A Brief History of Violence in Mexico

Political rhetoric often portrays Mexico as an inherently violent nation. Pablo Piccato’s essential work, now available in English for the first time, cuts through the noise to contextualize violence as a historical phenomenon. Piccato shows us that violence is not unique to Mexico but, just as anywhere else, has erupted there in many forms. Attending to multiple histories of violence, Piccato reveals how violence emerges as a resource that people mobilize to various ends--not an uncontrollable impulse or the simple result of corrupt political power.

Traversing the twentieth century through the lens of violence, Piccato interprets and draws connections between violence arising from revolution, agrarian and religious struggles, guerrilla and counterinsurgency movements, and common crime, all without losing sight of the distinct contexts and social dynamics of each. Gender violence, he argues, surfaces as a common thread, shaping all other forms of violence. Piccato brings to light how guerrillas, the military, politicians, and common criminals rationalized violence to fit their goals, ideologies, and values. In an unflinching analysis that contends that violence is not an essential trait of Mexican society, Piccato presents a new paradigm for understanding violence and illustrates that we are not powerless against it.

Pablo Piccato is professor of history at Columbia University and author of A History of Infamy: Crime, Truth, and Justice in Mexico.

Quentin Pope is a UK-based translator who lived in Mexico for over twenty years.