Porfirio Díaz /

This concise and well-presented biography was published at a most appropriate time. During his extended authoritarian rule of Mexico (1876-1910), Porfirio Diaz worked to create a stable and modern nation linked to world markets and foreign technology. Garner (Goldsmiths College, London) does not deny that the strong man used harsh methods to assure political and social tranquility but demonstrates that he established alliances with regional political leaders and was willing to compromise with a number of interest groups, including the Roman Catholic Church. Despite his close ties with US banking and business interests, Diaz sought to balance North American influence with European ties and on many occasions supported domestic Mexican entrepreneurs. The revolutionary forces that toppled the aging regime in 1910 roundly denounced the former president as a traitor of the people of Mexico and launched a program of political and economic nationalism to replace his legacy. After 1982, however, the controlling Revolutionary Party of Mexico launched a neoliberal economic program reminiscent of the Diaz era that reached a high point in early 1994 with the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This study offers a balanced critique of the complex regime of Porfirio Diaz and its impact on Mexico as it enters the 21st century. E. H. Moseley emeritus, University of Alabama