Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands

Description

Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands by Kelly Lytle Hernández tells the riveting story of the magonistas—migrant rebels who helped ignite the 1910 Mexican Revolution from the United States. With propulsive narrative drive, Hernández follows journalist and dissident Ricardo Flores Magón and a far‑reaching network of workers, organizers, and allies as they challenge dictatorship, corporate power, and cross‑border repression.

Blending borderlands history with investigative storytelling, this award‑winning work reframes U.S.–Mexico relations through the lens of resistance, surveillance, and solidarity. It’s a landmark account that illuminates how struggles in Mexico reshaped politics, labor, and policing across the North American West—and why that history matters now.

Key Features

• Award recognition: Winner of the Bancroft Prize; National Book Awards 2022 Longlist; notable year‑end selections.
• Compelling focus: Centers the magonistas and Ricardo Flores Magón, tracing networks that crossed the border and the press that fueled revolt.
• Borderlands lens: Connects migration, labor organizing, and state power to a formative chapter of the Mexican Revolution.
• Accessible scholarship: A narrative history written for general readers as well as students of Latinx, Chicanx, and U.S. history.
• Edition details: Paperback; approx. 384 pages; published by W. W. Norton & Company.

Why Choose This Book

• Timely and relevant: Offers historical context for contemporary debates on borders, immigration, and policing.
• Rich for discussion: Ideal for book clubs and community reads exploring power, resistance, and transnational movements.
• Authoritative yet engaging: Meticulously researched and vividly told by a leading historian.