Conflict and Carnage in Yucatán

Douglas Richmond's book contributes to the historiography of nineteenth-century Yucatán, Mexico, by adding to the scholarship on liberalism and Yucatecan politics by scholars such as Melchor Campos García, Pedro Bracamonte y Sosa, Arturo Güémez Pineda, Terry Rugeley, and Karen Caplan, among others. The originality of the book lies in its reassessment of the period of the Second Empire under Maximilian I (1864–67)—a brief but significant interlude in the otherwise largely unstable politics of Yucatán, where the governorship changed 26 times between 1848 and 1873.As the author explains in the introduction, the project had its beginning in an academic commitment he made to utilize the large holdings of microfilm housed at the University of Texas at Arlington. The result is an information-packed overview of developments in nineteenth-century Yucatán that highlights important themes including the effects of liberalism, the policies of successive governments toward education and the church, relations with the United States, the rise of henequen haciendas, and the causes of the political instability that marred nineteenth-century Yucatán. Although not strictly focused on the Caste War, the book does contribute to our understanding of this major upheaval by showing the ways in which government policies, particularly privatization of communal landholdings and extraction of fagina labor, continued to alienate Maya groups and hence prolong the Caste War.The major achievement of this work is to bring attention to a relatively overlooked period of Mexican history—the Second Empire. Richmond makes the bold argument that this brief period of monarchy under Maximilian I was in fact the period of Mexican history that most suitably addressed the social, economic, and political needs of Yucatán. Richmond successfully demonstrates the fractures within local and national rule and provides a compelling argument for why so many in Yucatán supported the Second Empire. Richmond paints a benevolent picture of the imperial regime and describes the imperial commissioner José Salazar Ilarregui as “Yucatán's finest ruler” (p. 75). According to Richmond, the imperial commissioner improved the economy of the peninsula and encouraged production of sugar, tobacco, indigo, salt, and even hammocks (p. 81). Richmond describes various ways in which Salazar Ilarregui sought to improve Yucatán—ranging from improving infrastructure and increasing public primary schools to regulating prostitution and ending the persecution of the church.An important contribution of the book is to show how successive regimes related to the Maya population, and here again Richmond argues that the Second Empire had better success at addressing indigenous concerns in the nineteenth century than did liberal governments. Thus under Maximilian I efforts were made to restore communal land and reinstitute the repúblicas de indios. An abogado defensor de indios, mainly in the person of José Demetrio Molina, also attempted to respond to the needs of indigenous people on the ground. Richmond's portrayal of Empress Carlota serves to emphasize her sincerity and benevolence. Furthermore, Richmond sees the Second Empire's territorial claims on British Honduras to weaken the munitions trade as a much more energetic effort to end the Caste War than the “feeble diplomacy of the liberals” (p. 124).Despite the merits of this book, there are a few notable drawbacks. First, although the book will appeal to scholars of Yucatán, nonspecialists and especially undergraduates may find all the details packed into the narrative irksome. Second, the first chapter focuses on Maya history from antiquity to 1821, purportedly to show the deep historical roots of Maya character and the conflicts of the nineteenth century. However, the chapter comes off as a bit simplistic and out of sync with the rest of the book. In fact, I would have instead preferred a longer treatment of the Second Empire, since this really seems to be the meat of the book. Certainly, there are documents available (such as José Demetrio Molina's accounts) that could have enabled a more in-depth assessment of the Second Empire's relations with the Maya.Overall, this book forwards an interesting and original argument, is well supported by a deep mining of sources, and proceeds at an engaging pace. It is a welcome addition to the historiography of nineteenth-century Yucatán

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Caste · Civilization · Economic history · Empire · Historiography · Humanities · Liberalism · Maya · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Sociology · Historical Studies in Latin America · History · Law · Mexican Socioeconomic and Environmental Dynamics · Politics and Society in Latin America