CINCO DE MAYO: A
SYMBOL OF MEXICAN RESISTANCE.
Cabello-Argandoņa,
Roberto, Luis Torres, Luis Leobardo Arroyo and Antonio Ríos-
Bustamante. Ser.: Nuestra Historia. 1997 178 pgs. ISBN: 0-
915745-43-7 Includes illus. and biblio. $40.00 Price for class
use $17.95
It probes the historical, political and international factors
that led to the Battle of Puebla of 1862 from pre-Independence to
the War of In dependence, international conflicts, War of Reform
and the subsequent political and economic crisis of Mexico. It
covers the political crisis in Mexico and the United States,
itself in the midst of a civil war, and the somber prospects of
foreign invasion in Mexico by three major world powers, Spain,
Britain and France. It examines the question of the foreign debt,
the allied invasion in Mexico in 1861, the subsequent departure
of the Spanish and British forces and the extent of the French
Intervention. It provides a most detailed account of the forces
and activities of the French and Mexican sides, during the last
three days before, the day of and the day after the battle
itself. Examines also the inspiring history of a triumphant
Chicano general, Ignacio Zaragoza, (1829-1862), born in a period
of international conflicts and forced to flee from his home as a
youth because of the American settler's revolt in Texas in 1836.
It includes nine patriotic poems (Spanish-English parallel text)
written in California between 1864 and 1865 commemorating CINCO
DE MAYO and published for the first time in monographic form.
Unquestionably, this is the definitive history book on The Battle
of Puebla on the Cinco de Mayo, 1862.