Prompt. Read Martín Luis Guzmán, The Shadow of the Strongman (1929), the classic novelistic account of the politics of Mexico’s post-Revolution and of the rise of the Sonoran political dynasty and the cult of the revolutionary strongman. Please write a critical commentary (2 pp. double-spaced) in which you answer the following question:
How “revolutionary” was the Mexican postrevolutionary political system of the 1920s and beyond?
Guidance: Guzmán, a former supporter of Pancho Villa, was a digusted and savage critic of the political state built by the Sonoran generals Álvaro Obregón, Plutarco Elías Calles, Adolfo de la Huerta, and their lackeys in the 1920s and 1930s. What political impulses and methods of rule does he identify? How does he describe the mentality of Mexico’s victorious ruling class? Why do you think that they behave in the way that Guzmán describes? How much of a change do they represent from the political elites from before the Revolution?
Reading the AGUILAR CAMIN ESSAY in BRADING is a good idea as it will nuance your perspective of Guzmán’s critique of the Sonoran regime.
General guidance. This is a concise essay so your argument needs to be focused. Look only for evidence that can be used to ground historical argument. Do not waste the word budget in extended quotations. Refer to the text and any other cited material in footnotes.
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