Judas at the Jockey Club essays

Judas at the Jockey Club essays William H. Beezleys Judas at the Jockey Club provides the reader with an accurate in-depth view of a struggling and developing Mexico throughout the Porfirian era up to the year 1910. Beezley considers this period in Mexican history to begin around 1876 and states that the social, political and economic factors are considered as an argument that this period can be seen as the foundation for modern Mexico. The author also examines the ordinary aspects of the every day lives of Mexicans. From sports to recreation, from work to jobs, and from ceremonies to celebrations in order to illustrate the extent to which the two main culture groups of Mexican society, los de arriba (the elite) and los de abajo (the underclass) live their very separate lives. Beezleys research was extremely extensive, but organized to perfection. He used an impressive amount of different newspapers, magazines, and books to successfully cover the cultural separations and highly defined differences of the two social divisions in the developing nation of Mexico around the turn of the 20th century. The author uses over one hundred different sources to inform the reader that there is much more to Mexican life than seen by the naked eye. However, Beezley could have supported his views on the lower class with a further in-depth focus as he did so with the upper class. Overall, his research and argument was well written. He captures local Mexican views and standpoints of both the upper and lower classes and created a division that would make a reader, with any or little previous knowledge of Latin American study, understand with the greatest of ease. Judas at the Jockey Club is divided into three large sections of interest including Sport & Recreation (elite class), Rocks & Rawhide in Rural Society (lower class), and finally, one entitled Judas at the Jockey Club. The first section of sport and recreation is a true test of knowledge and an endless suppl...