rockefeller and corporations like Sears Roebuck achieved success by embracing Mexican culture in their marketing and diplomatic pitches, while those who disregarded Mexican traditions were slow to earn profits. Moreno also reveals how the rapid growth of industrial capitalism, urban economic displacement, and unease caused by World War II and its aftermath unleashed feelings of spiritual and moral decay among Mexicans that led to an antimodernist backlash by the end of the 1940s. |Moreno describes how Mexico's industrial capitalism between 1920 and 1950 shaped the country's national identity, contributed to Mexico's emergence as a modern nation-state, and transformed U.S.-Mexican relations. The study is as much of American diplomacy and U.S. corporate culture--and the encounter between American and Mexican values, beliefs, and practices--as it is of Mexican history.

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9780807854785

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Reviews

""A significant study."" -- International History Review ""An interesting analysis of Mexico's material progress. . . . [The] research is very good and [the] analysis . . . offers important insights. . . . The selective use of rural memories for an urbanizing country is path breaking."" -- The Americas ""Julio Moreno has provided a thoughtful and nuanced account of middle-class business and consumer culture in Mexico during the first half of the century. Yankee Don't Go Home! will become an essential starting point for future studies of Mexico's encounter with globalization."" -- Left History ""New and refreshing. . . . An excellent example of how a cultural perspective can provide rich insights into business history. . . . Will inspire new research."" -- Business History Review ""The strengths of this book are many. . . . [Moreno] has gone further than other researchers in looking at daily business practices and advertising campaigns. His research is very good and his analysis of that contact zone between the two business cultures offers important insights."" -- Americas

New and refreshing. . . . An excellent example of how a cultural perspective can provide rich insights into business history. . . . Will inspire new research. <br> -- Business History Review

An interesting analysis of Mexico's material progress. . . . [The] research is very good and [the] analysis . . . offers important insights. . . . The selective use of rural memories for an urbanizing country is path breaking. -- The Americas New and refreshing. . . . An excellent example of how a cultural perspective can provide rich insights into business history. . . . Will inspire new research. -- Business History Review

Author Information

Julio Moreno is assistant professor of history at the University of San Francisco.

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