After Bush's splendid little war in Iraq, that endless gullet down which our reputation and treasure flows, the word "insurgent" doesn't quite sit well with most Americans. Gives 'em an itch and a twitch, don'cha know.
So, when travelling in Mexico, its jarring to find major thoroughfares proudly named "Avenida del Insurgentes". But you see, for our neighbors to the south, an insurgent is a good thing.
It was an insurgency at the turn of the century that overthrew a decades-long dictatorial regime - and the hundreds of years of oppression by The Church and the hacendado system, handed down since the day Cortez shook hands with Moctezuma and said, "Nice palace, mind if I stay?" - and sparked a twenty year revolution. At the end, there wasn't much left for anybody, but the church and the banks were now out of their government and people could own their own land again, and if they were poor, at least they had their dignity. And some tacos.
It took another 70 years to break some very old habits, but these things take time.
John Reed was there with Pancho Villa, fighting with the northern rebel armies, and he writes about it in Insurgent Mexico.
This book is rich with telling detail. The period really leaps off of the page.
As with most historical novels about Mexico, you find that the essential soul of the people of that country has never changed. There are vivid accounts of exchanges between people that could have happened this morning, let alone 100 years ago.
Later Reed would travel to Russia and document the Russian Revolution in Ten Days That Shook the World. It was this book that Warren Beatty built his movie "Reds" around.
