Mexico's history is a series of layers laid one over another and never quite buried — the great Indigenous civilizations, the trauma of conquest, the long colonial period, the wars of independence and revolution, and the modern struggles over democracy and violence. Read out of order and these strata blur together; read in sequence and you see how each one still presses up through the present. Understanding modern Mexico means digging down.
The path begins with the sweep and the pre-Columbian world, moves through conquest and its accounts from both sides, and arrives at the revolution and the contemporary state.
Overview and the ancient world
Start with two guides. A Short History of Mexico offers a compact overview, and Mexico: Biography of Power by Krauze is the magisterial narrative of the country from the Aztecs to the twentieth century, organized around the leaders who wielded power. For the pre-Columbian foundation, The Aztecs by Smith is the authoritative modern account of the civilization the Spanish encountered.
Conquest from both sides
The conquest is the hinge of Mexican history, and it must be read from both perspectives. The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz is the vivid eyewitness account by one of Cortés's soldiers, while Broken Spears gathers the Aztec accounts of the same catastrophe — the conquered people's own voice. Reading them together is the only honest way to grasp what happened.
Revolution and the modern state
The modern country was forged in upheaval. The Labyrinth of Solitude by Paz is the essential meditation on Mexican identity and character, and The eagle and the serpent by Guzmán is a classic memoir of the Revolution. So Far from God covers the war with the United States that cost Mexico half its territory. For the twentieth century, The Perfect Dictatorship, also by Krauze, dissects the long rule of the PRI, and Distant neighbors by Riding is the perceptive portrait of Mexico and its relationship with the U.S. Finally, El Narco by Grillo confronts the drug war that shapes the country now.
Read in this order and Mexico's past becomes a living structure beneath the present. Follow the full path to move from the Aztecs to the drug war with the full history in view.
