Este es un libro tan completo que hace unos años era requerido como lectura obligada en los cursos de literatura en muchas escuelas de México. Es sumamente interesante dado que incluye a las corrientes mas representativas de la literatura latinoamericana como el boom y el realismo mágico. Es un libro excelente que con cuentos cortos nos presenta a los escritores clave de estas corrientes. Una lectura indispensable para quien desea introducirse en la literatura latinoamericana sin gastar una fortuna.

When I first started reading this book I thought it was really boring, but when I was finished I was glad I read it. I don't know that I like Azuela's writing style, but the message he was trying to convey was wonderful. His message was: power corrupts. This book is centered around a poor Mexican peasant named Demetrio, and his group of men rebelling against the Mexican government. At the beginning of the book the men all want a less oppressive government. Their goals are good, and their ideals are good. But as they gain more power and prestige they become more corrupt. They do cruel things to innocent people, they steal, and they are cruel to each other. Azuela makes the point over and over again that the men are poor and ignorant, they know nothing of politics, and they don't understand why they are fighting. Although I thought this book was boring, it has a very good message. It's worth reading just to understand that message.

This is a marvelous book, especially for Gringos who want to understand a major element of the psyche of Mexico.

But first, some background. In 1810, when Fr. Hidalgo issued his immortal 'Grito del Dolores' that launched Mexico's War of Independence from Spain, the average Mexican was better off than most Americans. The American Revolution, then the French Revolution, ignited the fires of freedom throughout the Americas. Mexico was one of the first to raise the proud banner of freedom.

Conservatives fought back, as they did in the 13 Colonies, and turned Mexico into a savage battleground. In the United States, successful Revolutionaries exiled defeated "United Empire Loyalists" to Canada, the Caribbean and England; in Mexico, in one form or another, both factions fought for a century. More than half of Mexico, what is now the US Southwest and California, was lost. The continuous war, plus an invasion by France, plundered Mexico of its wealth. In 1876, Porfirio Diaz imposed order; by 1910, after 34 years of the increasingly brutal Porfiriato despotism, the "underdogs" were ready to explode.

In one form or another, Revolution lasted until 1929. Peace finally came to Mexico when the Party of the Institutionalized Revolution (PRI) organized a national government and held power until the year 2000, when the presidency was won by Vincente Fox Queseda of the National Action Party (PAN).

Los de Abajo, printed in 1915 as a serial in an El Paso newspaper, was the first novel of the Revolution of 1910. It is still the finest description of the mood of people who made the revolution; a blunt description of the sheer joy of total destruction by people who had been crushed until all hope was lost.

"Peace is respect for the rights of others," President Benito Juarez had said in the 1860's. The lack of respect for the Underdogs produced the Revolution; no respect, no peace.

The central character, Demetrio Macias, when asked by his wife why he fights, tossed a pebble into a ravine and watched it roll to the bottom. Alberto Solis, often regarded as Azuela's spokesman in the book, compared the revolution to a hurricane, "The man who surrenders to it is no longer a man but a miserable dry leaf tossed about by the storm."

Azuela writes about the futility of the conflict. A doctor, he served with Francisco Villa's famed Division of the North, "Los Dorados," but he criticizes the folly and brutality of the Underdogs as well as the cynicism and venality of Los Ricos. Once you understand this nihilism, it becomes clear why Mexicans accepted one-party rule and corruption from 1929 until 2000. It also explains why so much hope is now placed on the PAN presidency.

Prosperity is a product of freedom; but, there is no freedom without law. Before 1910, the Diaz tyranny was the law; the Revolution forever smashed the laws of tyranny. It takes time to build a new society -- too long and too self-serving for the PRI, say the critics. But, when you understand the Underdogs, you wonder if it could be any other way.

Democracy in Mexico? Azuela writes of wiping the slate clean, to give democracy a fresh start. The PRI restored order and allowed a peaceful transition of power. If it fails, as some say it has in Chiapas, this book explains the spirit of Mexico that will fight again until freedom is assured.

It's not just a novel of the past, it's a warning to the future of what happens to anyone who betrays Mexico. It's the best book ever written about the continuing Revolution that, slowly and irresistibly, is producing a modern free Mexico.

I was assigned to read this book for a Mexican Literature class, and I was expecting it to be just another boring history novel. However, this novel was a wonderfully metaphorical account of the hopes, yearnings, desires, and dreams of the "rebels," the poor common-man revolutionists during the Mexican Revolution. It is full of colorful similes that really increase the effects of the fight...the cause...that these people are working for. It is, by no means, "just another war-filled history story." It's an easy read, I finished it cover to cover in just a day and a half, and there's an actual story-line to follow, unlike with so many history tales which are merely accounts of battle. This story has more than its share of graphic battle scenes, but the plight of the revolutionists somehow stirs up empathy with the reader. A fine piece of Mexican literature. Recommended.