Bad Mexicans

Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands

By: Kelly Lytle Hernández

Narrated by: Joana Garcia

Bad Mexicans tells the dramatic story of the magonistas, the migrant rebels who sparked the 1910 Mexican Revolution from the United States. Led by a brilliant but ill-tempered radical named Ricardo Flores Magon, the magonistas were a motley band of journalists, miners, migrant workers, and more, who organized thousands of Mexican workers—and American dissidents—to their cause. Determined to oust Mexico's dictator, Porfirio Diaz, the rebels had to outrun and outsmart the swarm of US authorities vested in protecting the Diaz regime. The US Departments of War, State, Treasury, and Justice, as well as police, sheriffs, and spies, hunted the magonistas across the country.

But the magonistas persevered. They lived in hiding, wrote in secret code, and launched armed raids into Mexico until they ignited the world's first social revolution of the twentieth century.

Taking listeners to the frontlines of the magonista uprising and the counterinsurgency campaign that failed to stop them, Kelly Lytle Hernández puts the magonista revolt at the heart of US history. Long ignored by textbooks, the magonistas threatened to undo the rise of Anglo-American power, on both sides of the border, and inspired a revolution that gave birth to the Mexican-American population, making the magonistas' story integral to modern American life.

©2022 Kelly Lytle Hernández (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

The book was good but the reading is not

But this reading is so choppy and awkward I have to send it back.
The reason is the obvious fact that the performer is unfamiliar with spanish names. She reads Spanish words as though each word is such an accomplishment, it is very distracting from the text of this book.

A compelling story of rebellion

A real life story of rebels against the empire seen many times over in today’s pop culture. These are the lives and tribulations of people that actually went through it. A fundamental tale of the Mexican American experience.

DNF

I had to stop the audio. Pronunciation of names and locations were a sin, really bad. I’ll have to read this book the traditional way which is a route I don’t do often lately. But the content was good.

Content great. Reading bad.

Great story. Important history. Horrible Spanish pronunciation. Didn’t anyone raise objections in the process of production?

Names and places not theory

Fine history if you like the kind that details names and places. Very light on theory and explanation.