| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.1

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Caribbean and Latin America

David G. LaFrance. Revolution in Mexico's Heartland: Politics, War, and State Building in Puebla, 1913–1920. (Latin American Silhouettes.) Wilmington, Del.: S R Books. 2003. Pp. xxv, 305. $65.00.
The history of nineteenth-century Puebla, a major state in central Mexico, has been the subject of excellent studies by Leticia Gamboa, Carlos Contreras, Guy Thompson, Florencia Mallon, and David G. LaFrance. The last has taken up the task of continuing that work into the twentieth century, first in his The Mexican Revolution in Puebla; 1908–1913: The Maderista Movement and the Failure of Liberal Reform (1989) and now in the book under review. The research behind this work is vast and exhaustive. LaFrance has scoured newspapers and archives, leaving no page unturned. The result is a well-written, well-organized (with good subheadings), and incredibly detailed vision of political factions and squabbles in Puebla between 1913 and 1920.	1
LaFrance argues that "the deep and persistent desire for local autonomy" was so powerful in Puebla that it "took precedence over other major issues such as agrarian reform and nationalism, as it was, perhaps, the only overarching phenomenon to involve a cross section of society" (p. xv). He envisions the struggle for autonomy in Puebla not only at the local but also at the state level. His in-depth research makes an excellent case for the significance of this factor, developed with numerous and detailed examples. It is particularly salient because he is analyzing the moment when the new revolutionary state was taking shape. Nonetheless, historians have long since given up proposing single- factor causes for processes as complex as the Mexican Revolution.	. . .

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