Tools of Progress

Tools of Progress

Author: Jürgen Buchenau

Publisher: UNM Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780826330888

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The history of Casa Boker, one of the first department stores in Mexico City, and its German owners provides important insights into Mexican and immigration history. Often called "the Sears of Mexico," Casa Boker has become over the past 140 years one of Mexico's foremost wholesalers, working closely with U.S. and European exporters and eventually selling 40,000 different products across the republic, including sewing machines, typewriters, tools, cutlery, and even insurance. Like Mexico itself, Casa Boker has survived various economic development strategies, political changes, the rise of U.S. influence and consumer culture, and the conflicted relationship between Mexicans and foreigners. Casa Boker thrived as a Mexican business while its owners clung to their German identity, supporting the Germans in both world wars. Today, the family speaks German but considers itself Mexican. Buchenau's study transcends the categories of local vs. foreign and insider vs. outsider by demonstrating that one family could be commercial insiders and, at the same time, cultural outsiders. Because the Bokers saw themselves as entrepreneurs first and Germans second, Buchenau suggests that transnational theory, a framework previously used to illustrate the fluidity of national identity in poor immigrants, is the best way of describing this and other elite families of foreign origin.


The Massey-Gilbert Blue Book of Mexico

The Massey-Gilbert Blue Book of Mexico

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2015-08-04

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9781332155163

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Excerpt from The Massey-Gilbert Blue Book of Mexico: A Directory in English of the City of Mexico The Blue Book of Mexico, in its completed form, has four parts. Of these tthe first two, in addition to the customary incidental directory information, contain social and club features particularly of value to the Anglo-American colony of Mexico City, but of general interest as well to Americans and Englishmen at home, on whose account the matter is made somewhat extended and explanatory. English-Speaking Residents. The third part is the directory of English-speaking residents of the Federal District. The unusual demand for the Blue Book, and the sustained friendly interest it has excited in Mexico, render unnecessary further explanation of this feature. All the colony knows of the house-to-house canvass which secured these names, and of their verification by means of 5, 000 return postal cards. For the ready response to these cards, for the heavy advance subscription, and for the continued cordial comment of the press and the people, the publishers are warmly grateful. They endeavor to show their gratitude in the presentation of a book which shall exceed every promise. The Classified Directory. The classified business directory of all Mexico City business firms, which composes the fourth part, is the most important part of all. Its double index makes it serviceable equally to English-and Spanish-speaking residents of the Capital and the Republic, while its distinctly American method of classification will prove readily comprehensible to business men in the United States and England. This classified list was carefully compiled, under the direction of the representative of a prominent mercantile agency, from the official list of firms furnished by the Mexican Treasury Department, and was verified by return postal cards sent, with their particular classification, to each firm. The response to these cards was general, and practically every business man in the city is an advance subscriber. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.


Creating Mexican Consumer Culture in the Age of Porfirio Díaz

Creating Mexican Consumer Culture in the Age of Porfirio Díaz

Author: Steven B. Bunker

Publisher: UNM Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0826344542

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"This study shows how goods and consumption embodied modernity in the time of Porfirio Diaz. Through case studies of tobacco marketing, department stores, advertising, shoplifting, and a famous jewelry robbery and homicide, he provides a tour of daily life in Porfirian Mexico City, overturning conventional wisdom that only the middle and upper classes participated in this culture"--Provided by publisher.


Americans in the Treasure House

Americans in the Treasure House

Author: Jason Ruiz

Publisher: University of Texas Press

Published: 2014-01-01

Total Pages: 397

ISBN-13: 0292753829

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This study of American travel to Mexico from 1884 to 1911 examines how the influx of tourists and speculators altered perceptions of US influence. When railroads connected the United States and Mexico in 1884, travel between the two countries became easier and cheaper. Americans developed an intense curiosity about Mexico, its people, and its opportunities for business and pleasure. Indeed, so many Americans visited Mexico during the Porfiriato—the long dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz—that observers on both sides of the border called it a “foreign invasion.” This, as Jason Ruiz demonstrates, was an especially apt phrase. In Americans in the Treasure House, Ruiz argues that this influx of travelers helped shape American perceptions of Mexico as a logical place to exert its cultural and economic influence. Analyzing a wealth of evidence ranging from travelogues and literary representations to picture postcards and snapshots, Ruiz shows how American travelers constructed an image of Mexico as a nation requiring foreign intervention to reach its full potential. Most importantly, he relates the rapid rise in travel and travel discourse to complex questions about national identity, state power, and economic relations across the US–Mexico border.