Emiliano Zapata: Revolution & Betrayal in Mexico

Based upon new archival sources, this vivid and fast-moving biography substantially changes our view of Zapata. Previous studies, emphasizing the revolutionary movement as a whole, have regarded Zapata as an archetypal peasant revolutionary. Brunk shows us Zapata the leader. His scrutiny of the internal workings of Zapatismo illuminates the movement’s conflict and brutality, which have never been discussed in such detail. He also closely examines Zapata’s uneasy relationship with the urban intellectuals who joined his movement. Arguing that the peasant communities of Mexico were conscious shapers of their own history, Brunk describes a Zapata who demonstrated a profound understanding of the people and culture in which he operated. Zapata contributed the ideology and organization that his movement needed to be successful, and his choices and actions made him an effective leader on the local and regional levels. This clearly written and carefully argued narrative presents a less mythical and more human Emiliano Zapata against the dramatic and chaotic background of the Mexican Revolution.