New book explores little-known twists of US-Mexico fights & friendship

A remarkable English-speaking historian and author is in our midst – “the real thing,” as one commentator put it – and residents of Ajijic and Guadalajara have a chance to witness him present his latest publishing project on its official release date, Sunday, March 8, in Ajijic; and then Tuesday, March 17, Saint Patrick’s Day, at the American School in Guadalajara.

The historian is Michael Hogan and the book is “Guns, Grit and Glory: How the U.S. and Mexico Came Together to Defeat the Last Empire in the Americas” (Henselstone Verlag, a German-American academic press). It is the third in a series that covers a piece of Mexico-U.S. history, which, as Hogan, a scholar who has put in years at Guadalajara’s American School, says, “has not yet been fully explored … or has been interpreted with a bias.” That bias, it seems, largely involves painting the two countries as sworn enemies (witness the current U.S. administration), while this author documents plenty of cooperation, including arms trade (a less-than-open “tradition” that still continues).

Please login or subscribe to view the complete article.