Written over a 25-year span, these essays explore the ways in which the rural, regional, political, and cultural history of colonial and nineteenth-century Mexico has been approached by scholars.

Eric Van Young is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of California, San Diego. His works include The Other Rebellion: Popular Violence, Ideology, and the Struggle for Mexican Independence, 1810-1821 (Stanford University Press, 2001; recipient of the Bolton-Johnson Prize).