Villa and Zapata: A History of the Mexican Revolution

Rating:
Summary: Villa And Zapata come back to life
Review: Frank McLynn recaptures Zapata's And Villa's personality very accurately. The book begins with a background information on Mexico and the wars that eventually led to the rise of the dictator Porfirio Diaz and his iron fist rule over Mexico. During this time, the rich were getting richer; and the poor could not come out of debt. Eventually one man from the farm lands spoke his mind. Emiliano Zapata, a man who was for land reform from the south, spread his belief to the peasants and urged them to fight back. While this was going on, a stubborn, hot headed, ladies man was stirring up trouble in the north. These two opposite's, one peaceful acting on thought and the other short tempered acting on gut, were to set Mexico free. But after the revolution was over, neither of them would have suspected that it had only just began.

I personally enjoyed this book very much. I have read many Mexican revolutionary books but neither of them have had such a detailed history of the revolutionaries as this book. Frank McLynn describes them and their personality very accurately and it gives you a deeper understanding of them and their motifs for fighting against Diaz. As you read the book, Villa's and Zapata's personalities are unveiled and their troubles are told. McLynn also explains how Villa's and Zapata's personalities are reflected in their battle tactics and politics. I highly recommend this book to those who want to know a better understanding of the Mexican revolution, and its reasons for starting. This book is very detailed and everything is explained making it easy for everyone to read.

Rating:
Summary: Well Written with a serious fault.
Review: "Villa and Zapata" is a good read and moves quickly along from start to finish. However, I don't know if the reader can actually believe anything in it. It contains no footnotes!

This is a spurious practice in a history book. A Google search for "Frank McLynn" and "footnote" shows that many of his books contain no footnotes, according to their reviewers. Therefore he can make any statement he wants in the interests of a good narrative without too much worry about anyone checking it. Kind of post-modern, this desire to get away from facts and into the narrative.

The lack of footnotes, combined with his prodigous output on a variety of historical subjects, makes his output suspect, in my view. McLynn's bio on the back cover says he is Visiting Professor in the Department of Literature at Strathclyde University. For a lit guy, he seems to write nothing but history and biography.

McLynn lists his favorite books about Mexico in the Guardian and they're all fiction. OK, but where are the great history books, such as Friedrich Katz' definitive "Life and Times of Pancho Villa"?

I would suggest the latter for the serious student of Mexican revolutionary history. It is just as interesting and has footnotes.

Rating:
Summary: Well Written with a serious fault.
Review: "Villa and Zapata" is a good read and moves quickly along from start to finish. However, I don't know if the reader can actually believe anything in it. It contains no footnotes!

This is a spurious practice in a history book. A Google search for "Frank McLynn" and "footnote" shows that many of his books contain no footnotes, according to their reviewers. Therefore he can make any statement he wants in the interests of a good narrative without too much worry about anyone checking it. Kind of post-modern, this desire to get away from facts and into the narrative.

The lack of footnotes, combined with his prodigous output on a variety of historical subjects, makes his output suspect, in my view. McLynn's bio on the back cover says he is Visiting Professor in the Department of Literature at Strathclyde University. For a lit guy, he seems to write nothing but history and biography.

McLynn lists his favorite books about Mexico in the Guardian and they're all fiction. OK, but where are the great history books, such as Friedrich Katz' definitive "Life and Times of Pancho Villa"?

I would suggest the latter for the serious student of Mexican revolutionary history. It is just as interesting and has footnotes.

Rating:
Summary: The Thin Veneer and Ravening Maw
Review: 'Villa and Zapata' deserves reading twice, the book is so rich in detail and the Mexican Revolution was so fascinating and timeless. But it's likely only dedicated students and historians will give the book much attention.

Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa were the most prominent and remembered among the constellations of men at war and movements in Mexico from 1910 to 1920, but the book's attention to so many facets of that decade of Mexican history - and how these melded into Woodrow Wilson's America and the First World War in Europe -- was its most remarkable feature to me.

Permit me as a compliment to 'Villa and Zapata' to paraphrase at some length from two of its parts describing the deaths of those two prominent and remembered but very different warriors, and then briefly from the book's Conclusion.

First died Emiliano Zapata -

'On April 10, 1919, Zapata and his escorts rode down the hills towards a hacienda - in familiar territory, as he had taken it in early 1911. There were shops outside the hacienda, and Zapata stopped and conferred there with his escorts. Jesus Guajardo, who was to accept Zapata's surrender at the hacienda, came outside and joined Zapata and his escorts. Only one zapatista had entered the hacienda - Zapata's principal aid Miguel Palacios was discussing the handover of 12,000 rounds of ammunition. Outside Guajardo suggested to Zapata that they ride inside the hacienda walls for dinner. Zapata was wary but tired and hungry, and so he acceded, taking a bodyguard of just ten men. He mounted his horse and rode into the hacienda's plaza, as Guajardo's guard of honor stood at attention - paying their visitor a great compliment. A bugle sounded and the guard presented arms. The last note sounded and Zapata had reached the threshold of the building when the guards opened fire at point-blank range. Zapata died immediately, and Palacios and two of the escort also perished. The rest of the zapatistas fled for their lives.'

