Americas Quarterly - Winter 2012

ginning today, I will understand that voting is an essential, crucial and fundamental right,” and that this right should be exercised with great forethought and responsibility.

This is not a book for those uninitiated in the intricacies of Mexican society and politics, nor for those who are defensive about Mexico and its place in the world. And it will disappoint those looking for a good news story to counterbalance the steady stream of bad news about crime and violence. But it is a message of hope, and as such it will be invaluable to those honestly wrestling with the complexities of Mexico and to those rooting for this great nation to succeed and take its rightful place on the global stage. There are no sugar-coated magic pills offered by Dr. Dresser; instead she offers the hard truths that must be confronted before any recovery program is possible.

The translation of the title (My Country) gives insight into Dresser’s deeper purpose in writing the book. She sees the citizen as critical for the future of the country; Mexicans must assume their civic responsibility and work to change current reality. While the book does not pull punches about the corruption and mediocrity of Mexican leadership, it takes ordinary citizens to task for allowing their country to be overrun by “kleptocrats.” Dresser believes Mexicans must take ownership of their country, and, through her 10-point roadmap, throw off the shackles that have held the country back.

Dresser outlines an important agenda that is post-partisan at its core and returns to the foundational notions of citizenship and responsibility as the source of strength in society—that same source of strength that inspired the change of power in 2000. It is a tough message, to be sure, but one that may just save Mexico from its own worst instincts.

FIRST LOOK

The best new and recent books on policy, economics and business in the hemisphere.

FRESH LOOK

Governo e crise: escolhas públicas no Brasil
e no mundo, 2007–2011
By Jorge Vianna Monteiro
Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), 2011, softcover, 280 pages
The Great Gap: Inequality and the Politics of
Redistribution in Latin America
Edited by Merike Blofield
Penn State University Press, November 2011, hardcover, 376 pages
Histories of Race and Racism: The Andes and Mesoamerica
from Colonial Times to the Present

Edited by Laura Gotkowitz

Duke University Press, November 2011, softcover, 416 pages

Justiça, profissionalismo e política: o STF e o controle da
constitucionalidade das leis no Brasil

By Fabiana Luci de Oliveira

Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), 2011, softcover, 260 pages

La caída de Aristide: Crónica de una frustración popular
By Orlando E. Sella

Publicaciones Universitarias Argentinas, November 2011, softcover, 388 pages

Latin Lessons: How South America Stopped Listening to the
United States and Started Prospering

By Hal Weitzman

John Wiley & Sons, Inc., February 2012, hardcover, 288 pages

Políticas Indigenistas en el Cono Sur: Chile y Argentina contra el Pueblo Mapuche, siglos XIX y XX By Maxim Repetto Editorial Académica Española, April 2011, softcover, 184 pages

Power in the Balance: Presidents, Parties,
and Legislatures in Peru and Beyond
By Barry S. Levitt
University of Notre Dame Press, January 2012,
softcover, 344 pages