J. Justin Castro. Apostles of Progress

Apostles of Progress: Modesto C. Rolland, Global Progressivism, and the Engineering of Revolutionary Mexico examines the often-ignored role played by engineers during the Mexican Revolution and the consolidation of the postrevolutionary state. J. Justin Castro’s study represents part of a recent boom in the literature interested in exploring the role of technological experts in shaping and implementing the modernizing visions of bureaucrats. In his biography of a relatively minor revolutionary figure, Castro argues that the life of engineer Modesto C. Rolland “represents an often overlooked technocratic, moderate ideology shaped by nineteenth-and early twentieth-century liberalism” that influenced the policies and projects of various revolutionary governments (xvi). Castro acknowledges that while not all engineers and technocrats shared the exact ideology most generally adhered to a global progressive movement. As such, presidential administrations, reliant on the technological know-how of a small cadre of engineers to realize infrastructural and economic projects, were compelled to engage with their world views. This helps explain, for Castro, Rolland’s capacity to thrive professionally, working on a range of national infrastructure projects between 1906 and 1952.

Consolidation (business) · Economic history · Economics · Environmental ethics · Ideology · Liberalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Progressivism · Prosperity · Sociology · Technocracy · Vision · Anthropology · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Philosophy · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies