A Pueblo Divided Business, Property, and Community in Papantla, Mexico

"A Pueblo Divided rethinks the history of Mexico during the nineteenth century from the perspective of one community. Its great innovation is to see evolving divisions and integrations within indigenous Papantla in the context of both the production of vanilla for a developing Atlantic export economy and the consolidation of the 'liberal' state via land privatizations and political interventions. Detailing the political and economic complexities of Papantla in Atlantic and Mexican national contexts simultaneously, Kour offers a model history." - John Tutino (Georgetown University) "This book is a landmark in Mexican rural history." - The Americas "This excellent study nicely contextualizes these socioeconomic transformations in Papantla, both historically and geographically. The research is exhaustive and detailed, yet the book is well written and clearly argued... Importantly, it rises above the too-often simplistic dichotomy of entrepreneurs and government officials versus victimized Indians." - Hispanic American Historical Review "This is economic and business history at its best, committed not only to rigorous probing of the explanatory power of external factors like world commodity markets, but also to exposing and exploring the places where those factors lose their power to explain." - Journal of Interdisciplinary History "Terrific-wonderfully researched, thoroughly original, and beautifully written. It may be the best book ever written on agrarian protest in Mexico; it will certainly transform the field." - John Coatsworth (Columbia University) "It is no small achievement for any historian to be able to say something new about this important period of Mexican history. Emilio Kour's achievement in A Pueblo Divided is far greater than that. He has been able to contribute decisively to resolving one of the most controversial and debated issues for that period. Kour paints such a vivid picture of the life of the villagers, and above all of the uprisings, that it will be a pleasure to read even for people who are not primarily concerned with this subject. This book constitutes a brilliant work and a major breakthrough in the history of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Mexico." - Friedrich Katz (The University of Chicago) "Based on a mass of evidence, clearly structured and argued, A Pueblo Divided offers a lively and informative analysis of Papantla's vanilla boom and its many repercussions. This is an impressive and original study of an important topic, hitherto rather poorly understood, now, thanks to Kour and his indefatigable research, made accessible to students of Mexican History. It fills a significant gap." - Alan Knight, St. Antony's College (Oxford)