Organizing the Memory of Modern Mexico: Porfirian Historiography in Perspective, 1880s-1980s
W X 7RITING on Porfirio Dfaz and the age in Mexican history that bears his name has continued now for slightly more than one hundred years.' These subjects have generated one of the largest bodies of literature in Mexican historiography, and interest has never been stronger. The man and the age he dominated have fascinated both Mexicans and foreign observers for several reasons, among them Diaz's political mastery, the regime's longevity, Porfirian Mexico's material transformation, and its defects, which gave rise to a great revolution. More important still, the Porfiriato, the