The secret war in El Paso : Mexican revolutionary intrigue, 1906-1920 / Charles H. Harris III, Louis R. Sadler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Harris, Charles H. (Charles Houston), author.

Sadler, Louis R., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Foreign relations--Mexico.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 488 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, [2009]

Summary:

Winner of the 2010 Spur Award for Best Contemporary Nonfiction from Western Writers of America The Mexican Revolution could not have succeeded without the use of American territory as a secret base of operations, a source of munitions, money, and volunteers, a refuge for personnel, an arena for propaganda, and a market for revolutionary loot. El Paso, the largest and most important American city on the Mexican border during this time, was the scene of many clandestine operations as American businesses and the U.S. federal government sought to maintain their influences in Mexico and protect national interest while keeping an eye on key Revolutionary figures. In addition, the city served as refuge to a cast of characters that included revolutionists, adventurers, smugglers, gunrunners, counterfeiters, propagandists, secret agents, double agents, criminals, and confidence men. Using 80, 000 pages of previously classified FBI documents on the Mexican Revolution and hundreds of Mexican secret agent reports from El Paso and Ciudad Juarez in the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations archive, Charles Harris and Louis Sadler examine the mechanics of rebellion in a town where factional loyalty was fragile and treachery was elevated to an art form. As a case study, this slice of El Paso's, and America's, history adds new dimensions to what is known about the Mexican Revolution.

Contents:

The Díaz-Taft meeting

The Magonistas

Madero's improbable triumph

Revolutionary discord

Orozco's rebellion

Merchants of death

Plot and counterplot

The constitutionalists

Villa ascendant

Huerta's defeat

Villa versus Carranza

Huerta's comeback attempt

Aftermath

Villa, Columbus, spies

The war crisis

Gunrunning

World War, 1917

World War, 1918

Exile futility

Villa's eclipse

The new strongman.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780826346544

0826346545