Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt

Journalist Gibler has attempted to write a history of Mexican revolution, past and present, but his book functions better as a chronicle of a young American's sojourn in the Third World—and the myriad injustices he witnessed—than it does as a coherent critique of the current economic system and NAFTA. Still, his observations on Mexican resistance to economic oppression are provocative, e.g., he claims the income disparity in Mexico is related to mass emigration from Mexico to the U.S., and that Mexican economic policy and U.S. immigration policy have worked in concert to sap Mexico of its most skilled workers. Gibler brings vivid accounts of stories ignored by mainstream media (the deterioration of the rule of law in Ciudad Juarez, the Oaxaca teachers' union uprising in 2006). Unfortunately, the book suffers when the author digresses from his compelling case studies to launch inept attacks on Jeffrey Sachs's theories. (Feb.)