Abstract
Roldán Vera offers an analysis of representations of the US–Mexican War in nineteenth-century Mexican and US history textbooks. Initially, she demonstrates, representations of the war were similar in the two countries, but over time American textbooks began to present the American victory as inevitable, while Mexican textbooks continue to insist on the contingency of historical events. Positing that the time between the occurrence of historical events and their narration affects the ways in which those events are observed, Roldán Vera shows that as the power of the US and Mexico became increasingly asymmetrical after the war, the explanations offered for the war in the two countries also evolved.
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US Textbooks
Eggleston, Edward. 1888. A History of the United States and Its People for the Use of Schools. New York: Appleton. Further editions 1890, 1891.
———. 1889. A First Book in American History, with Special Reference to the Lives and Deeds of Great Americans. New York: Appleton and Co. Further editions 1915, 1917, 1920.
Goodrich, S. J. 1852. Pictorial History of the United States, with Notices of Other Portions of America. For the Use of Schools. Rev. ed. New York: F. J. Huntington, and Mason & Law, 23 Park Road. Further editions 1854, 1857.
Lossing, Benson J. 1854. A Pictorial History of the United States for Schools and Families. Illustrated with over 200 Engravings. New York: F. J. Huntington. Further editions 1857, 1866, 1867, 1868.
Quackenbos, George Payn. 1857. Illustrated School History of the United States and the Adjacent Parts of America, from the Earliest Discoveries to the Present Time: Embracing a Full Account of the Aborigines; Biographical Notices of Distinguished Men; Numerous Maps, Plans of Battle-Fields, and Pictorial Illustrations; and Other Features Calculated to Give our Youth Correct Ideas of their Country’s Past and Present, and a Taste for General Historical Reading. New York: Appleton and Co. Further editions 1864, 1873.
Swinton, William. 1874. First Lessons in our Country’s History: Bringing Out Its Salient Points, and Aiming to Combine Simplicity with Sense. New York and Chicago: Ivison, Blakeman, Taylor and Co.
Willson, Marcius. 1847. History of the United States, Comprising Historical Sketches of the Indian Tribes; a Description of American Antiquities, with an Inquiry into Their Origin and the Origin of the Indian Tribes; with Appendices showing Its Connection with European History; History of the Present British Provinces; History of Mexico; and History of Texas, Brought Down to the Time of Its Admission into the American Union. Cincinnati: William H. Moore and Co.
Mexican Textbooks
Arróniz, Marcos. 1858. Manual de historia y cronología de Méjico. Paris: Librería de Rosa y Bouret.
García Cubas, Antonio. 1890. Compendio de la historia de México y de su civilización para uso de los establecimientos de instrucción primaria. Mexico City: Imprenta del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús. Further editions 1893, 1901, 1906.
Payno, Manuel. 1870. Compendio de la historia de México; para el uso de los establecimientos de instrucción primaria. Mexico City: Imprenta de F. Díaz de León y Santiago White. Further editions 1871, 1874, 1876, 1878, 1880, 1882, 1886, 1889, 1891, 1901, 1902.
Prieto, Guillermo. 1886. Lecciones de historia patria, escritas para los alumnos del Colegio Miligar. Mexico City: Ofic. Tip. de la Sria. de Fomento. Further editions 1890, 1891, 1893, 1896.
Roa Bárcena, José María. 1862. Catecismo elemental de la historia de México; desde su fundación hasta mediados del siglo XIX, formao con vista de las mejores obras y propio para servir de texto a la enseñanza de este ramo en nuestros establecimientos de instrucción pública. Mexico City: Imprenta de Andrade y Escalante. Further editions 1867, 1870, 1880, 1888, 1885.
Sierra, Justo. 1894a. Catecismo de historia patria. Mexico City: Libr. de la Vda. de Ch. Bouret. Further editions 1921, 1922.
———. 1894b. Elementos de historia patria. Mexico City: Libr. de la Vda. de Ch. Bouret.
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Roldán Vera, E. (2018). The US-Mexican War (1846–48) in School Textbooks: Mexico and the United States in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century. In: Roldán Vera, E., Fuchs, E. (eds) Textbooks and War. Palgrave Studies in Educational Media. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98803-0_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98803-0_4
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