Mexico City : the production and reproduction of an urban environment /

Ward's book is for urban planners and serious scholars of Mexico; it is not an introductory or popular guide to the "megacity." Ward focuses on Mexico City's contemporary problems, putting them into the context of a global system. His main theme is Mexico City's failures and how they reproduce a systemic inequality. Ward gives the reader a vivid portrait of Mexico's infrastructure, its social instability, and a contemporary history of its management. The book's strengths are Ward's analysis of Mexico's present "crisis" and of how the policies of Presidents Miquel de la Madrid and Carlos Salinas de Gotari differ from those of their predecessors. Those scholars who cling to a free-market solution to Mexico's problems will find Ward's work cynical. Those wishing a more epistemic approach will appreciate sections such as "The creation of inequality through earthquake reconstruction." Ward could have improved his study by placing it in a strong historical context. Moderately footnoted, with a good bibliography and index. -R. Acuna, California State University, Northridge