Religion and State Formation in Postrevolutionary Mexico

Reviews / Votes

"Religion and State Formation in Postrevolutionary Mexico should establish itself as a key text in Mexican revolutionary history. The author has done a prodigious quantity of research and organized it expertly, producing an original and convincing analysis of a major theme: Church-state conflict in the postrevolutionary period. The issue permeated Mexican politics, and its exploration opens a window onto a variety of other themes, including state building, education, land reform, gender, ethnicity, violence, and local politics and elections."-Alan Knight, author of The Mexican Revolution "This important book forces a rethinking of the efficacy and influence of agrarian and cultural revolutions not only in Mexico but throughout the world. In what is nothing short of a massive reappraisal of the pivotal presidency of LAzaro CArdenas, Ben Fallaw demonstrates how conservative Catholic opposition at the local and state levels consistently obstructed Cardenista reform. Based on his detailed reconstruction of circumstances and events in four very different Mexican states, he reminds us that conditions differed enormously among locales, even between two villages in the same state. His research is blockbuster in every possible way."-Terry Rugeley, author of Of Wonders and Wise Men: Religion and Popular Cultures in Southeast Mexico, 1800-1876 "In this impressively researched, organized, and written work, Fallaw (Colby College) examines one of the major themes facing Mexico in the 1930s-the conflict between the Catholic Church and the state."
- J. B. Kirkwood (Choice) "...the author provides one of the best portraits of how the Mexican state's anticlericalism, rationalist educational reforms, land reform, anticlerical agitation, and indigenism were intertwined and thus galvanized opponents." - Edward Wright-Rios (American Historical Review) "Fallaw's study proves utterly striking, as his study details in multiple ways clerical and governmental failures to serve the basic needs of an impoverished and poorly educated public. His study reveals some of the ways that widespread cultural ignorance of the complex material cultural needs of the Mexican population persisted during the postrevolutionary period." - Marjorie Becker (Catholic Historical Review) "[Fallaw's] careful marshaling of evidence and his sound analysis make clear why agrarian reform and changing religious practice and devotion were extremely difficult to achieve." - Linda B. Hall (Hispanic American Historical Review) "Overall, Religion and State Formation in Postrevolutionary Mexico is one of the most important books on twentieth century Mexico of the last ten years. Original, thoroughly researched, and ambitious in scope, the work is a must read for those interested in revolutionary Mexico, modern Catholic sensibilities, or the overlap of politics and religion." - Benjamin Smith (The Americas) "Ben Fallaw's extraordinary new book, Religion and State Formation in Postrevolutionary Mexico, ostensibly explains religious violence in four Mexican states: Campeche, Hidalgo, Guerrero, and Guanajuato. In the process, however, Fallaw tells us much more. Challenging a number of widely held assumptions about this period, he describes convincingly how and why the revolutionary project failed in the countryside." - Stephanie Mitchell (The Latin Americanist) "This is a superbly researched and enduring contribution to the history of the Mexican Revolution and Latin America's political and religious history. For the many researchers who continue to ponder how Mexico's regions responded to national institutions and discourses, Fallaw's book will be indispensable." - Thomas Rath (Journal of Latin American Studies) "This is a prodigiously researched work that weaves together the specificity of four cases within a satisfying analytic framework. It is likely to encourage further work on religion and state formation." - Jeffrey Mosher (EIAL)