First published 2023
Kelly Lytle Hernández uncovers the story of the magonistas, Mexican migrant rebels who organized the 1910 Mexican Revolution from within the United States. She centers her narrative on Ricardo Flores Magón, a radical journalist who led this diverse coalition of workers, miners, and dissidents against Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz. Hernández reveals how these rebels faced pursuit by multiple U.S. government departments determined to protect the Díaz regime, which allowed American industrialists like Guggenheim and Rockefeller to exploit Mexico's resources. The author demonstrates how the magonistas operated in secret, used coded communications, and launched cross-border raids while evading what became one of the FBI's earliest cases. Hernández argues that this overlooked movement threatened Anglo-American power on both sides of the border and ultimately sparked the twentieth century's first social revolution. The book repositions these migrant rebels as central figures in U.S. history, showing how their struggle gave birth to the modern Mexican-American population and shaped contemporary American life.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, activism, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: resistance, underdog
Setting: United States, Mexico
Period: 1910
384 pages · Paperback · W. W. Norton & Company
Content warnings: colonialism, racism