I’m currently reading a book called Villa and Zapata, which is an English historian’s look at the Mexican Revolution.
I picked up my copy while in an English Bookstore, because the book was featured as a display item. Good enough for me. Piqued my interest, and a cursory examination suggested it was an English (UK) only title and imprint. Not really the case, but I wouldn’t have picked it up if I’d been at home in Texas.
What’s important, a strong point, is that it’s a history text by an Englishman. He doesn’t have a dog in this fight. No horse in this race. Locally, I’m sure, history is slanted, remember the Alamo, &c. Not that it’s bad, I just liked the idea of a more objective look. Which, given the current border problems, and I’m not talking about immigration issues, but given the current climate along the Mexican side of the border? I want to know more about the history, and sometimes, that’s where a guy who has no vested interest in the outcome, that’s where it’s good.
“Indians were devoutly Catholic in that syncretic mode that allowed them to fuse their old pagan beliefs with the teachings of the Church, and parish priests usually counselled bowing the head, except perhaps on 12 December, the greatest date in the Church calendar, when the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe was celebrated.”
Page 34, Villa and Zapata.