Mexico's Spiritual Reconquest brings to life a classically misunderstood pícaro: liberal soldier turned Catholic priest and revolutionary antipope, "Patriarch" Joaquín Pérez. Historian Matthew Butler weaves Pérez's controversial life story into a larger narrative about the relationship between religion, the state, and indigeneity in twentieth-century Mexico.
Mexico's Spiritual Reconquest is at once the history of an indigenous reformation and a deeply researched, beautifully written exploration of what can happen when revolutions try to assimilate powerful religious institutions and groups. The book challenges historians to reshape baseline assumptions about modern Mexico in order to see a revolutionary state that was deeply vested in religion and a Cristero War that was, in reality, a culture clash between Catholics.
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter One. Habemus Pérez, 1925
Chapter Two. "Mexico's Newest Revolution": ICAM
Chapter Three. The Other Cristiada: Pérez's Second Coming
Chapter Four. "Our Beloved Peasants": ICAM on the Ejido
Chapter Five. "Acá todo es vida": ICAM as Local Religion
Chapter Six. Bronze Priests: Mexican Revolutionary Clergy
Conclusion. Pérez Is Dead, Viva Pérez
Notes
Bibliography
Index
