Some historians have seen the emergence of political instability and economic growth under the presidency of Porfirio Díaz (1876-80, 1884-1911) as the key to understanding modern Mexico. We should consider the means by which Díaz achieved stability, the ideology of the regime and its economic successes and failures. We should then look at the reasons for the collapse of the regime in 1910-11, and for the failure of subsequent leaders to establish control. Why, by 1914-15, had Mexico collapsed into a state of civil war, and what were people fighting for? Note the plethora of regional studies and consider their advantages and drawbacks.
T. Benjamin & W. McNellie (eds.), Other Mexicos: essays on regional Mexican history, 1876-1911, esp. Introduction, Part I, and Chap. 10
L.B. Perry, Juárez and Díaz: machine politics in Mexico
W.D. Raat (ed.), Mexico: from independence to revolution, Part IV
F.J. Katz, 'Labor Conditions on Haciendas in Porfirian Mexico', HAHR 54 (1974), 1-47
P.J. Vanderwood, 'Mexico's rurales: image of a society in transition', HAHR 61 (1981), 52-83
J.C. Brown, `Foreign and Native-Born Workers in Porfirian Mexico', AHR 98 (1993), 786-818
D. Walker, 'Porfirian Labor Politics: working class organizations in Mexico City and Porfirio Diaz, 1876-1902', The Americas 37 (1981), 257-290
M.J. Gonzales, `United States Copper Companies, the State, and Labour Conflict in Mexico, 1900-1910', JLAS 26 (1994), 651-682
J.M. Hart, Revolutionary Mexico: the coming and progress of the Mexican Revolution
F. Katz (ed.), Riot, Rebellion and Revolution: rural social conflict in Mexico, esp. chaps 1-2 and 11-16
A. Knight, The Mexican Revolution, early sections
S. Miller, 'Land and Labour in Mexican Rural Insurrection', BLAR 10 (1991), 55-80
A. Ouweneel, 'What was behind Mexico's Peasant Revolution?', Eur. Review of Lat. Amer. and Carib. Studs. 48 (1990), 99-115
R.E. Ruiz, The Great Rebellion: Mexico, 1905-1924
*J. Tutino, From Insurrection to Revolution in Mexico: social bases of agrarian violence, 1750-1940, chaps 8 and 9
R.D. Anderson, 'Mexican Workers and the Politics of Revolution', HAHR 54 (1974), 94-113
P.J. Vanderwood, 'Response to Revolt: the counter-guerrilla strategy of Porfirio Díaz', HAHR 56 (1976), 551-579
M. Wasserman, 'The Social Origins of the 1910 Revolution in Chihuahua', LARR 15 (1980), 15-40
*D.A. Brading, Caudillo and Peasant in the Mexican Revolution, esp chaps 2, 3, 5, 6
S. Brunk, `Zapata and the City Boys: in search of a piece of the Revolution', HAHR 73 (1993), 33-66
S. Brunk, ‘"The Sad Situation of Civilians and Soldiers": the banditry of Zapatismo in the Mexican Revolution.’, AHR 101 (1996), 331-353.
J.M. Hart, 'The Urban Working Class and the Mexican Revolution: the case of the Casa del Obrero Mundial', HAHR 58 (1978), 1-20
A. Knight, 'The Working Class and the Mexican Revolution, c. 1900-1920', JLAS 16 (1984), 51-79
A. Knight, `Popular Culture and the Revolutionary State in Mexico, 1910-1940', HAHR 74 (1994), 393-444
W.K. Meyers, ‘Seasons of Rebellion: nature, organization of work, and the dynamics of revolution in La Laguna, Mexico, 1910-1916’, JLAS 30 (1998), 63-94
R. Waterbury, 'Non-Revolutionary Peasants: Oaxaca compared to Morelos in the Mexican Revolution', CSSH 17 (1975), 410-422