The Sonoran Dynasty in Mexico: Revolution, Reform, and Repression

Between 1920 and 1934, two generals from Sonora, Álvaro Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles, dominated Mexico, mixing radical rhetoric with the accommodation of entrenched interests. The Sonoran Dynasty included Adolfo de la Huerta and Abelardo L. Rodríguez, but fell apart in bloody conflicts reflecting broader economic, political, and social disagreements. Jürgen Buchenau's book presents an innovative look at the negotiation of power and state formation in revolutionary Mexico.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 422 pages
Publication date: 01 November 2023
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press

Between 1920 and 1934, two generals from the northwest state of Sonora, Álvaro Obregón and Plutarco Elías Calles, dominated Mexico, having risen to prominence in the course of the Mexican Revolution. Torn between popular demands for ending the privileges of wealthy foreign investors and opposition by a hawkish U.S. administration and enemies at home, the two generals and their allies from their home state mixed radical rhetoric with the accommodation of entrenched interests.

In The Sonoran Dynasty in Mexico, Jürgen Buchenau tells the story of this ruling group, which rejected the Indigenous and Catholic past during the decades of the revolution and aimed to reinvent Mexico along the lines of the modern and secular societies in western Europe and the United States. In addition to Obregón and Calles, the Sonoran Dynasty included Adolfo de la Huerta and Abelardo L. Rodríguez, four Sonorans among six presidents in less than two decades. Although the group began with the common aims of nationalism, modernization, central political control, and enrichment, Buchenau argues that this group progressively fell apart in a series of bloody conflicts that reflected broader economic, political, and social disagreements. By analyzing the dynasty from its origins through its eventual downfall, Buchenau presents an innovative look at the negotiation of power and state formation in revolutionary Mexico.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781496236142