In this concise, readable account, the history of one of the Western Hemisphere's most important countries is recounted, from the first recorded appearance of early man around 10,000 B.C. down to the present day. Through the pages of this book move the men, famous and infamous, who have Mexican history; Montezuma and Cortes; the Spanish viceroys whose downfall began when the priest Hidalgo issues his famous "Cry of Dolores"; the Emperor Agustin de Iturbide, first ruler of an independent Mexico; General Santa Anna, who fought and lost the Texas Revolution and the Mexican War; the ill-fated Emperor Maximilian and Benito Juarez, who overthrew him; Porfirio Diaz and Francisco Madero; Huerta, Pancho Villa, Carranza, and Zapata, who were involved in the troubles of the early decades of this century; and the president since 1920; among them, Obregon, Calles, Cardenas, Aleman, and the present incumbent, Lopez Mateos.