The author is a shame for my country. He is a very bright intellectual, the problem is that he has been a member of the three main political parties in the last 10 years.
Before 1996 he was in the PRI, the main party of Mexico, from 1996 to 1999 whe was in PRD, the leftist party of Mexico, from 2000 to 2002 he was in PAN the opposit party. Actually he is member of Another party a new one.
This guy wrote this book as a masterpiece. He is a Genius, educated in Princeton and the Sorbonne.
The problem of this book is that is very biassed. When he wrote this book he was in the opposition party and he attack constantly the PRI in this book. Before 1996 when he was a member of the PRI he wrote another book where he praised his party (PRI) in a very obvious way.
I don't recommend this book because Jorge Castaneda is very subjective.

Jorge G. Castaneda has written a well-researched and thorough look at the succession of Mexican presidents from the 1970 to the 1994 election in Perpetuating Power (How Mexican Presidents Were Chosen). This book is made all the more fascinating as this system no longer holds true in the Mexican system as the essentially one party government (PRI) no longer holds power for the first time since the 1920's. The author takes the reader through each presidents decision before each election as he selected and annointed his personal choice for his successor in Mexico's system, resembling closely the appointing of a new dictator every six years as the successor chosen always became the PRI candidate and, thus, the Mexican president. It is intersting to see the combination of personal, political, business and myriad of smaller factors work to move the winner ahead or pull the losers back. The series of essays on the successors are followed by a series of interviews with the Mexian presidents, for which the essays nicely prepare the reader. Some of selection process can become repititious and this book is only for those interested in Mexican politics, particulary with a little previous knowledge, but it is an important subject presented very well. An invaluable resource for examining relatively recent Mexican politics.

From 1934 to 1994, each president of Mexico singlehandedly chose his successor--it was called putting the finger (dedazo) on him. Technically, each president simply recommended his candidate to the ruling PRI party: but that choice was always ratified. Each president then served for one six-year term and, ineligible for reelection, chose his successor. The result was something like term-limited absolute monarchy, with much of politics revolving around the choice of a successor.
Until now, this process has been shrouded in mystery; and no longer obtains (President Ernesto Zedillo silently endorsed a PRI successor, but he lost to PAN candidate Vicente Fox in 2000). But Jorge Castaneda, long one of Mexico's leading intellectuals and now Vicente Fox's Foreign Minister, interviewed the four living presidents who preceded Zedillo on how they were chosen and how they chose their successors. Evidently these men trusted Castaneda because of his high-level PRI connections (his father served as foreign minister in a PRI government) and they seem to be speaking frankly. The result is fascinating. It provides information about Mexican politics that most observers expected would never be made public. And it is also, even for those with no special interest in Mexico, a fascinating psychological study of men who held near-absolute power but knew they must relinquish it to another--a subject worthy of Shakespeare. The translation is rough--the prose is not as good as Castaneda's when he writes in English--and the book consists only of excerpts from the Spanish version, La Herencia. But I found it utterly fascinating.