Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Modernity at Gunpoint: Firearms, Politics, and Culture in Mexico and Central America

Modernity at Gunpoint: Firearms, Politics, and Culture in Mexico and Central America

Esch, Sophie

Paperback

Series: Illuminations

Literary CriticismGeneral Military HistoryMexican History

ISBN10: 0822965380
ISBN13: 9780822965381
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Published: Oct 16 2018
Pages: 296
Weight: 0.90
Height: 0.80 Width: 6.00 Depth: 8.90
Language: English
2019 Best Book in the Humanities (Mexico section) of the Latin American Studies Association

Modernity at Gunpoint provides the first study of the political and cultural significance of weaponry in the context of major armed conflicts in Mexico and Central America. In this highly original study, Sophie Esch approaches political violence through its most direct but also most symbolic tool: the firearm. In novels, songs, and photos of insurgency, firearms appear as artifacts, tropes, and props, through which artists negotiate conceptions of modernity, citizenship, and militancy. Esch grounds her analysis in important re-readings of canonical texts by Martín Luis Guzman, Nellie Campobello, Omar Cabezas, Gioconda Belli, Sergio Ramirez, Horacio Castellanos Moya, and others. Through the lens of the iconic firearm, Esch relates the story of the peasant insurgencies of the Mexican Revolution, the guerrilla warfare of the Sandinista Revolution, and the ongoing drug-related wars in Mexico and Central America, to highlight the historical, cultural, gendered, and political significance of weapons in this volatile region.

Also in

Literary Criticism

View All