Rating: 
Summary: The Rocky Road to Democracy
Review: This is an excellent book on several counts. First it serves as a good primer for anyone wanting to learn about our neighbors to the south. Second it is a sobering analysis of the factors that need to be in place to even get to an imperfect democracy. Finally it is a remarkable blow by blow of how a hardy band of idealists, intellectuals and politicos brought down the "perfect dictatorship".Opening Mexico takes us from the student rebellion of 1968 to the presidential election of 2000. Along the way we meet unrepentant PRI dinosaurs who almost seem to relish stealing elections and their outnumbered and outmatched opponents. Hovering in the background is Vincente Fox who does the impossible, taking over Los Pinos - the presidential residence. While Fox did the impossible it is his predecessor Zedillo, the accidental president, who emerges as one of the greatest heroes of the book. Zedillo was named his party's candidate for the presidency only after the previous candidate was gunned. Constitutional peculiarities practically forced Carlos Salinas to name Zedillo as the PRI candidate. Zedillo a dour technocrat would ultimately challenge the very system that promoted him by turning on his benefactor and forcing his party to face to accept its defeat. Read "Opening Mexico" book if you love Mexico, enjoy politics, are inspired by the quest for freedom or enjoy a good thriller. I also recommend "Bordering on Chaos" by Andres Oppenheimer. "Opening Mexico" is in many ways a sequel to Oppenheimer's work. "Bordering on Chaos" closes with the Mexican meltdown of 1994 and does an exceptional job recounting the efforts of the dinosaurs to manipulate the political process. It is a gripping narrative.
Rating:
Summary: A very worthy but not authoritative contribution.
Review: This is the first and only account of the amazing revolution in Mexican politics that took place when Vicente Fox was elected. For more then 70 years Mexico was dominated by the PRI(Institutional revolutionary Party) which made Mexico basically a one-party state. But beginning in the 1990s this book tells the fascinating story of the surprise election results that almost brought the PRD socialists to power. Then subsequent chapters detail the Colosio assassination and the Salinas/Zedillo presidencies, culminating in the Fox campaign and the rise of the PAN party. Although this book will appeal mostly to those with some knowledge of Latin American politics and Mexican affairs it is also of interest to any American who seeks more knowledge of our southern naeighboor. This is a much needed contribution to the dirth of scholarship on modern Mexican politics. Seth J. Frantzman
Rating: 
Summary: A needed contribution
Review: This is the first and only account of the amazing revolution in Mexican politics that took place when Vicente Fox was elected. For more then 70 years Mexico was dominated by the PRI(Institutional revolutionary Party) which made Mexico basically a one-party state. But beginning in the 1990s this book tells the fascinating story of the surprise election results that almost brought the PRD socialists to power. Then subsequent chapters detail the Colosio assassination and the Salinas/Zedillo presidencies, culminating in the Fox campaign and the rise of the PAN party. Although this book will appeal mostly to those with some knowledge of Latin American politics and Mexican affairs it is also of interest to any American who seeks more knowledge of our southern naeighboor. This is a much needed contribution to the dirth of scholarship on modern Mexican politics. Seth J. Frantzman
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