The Illusion of Ignorance
Constructing the American Encounter with Mexico, 1877-1920- Authors:
- Publisher:
- 2011
Summary
The Illusion of Ignorance examines the cultural politics of the American encounter with Porfirian Mexico as a precursor and model for the twentieth-century American encounter with the world. Detailed discussions of the logistics of conducting diplomacy, doing business, or traveling abroad in the era give readers a vivid picture of how Americans experienced this age of international expansion, while contrasting Mexican and American visions of the changing relationship. In the end, Mexico's efforts to promote Mexico as a partner in progress with the U.S. was lost to an American illusion schizophrenically divided between fantasies of American leadership toward, and refuge from, modernity. The Illusion of Ignorance argues that American ignorance of the experience of other nations is not so much a barrier to better understanding of the world, but a strategy Americans have chosen to maintain their vision of the U.S. relationship with the world.
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Bibliographic data
- Copyright year
- 2011
- ISBN-Print
- 978-0-7618-5354-1
- ISBN-Online
- 978-0-7618-5355-8
- Publisher
- Hamilton Books, Lanham
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 244
- Product type
- Book Titles
Table of contents
- Contents No access
- Preface andAcknowledgments No access
- Timeline of Key Events in U.S. Mexican Relations, 1821–1920 No access
- MAP No access
- Introduction: Donkeys and Diplomats No access
- Introduction: Of Missions and Memoirs No access
- Chapter One. “The Most Difficult Mission on the Western Hemisphere” No access
- Chapter Two. Awaiting the Descent into Chaos No access
- Chapter Three. The “Inconvenient” Mr. Foster No access
- Conclusion: “Such Intimate Connection to the People” No access
- Introduction: “The True Lifeguard of Our Nationality” No access
- Chapter Four. “The Language of Business” No access
- Chapter Five. “Sister Republics” No access
- Conclusion: “Order and Progress” No access
- Photos No access
- Introduction: Pilgrims to the Past No access
- Chapter Six. From Education to Escape: American Tourism in Porfirian Mexico No access
- Chapter Seven. Minerals and Aztec Villages: Mexico on the American Fairground No access
- Chapter Eight. Writing the Revolution No access
- Conclusion: Trading Progress for Paradise No access
- Epilogue: The Illusion of Ignorance No access Pages 221 - 224
- Selected Bibliography No access Pages 225 - 242
- Index No access Pages 243 - 244





