Gesto, identidad y memoria

"A medio camino entre el libro de memorias, la novela y el documento historico, la obra recorre los entresijos de la revolucion mexicana a traves de los ojos del autor. Asi, nos presenta un fresco historico que trasciende su caracter autobiografico para entrar de lleno, sin concesiones, en el analisis politico y sentimental de un episodio ineludible de la historia mexicana."

Sharply critical analysis of Mexico's recent round of ambitious structural reforms, particularly of oil industry and finance reforms, which author says show direct line of descent from 18th-century Bourbon reforms, politics of Porfirio Diaz and neoliberal ideals of Carlos Salinas de Gortari, historical antecedents vilified by many on left in Mexico. Author was Mexico's youngest elected governor and is currently serving in Congress.

In "La muerte de Artemio Cruz" we are present in the last moments of the lif e of a powerful man, one who was a revolutionary soldier, a lover without passion, and a father without a family. Carlos Fuentes reveals in this novel the thoughts of an elderly man who can no longer fend for himself; the man is confronted with an imminent and torturous death, but his will does not allow him to be defeated.

"Detailed study of Michoacán during the governorship of Félix Ireta Viveros. Emphasizes the connections between local and national political processes and argues that, despite the popularity of Cardenismo in Michoacán, Ireta embraced the agenda of the Avila Camacho administration"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.