Tools of progress : a German merchant family in Mexico City, 1865-present / Jürgen Buchenau.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Buchenau, Jürgen, 1964-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Casa Boker (Firm)--History.

Casa Boker (Firm).

Hardware industry--Mexico--Mexico City--History.

Hardware industry.

History.

Mexico--Mexico City.

Physical Description:

xi, 267 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2004.

Summary:

"Tools of Progress is the history of Casa Boker, one of the first department stores in Mexico City, and its German owners. Buchenau's study transcends the categories of local vs. foreign and insider vs. outsider by demonstrating that one family could be commercial insiders and, at the same time, cultural outsiders. Because the Bokers saw themselves as entrepreneurs first and Germans second, Buchenau suggests that transnational theory, a framework previously used to illustrate the fluidity of national identity in poor immigrants, is the best way to describe this and other elite families of foreign origin.

Contents:

A trade conquistador comes to Mexico

The rise of the Casa Boker

In the business of imperialism and revolution

In the eye of the storm

Between the swastika and the eagle

At the margins of the "Mexican miracle"

Cross-cultural Bokers in an urban leviathan.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 200-259) and index.

ISBN:

0826330878

0826330886

OCLC:

53896634