The Life and Times of Pancho Villa

By Friedrich Katz

Book Description:

Pancho Villa is one of the best-known figures in Mexican history throughout the world. There are legends of Villa the Robin Hood, Villa the womanizer, and Villa as the only foreigner who has attacked the mainland of the United States since the War of 1812 and gotten away with it.

Whether exaggerated or true to life, these legends have obscured who Pancho Villa truly was. Based on decades of research, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa aims to separate myth from history.

The book is divided into four sections. Part One deals with Villa’s early life and role at the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. It also discusses the special conditions that transformed the state of Chihuahua into a primary center of the revolution. In the second part, Villa emerges as a national leader. Part three deals with Villa’s guerrilla warfare, his attack on Columbus, New Mexico, and his subsequent decline. The last part describes Villa’s surrender, his brief life as a hacendado, his assassination and its aftermath, and the evolution of the Villa legend. The book concludes with an assessment of Villa’s personality and the character and impact of his movement.

About the Author:

A professor of history at the University of Chicago for four decades, Friedrich Katz is best known for writing histories about the Mexican Revolution that have elevated it to the level of other globally significant revolutions, such as the French and Bolshevik revolutions.

In recognition of his work, Katz received the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor that Mexico can bestow on a citizen of another country. The Katz Center for Mexican Studies at the University of Chicago is named in his honor.

My Opinion:

Because my research has been focused elsewhere, I have not had a reason to read more than a fraction of this massive book, but without a doubt, the first two chapters of The Life and Times of Pancho Villa do a better job of explaining what ignited revolutionary fever in Chihuahua than any other source I’ve read.

Full Citation:

Katz, Friedrich, The Life and Times of Pancho Villa, Stanford University Press, Stanford, California, 1998.