Tornel and Santa Anna: The Writer and the Caudillo, Mexico 1795-1853

(Hardback)

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A study of one of the leading politicians of independent Mexico, Jose Maria Tornel y Mendivil, whose loyalty to Santa Anna and whose skills as a writer led him to play a crucial role in enabling the Caudillo's repeated rise to power during this period. This biography offers an insight into the political thought of the santanistas and the ways in which Santa Anna was able to return to power time and again in spite of the fact that he was deemed responsible for such major national disasters as the Texas campaign of 1836 and the 1847 defeat against the USA. An analysis of Tornel's own political evolution, from advocating a radical federalist agenda in the 1820s to defending reactionary dictatorship in the 1850s, illustrates the extent to which the santanistas' policies changed as the hopeful, early 1820s degenerated into the despair of the late 1840s. The work demonstrates the extent to which Santa Anna's success relied on Tornel's services.

Reviews

.,."a significant contribution to the history of Mexican politics during the early nationa period."-South Eastern Latin Americanist
.,."Fowler has contributed significantly to the new wave of historiography through this and earlier books...[a] very important contribution to Mexican historiography."-Choice
...a significant contribution to the history of Mexican politics during the early nationa period.-South Eastern Latin Americanist
...Fowler has contributed significantly to the new wave of historiography through this and earlier books...[a] very important contribution to Mexican historiography.-Choice
[A] heavily footnoted, exhaustively researched, and important study on one of the principal figures of the time....If Santa Anna remains the central enigma in early republican Mexican history, Fowler's biography clearly demonstrates the pivotal role Tornel played.-Latin American Research Review
[A] substantial step forward in our knowledge of the Santa Anna era.-Latin American Studies
Because this is a well-researched study by one of the foremost experts of the period, it offers a rare view into the complex events that characterized early nineteenth-century Mexico....It is a compelling read, free of jargon, that is up-to-date on the political trends of the era, and it puts to rest many stereotypes about Santa Anna, as well as Tornel and other Mexican leaders.-Western Historical Quarterly
Fowler's study of Tornel and Santa Anna casts new light on the complex evolution of politics and relationships during Mexico's postindependence decades.-New Mexico Historical Review
..."Fowler has contributed significantly to the new wave of historiography through this and earlier books...a very important contribution to Mexican historiography."-Choice
"A heavily footnoted, exhaustively researched, and important study on one of the principal figures of the time....If Santa Anna remains the central enigma in early republican Mexican history, Fowler's biography clearly demonstrates the pivotal role Tornel played."-Latin American Research Review
"A substantial step forward in our knowledge of the Santa Anna era."-Latin American Studies
..."a significant contribution to the history of Mexican politics during the early nationa period."-South Eastern Latin Americanist
"[A] heavily footnoted, exhaustively researched, and important study on one of the principal figures of the time....If Santa Anna remains the central enigma in early republican Mexican history, Fowler's biography clearly demonstrates the pivotal role Tornel played."-Latin American Research Review
"[A] substantial step forward in our knowledge of the Santa Anna era."-Latin American Studies
"Fowler's study of Tornel and Santa Anna casts new light on the complex evolution of politics and relationships during Mexico's postindependence decades."-New Mexico Historical Review
"Because this is a well-researched study by one of the foremost experts of the period, it offers a rare view into the complex events that characterized early nineteenth-century Mexico....It is a compelling read, free of jargon, that is up-to-date on the political trends of the era, and it puts to rest many stereotypes about Santa Anna, as well as Tornel and other Mexican leaders."-Western Historical Quarterly

Author Bio

WILL FOWLER lectures in Latin American and Spanish History literature at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. As well as having edited four volumes of Mexican and Latin American political history, he is the author of Military Political Identity and Reformism in Independent Mexico, An Analysis of the Memorias de Guerra, 1821-1855 (1996), and Mexico in the Age of Proposals, 1821-1853 (Greenwood, 1998).