Emiliano Zapata: The Life and Legacy of the Mexican Revolution's Iconic Leader
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.39 (982 Votes) |
| Asin | : | B072W3VMMD |
| Format Type | : | |
| Number of Pages | : | 339 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-05-30 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
His country's past had consisted of opportunist generals revolting against the government seeking not to make justice, but to seize power. A little more than 100 years ago a Mexican peasant named Emiliano Zapata gathered a rural army from the plantations and villages of southern Mexico, seized the lands of the haciendas, and began to distribute them among the peasants of Anenecuilco, his hometown, in the state of Morelos. His flag was Liberty and Justice, the exact opposites of the two burdens that had tyrannized the rural population: work in semi-slavery conditions and immense inequality. Historians have produced biographies that portray him as a hero, such as John Womack in the 1960s, and that of his successor and closest aide, Gildardo Magaña, who wrote one shortly after Zapata's death.. Zapata, who in a few years assembled a popular army of 25,000, was a unique case in the history of Mexico. Outraged and impatient with the ceaseless destitution of the indigenous peoples at the hands of the landowners, he had decided to take justice in his hands. Nearly a century after his death, Zapata remains an opaque figure. Thus, it was only inevitable that
he was much more than a bandit Emiliano Zapata: The Life and Legacy of the Mexican Revolution’s Iconic Leader. To be honest I had never heard of Emiliano Zapata, I remember reading about a Mexican revolutionary movement called Zapata back in the 90s or so. This man was truly a revolutionary because he believed in the rights of the peasants and was determined to ensure that peasants in his community where fairly treated. He wrote through others a document called Justice and Law that affirmed his beliefs tha. The so-called Attila of the South This book left me with mixed emotions for this extra-ordinary man. He clearly was a radical and a social fighter, he would probably would be called a terrorist today, or at least he would be called a bandit wait, he was labeled as bandit in his own time, the Attila of Mexico, a rapist of women, but the peasants loved him, not to mention the scholars of Latin American studies in American universities. How much of it was true, the good and the bad? This book explores both sides of th. "A story about ideas - good ideas" according to Tom Connally. Zapata was courageous and thoughtful. He loved the land and his people. Reforms are difficult to enact and even harder to sustain. He tried and was slain.