Pancho Villa lasted four long years more -

'On July 20, 1923, Villa drove to Canutillo in a large Dodge saloon with six men. In the town, at the intersection of Benito Juarez and Claro Hurtado streets, there was an old man selling candy and he cried out Viva Villa! It was a prearranged signal, and as Villa turned the corner he ran into a fusillade of bullets. He was killed instantly. The Dodge went out of control and hit a tree. One of Villa's companions managed to crawl under the car and play dead while a gunman ran up and pumped more bullets into Villa's head. Another companion managed to kill one of the assailants before making good his escape. Claro Hurtado was less fortunate. Trying to get away down a river bank, his way was blocked and he was gunned down when he turned back.'

The book's Conclusion begins -

'The Mexican Revolution was a ten-year Iliad, in which Villa, Zapata, Obregon and Carranza played the roles in fact which were played in myth by Agamemnon, Achilles, Hector, and Aeneas. Historians estimate that the death toll was between 350,000 and 1,000,000, excluding the victims of the 1918 flu epidemic, which added another 300,000 to the list of fatalities. Civilization's thin veneer was never thinner than in the Mexican Revolution, and the moral is surely that even in advanced societies we skate all the time on the thinnest of ice. And a seemingly trivial political crisis can open up the ravening maw of an underworld of chaos.'

Rating:
Summary: The Thin Veneer and Ravening Maw
Review: 'Villa and Zapata' deserves reading twice, the book is so rich in detail and the Mexican Revolution was so fascinating and timeless. But it's likely only dedicated students and historians will give the book much attention.

Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa were the most prominent and remembered among the constellations of men at war and movements in Mexico from 1910 to 1920, but the book's attention to so many facets of that decade of Mexican history - and how these melded into Woodrow Wilson's America and the First World War in Europe -- was its most remarkable feature to me.

Permit me as a compliment to 'Villa and Zapata' to paraphrase at some length from two of its parts describing the deaths of those two prominent and remembered but very different warriors, and then briefly from the book's Conclusion.

First died Emiliano Zapata -

'On April 10, 1919, Zapata and his escorts rode down the hills towards a hacienda - in familiar territory, as he had taken it in early 1911. There were shops outside the hacienda, and Zapata stopped and conferred there with his escorts. Jesus Guajardo, who was to accept Zapata's surrender at the hacienda, came outside and joined Zapata and his escorts. Only one zapatista had entered the hacienda - Zapata's principal aid Miguel Palacios was discussing the handover of 12,000 rounds of ammunition. Outside Guajardo suggested to Zapata that they ride inside the hacienda walls for dinner. Zapata was wary but tired and hungry, and so he acceded, taking a bodyguard of just ten men. He mounted his horse and rode into the hacienda's plaza, as Guajardo's guard of honor stood at attention - paying their visitor a great compliment. A bugle sounded and the guard presented arms. The last note sounded and Zapata had reached the threshold of the building when the guards opened fire at point-blank range. Zapata died immediately, and Palacios and two of the escort also perished. The rest of the zapatistas fled for their lives.'

Pancho Villa lasted four long years more -

'On July 20, 1923, Villa drove to Canutillo in a large Dodge saloon with six men. In the town, at the intersection of Benito Juarez and Claro Hurtado streets, there was an old man selling candy and he cried out Viva Villa! It was a prearranged signal, and as Villa turned the corner he ran into a fusillade of bullets. He was killed instantly. The Dodge went out of control and hit a tree. One of Villa's companions managed to crawl under the car and play dead while a gunman ran up and pumped more bullets into Villa's head. Another companion managed to kill one of the assailants before making good his escape. Claro Hurtado was less fortunate. Trying to get away down a river bank, his way was blocked and he was gunned down when he turned back.'

The book's Conclusion begins -

'The Mexican Revolution was a ten-year Iliad, in which Villa, Zapata, Obregon and Carranza played the roles in fact which were played in myth by Agamemnon, Achilles, Hector, and Aeneas. Historians estimate that the death toll was between 350,000 and 1,000,000, excluding the victims of the 1918 flu epidemic, which added another 300,000 to the list of fatalities. Civilization's thin veneer was never thinner than in the Mexican Revolution, and the moral is surely that even in advanced societies we skate all the time on the thinnest of ice. And a seemingly trivial political crisis can open up the ravening maw of an underworld of chaos.'

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, but I wonder...
Review: I'm quite impressed with the depth and scope of this book. It makes an interesting pair to read with John S.D. Eisenhower's "Intervention", which focuses more heavily on the US role in these events (especially the incident at Tampico and the seizure of Vera Cruz).

The book does have a bit of a "bias" you should be aware of going in. He really seems to come across with the idea that radical revolution is good, and those who are not radical (like Madero) are to be dismissed. In the circumstances, he may not be wrong, but I prefer my history not to wear his opinion quite so blatently.

Rating:
Summary: Great biographical history
Review: Starting a big book about a subject as complex as the Mexican Revolution can be a chore, but McLynn turns a complex, socio-economic crisis into the tale of two arrogant men. For that reason, his book is priceless. Although reading a biography about Villa and Zapata can realistically just skim the surface of the Revolution, the verve with which thje author tackles his subjects, and the respect he clearly felt for them make his book an enjoyable read. Romanticism does cloud his judgement - although he presents Villa's banditry alongside his derring do - but that makes the book better. He escapes the rigorous pedantry which hangs like a millstone over so much history, but remains accurate.
This book is a great start for anyone approaching the Mexican Revolution, and a fascinating comparative biography of two flawed and contradictory characters.