A Concise History of Mexico (Cambridge Concise Histories) 3rd Edition

The best overview of Mexican history bar none.

A very in-depth summation of Mexico, including pre-Cortez era description.

I live in Mexico. I really want to learn and retain at least a high-level understanding of Mexican history. This book does not facilitate that.There are a lot of run-on sentences and awkwardly worded sentences, an editor could’ve cut the word count by 50%.The narrative jumps from topic to topic within a time period, and forwards and backwards in time without any apparent structure making retention and comprehension difficult.There are no charts, tables, graphs, outlines, or other learning aids other than very long paragraphs.There is no apparent structure within each chapter. I would’ve liked to of seen better categorization of topics such as economics, politics, culture, foreign affairs, etc.All in all, not useful either as a reference book or as a learning guide.

The fall of the Aztecs and Montezuma to Cortes and the Spanish was covered with very few words. And there's a heavy emphasis on economic data down to the level of barrels of oil pumped per year. That seemed too minute in focus. But lots of other areas were well covered. So much so that I want to reread the book k some to complete my understanding.

This "concise" history is really only accessible to people with a good working knowledge of Mexican history. The author regularly refers to events out of chronological order, assumes knowledge of facts necessary to appreciate the import of his comments, and fails to adequately explain key developments. I had been excited to read a good one volume history in advance of an upcoming trip to Mexico. Having just about finished this book, I feel disappointed.

A dull book, poorly written, poorly edited. Interesting it made it to a third edition. Doubly disappointing because more was expected from Cambridge.