Peasants, Politics and the Formation of Mexico's National State: Guerrero, 1800-57 - Tapa dura

'This important book explores the connection between peasant grievances and the rise of federalist leaders of national stature ... This ... is a revisionist interpretation that radically departs from the view of post-indepence politcs as an intra-elite struggle between Liberal modernisers and Conservative traditionalists. For Guardino, the great division running through this period, cutting across ideological, cultural and social differences, was between centralism and federalism; between leaders who attempted to use the centre for reconstructing a neo-colonial, aristocratic order, and provincial leaders who fostered a popular constituency in order to protect and to enhance their regional autonomy.' Journal of Latin American Studies

This is a study of the role of peasants in the formation of the Mexican national state - from the end of the colonial era to the beginning of La Reforma, a moment in which liberalism became dominant in Mexican political culture. The book shows how Mexico's national political system was formed through local struggles and alliances that deeply involved elements of Mexico's impoverished rural masses, notably the peasants who took part in many of the local, regional, and national rebellions that characterised early-nineteenth-century politics. These rebellions were not battles over whether or not there was to be a state; they were contests over what the state was to be. The author focuses on the region of Guerrero, whose peasantry were deeply involved in the two most important broadly based revolts of the early nineteenth century: the War of Independence of 1810-21, and the 1853-55 Revolution of Ayutla, the rebellion that began La Reforma.