Review - Book Report/Review Example

But, there are only few books in the historical canon, which builds equal scope for a scholar, a traveler, a student or a layman interested in gaining first-hand information regarding Mexican culture and civilization. The book, “The Mexico Reader” is a comprehensive guide based on the history and culture of the nation including the influences the country has received from its neighboring nations in shaping its borders and forming the socio-economic, socio-cultural and socio-political structure of the country (Gilbert and Henderson, 9-14).

THESIS STATEMENT This thesis intends to throw light on the way the information regarding the history of Mexico have been amalgamated under one head of the insightful book title “The Mexico Reader”. The discrete facts and its cohesive and systematic presentation, by two veteran scholars of Mexican history, evoke the demand of reviewing the pedantic book on Mexican history, “The Mexico Reader”. One unique attribute of this book which also attracts due concern is its elaboration of Mexican civilization and cultural developments is its positive point of view.

Where most of the literatures found on Mexican civilization portray the influence of cultural interventions and neighboring countries, Gilbert M. Joseph and Timothy J. Henderson in their book “The Mexico Reader”, very potently signifies the auspicious collaboration of various cultural as well as economic paradigms into a unique, one of a kind civilization, Mexico. This thesis thus also attempts to present arguments and counter arguments on the notion presented in the book through which Mexican civilization has been portrayed.

THE MEXICO READERS: A REVIEW General Overview The book titled “The Mexico Readers”, ponders upon the fact of ‘muchos Mexicos’ which stands for many Mexicans. The book at the outset can be perceived as an elaborate introduction to the diversified cultures and layers of historical events that have become responsible for shaping the present historical and cultural paradigm of the nation. The book forms a systematic guide to the culture and history of Mexico; it’s trying and non-uniformed history of modernization.

Mexico, very interestingly, did not receive its boundary from the people residing within the nation. As a matter of fact, the neighboring nations and people living around the borders of Mexico had a great contribution in shaping the boundary of the nation. This profound information finds intrinsic expression in the book, “The Mexico Reader”. The Roman Catholic Church and clergy had a far reaching role and influence in shaping and strengthening the ideological power of the nation. A vivid focus on the growth of clergy and Roman catechism in Mexico, the way it affected the social, economic and political arena of the nation, finds a very intense space in discussing the trajectory of Mexican history, in the book “The Mexico Reader”.

Argument The book, “Mexico Reader” poses a potent argument on an issue related to the Mexican civilization and its cultural development very critically. The alien influence on the Mexican culture and civilization is far beyond imagination. Yet, there are scholars and historians and social scientists to ponder upon the genuine structure of the Mexican civilization and culture, as free from any kind of heterogeneous culture and influence. Like in the insightful book of the Herbert Joseph Spinden, titled “Ancient Civilizations of Mexico and Central America”