The making of the Mexican border /

Meticulously researched and thoroughly documented, this monograph offers a rare view of the impact of the US and global economies on the city of Monterey and its state, Nuevo Leon, and the development of northern Mexico from 1848 to 1910. After elaborating in the introduction and chapter 1 on the definition of the two main concepts that frame the study--the frontier and the borderland--Mora-Torres (Univ. of Texas, San Antonio) in chapters 2 through 6 poignantly scrutinizes how regional economies transgress nation-state political models. The author analyzes the development of the US-Mexico border region and its unique characteristics, contrasting it with the underdeveloped interior regions of Mexico. He argues that endogenous factors (e.g., Porfirio Diaz's political centralism and its implementation by Bernardo Reyes) did influence the manner in which exogenous factors (e.g., US regional economies and the global economy) affected Mexico's development from the 1840s to the early 1910s. However, neither exogenous nor endogenous factors, he contends, can prevent the incursion of regional or global economies into the nation-states. This young scholar closes with two case studies of a brewery and a silver smelter that authenticate how regional economies, the US Southwest, and local entrepreneurs perform within domestic and regional environments. Highly recommended for graduate students and professionals. E. Pinero University of Wisconsin--Eau Claire