University of New Mexico Press Mexico City, 1808: Power, Sovereignty, and Silver in an Age of War and Revolution (Diálogos Series)

Review A valuable and timely contribution that helps the reader to consider the subject anew and go beyond a nationalism anchored in the nineteenth century.--Antonio Ibarra, Journal of Latin American StudiesTutino meticulously reconstructs the class and economic factions that built and maintained the 'Silver Metropolis' (Mexico City) during the eighteenth century to set the stage for the tumultuous events of 1808.--Jesse Zarley, Latin American Research ReviewTutino's careful reconstruction of the varied, sometimes contradictory responses of the city's oligarchs--the greatest stakeholders in New Spain's colonial order--to silver bonanzas, devastating droughts, rural revolts, imperial wars, and fiscal crises is illuminating.--Erika Pani, American Historical Review Product Description In 1800 Mexico City was the largest, richest, most powerful city in the Americas, its vibrant silver economy an engine of world trade. Then Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808, desperate to gain New Spain's silver. He broke Spain's monarchy, setting off a summer of ferment in Mexico City. People took to the streets, dreaming of an absent king, seeking popular sovereignty, and imagining that the wealth of silver should serve New Spain and its people--until a military coup closed public debate. Political ferment continued while drought and famine stalked the land. Together they fueled the political and popular risings that exploded north of the capital in 1810. Tutino offers a new vision of the political violence and social conflicts that led to the fall of silver capitalism and Mexican independence in 1821. People demanding rights faced military defenders of power and privilege--the legacy of 1808 that shaped Mexican history. About the Author John Tutino is a professor of history and international affairs at Georgetown University. He is also the author of Making a New World: Founding Capitalism in the Bajío and Spanish North America and The Mexican Heartland: How Communities Shaped Capitalism, a Nation, and World History, 1500-2000.