What makes a German professor get interested in writting a tremendous book about the Mexican Revolution and get to be a book about international politics around the first war world? It beats me. The fact is: This book is an outstanding piece of historical war literature that can be compared with the best in the field. It is thoroughly documented and researched. Obviously the author has made a very exact analysis going through an enormous work of investigation that has taken a good deal of time. So if you are wondering why Mexico had a revolution that started around 1910 and lasted around 11 years, here is the place to look. It will also explain you in detail the many faces of this revolution that touched so many aspects of the life of people from all social and economical ranges. The outburst of the revolution was like a chain reaction originated mainly by the unjust and unfair situation which most people were having that exploded at the same time in most states in Mexico, each one of them with different leaders, armies and political affiliations. So the whole thing was quite complicated. That is why this book is amazing. It manages to tell the story in a most pleasurable way and it is very exciting reading indeed. All the main historical characters are very well described, in both their relationship and motivation with the revolution. Madero who started it all, Victoriano Huerta the villain and putschmaker, Emiliano Zapata the revolutonaty peasent who fought for land and liberty, Pancho Villa, once the chief of Northern Armies, but who was him? was he good or bad?, Carranza the non elected president, and at the end Obregon and Calles the first leaders and many others. But that is not all, here is described in all detail how and why England, Germany, Japan, France, Spain, and the United States got involved and which part each one of them played in this part of history which had dramatic results for the future, mostly because of the outcome both of the world war that started in 1914 and of the mexican revolution in 1910. It is worth mentioning the exactitude with which every aspect of this history is told, the author has not spared anything to accomplish a documentation which is well based in historical evidence and at the same time has made an exciting history book that can almost be read as a novel. Highly recommended.

Probably, the most important thing about this book is the fact that, though its subject is one of the most misunderstood characters of world history, it rests on an extremely rigorous research. Prof. Katz, one of the most serious and best historians you can read, and a specialist in Mexico, sought and found every available source of information. His history is as objective as it could be. But this is much more than just a biography of Pancho Villa; it is a history of the Mexican Revolution that develops around Villa and his movement. Besides, the life of Villa is more impressive, exciting and interesting than many, many fictional characters, even when the historian puts the legends aside and stays within the boundaries of solid data. It is really a pity that most people have an idea of Villa which comes from easy novels (like "The friends of Pancho Villa"). These novels may be good or bad, but most of the time they are pure fantasy. For example, most of them paint Villa as a bandit who led a disorderly band of killers. Well, surprise! Villa, who certainly had a past as an outlaw, managed to organize the most formidable war machine of the Revolution. During the 1910-1911, and 1913-1915 campaigns, his army was the best in terms of logistics, organization, discipline, morale, and strategy (until Villa made serious mistakes and Obregon defeated him). And more surprises: of all the revolutionary armies, Villa's was the most disciplined in terms of their behavior. Villa strongly prohibited and punished vandalism, rapes, destruction and raids. This is not to say they were a band of angels, but their cruelty and the devastation they created must be put in context. Carranza's army was much more terrible, and Carranza was no bandit, but a wealthy landowner. Anyway, this is a magnificent piece of work, extremely readable. Of course, it will not satisfy the reviewer below, who was looking for ten minutes of information in the Brittanica (very flawed, by the way), or the person who was looking just for "stories" and less "information". This, though extremely enjoyable, is serious history for serious readers who, along the way, find the amazing story of a contradictory man, with great wits, poor education, no significant traces of corruption (he had multiple opportunities to steal, run and keep the money, and never did it), extreme attitudes of cruelty, ruthlesness, violence, and also generosity, tenderness, and loyalty. Neither simple bandit nor saint: just an extraordinary man living in the hardest of times, escaping from death time after time, until the last time. Fictional characters don't get more amazing and historians don't get any better.

This is a great book. Not since John Womack's "Zapata & the Mexican Revolution" 2 decades ago has such a scholarly, well-written, moving account of the Mexican Revolution found its way into english. The book was, obviously, a labor of love and the labor of a career for Katz, who must have mined every possible source to generate a full-blooded picture of Villa himself, how he fit into the revolution, and the revolution'sown history. The book's length is formidable & off-putting, but not a difficult read at all ... I would recommend that people who might be scared off by its size try reading the first 50 pages or so before they conclude it is just too lengthy. I think most of you will find yourselves drawn in during that first immersion, and end-up buying (or taking it out of the library).

"The Life and Times of Pancho Villa" is the most complete source for information regarding this internationally recognized Mexican warrior. Katz, unlike other authors, gives a complete biography of the man, his myths and his legacy; as well as the geopolitical background corresponding to the periods of Villa's life. Both as a historian and a mexican, I feel that this is the one piece of literature that is completely indispensable for anyone that wants to know what happened during the so-called "mexican revolution" at the beginnings of the century and how this situation fits in with the rest of the world at this time. (i.e. The first World War)
Quite simply, I feel that this comprehensive book is definitely worth a deep read, yet it also satisfies those curious people who are in for a quick browse.