cover image Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith and Dreams of a Mexican President

Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith and Dreams of a Mexican President

Vicente Fox, Rob Allyn, . . Viking, $27.95 (375pp) ISBN 978-0-670-01839-0

Fox, who broke 71 years of one-party rule in Mexico when he became president in 2000, recounts his unconventional approach to Mexican politics as well as how he got there in the first place. With co-writer and political consultant Allyn, he explains his beginnings on his family's ranch, where he slowly began to realize the great difference between himself and the farmhands' children with whom he played. Though he was eventually sent to high school in Wisconsin and completed a university degree in Mexico City, Fox never shed his ranchero ways, rendered rather nostalgically in the book. After a stint as a young top executive with Coca-Cola, Fox began his political career, wearing cowboy boots the whole way. In addition to the story of his assent in politics, Fox offers his opinions on immigration and economic integration, the latter of which he is great proponent. Written with an American audience in mind, he repeatedly presents the argument that more trade between the United States and Mexico, with more jobs in Mexico—not a wall—is the solution to immigration problems. Fox is candid in the book and opens up about the controversial moments of his political career. However, the book reveals less about Fox than about his hopeful vision for the world. (Oct.)