The greatest novel of the Mexican Revolution, in a brilliant new translation by an award-winning translator
The Underdogs is the first great novel about the first great revolution of the twentieth century. Demetrio Macias, a poor, illiterate Indian, must join the rebels to save his family. Courageous and charismatic, he earns a generalship in Pancho Villa's army, only to become discouraged with the cause after it becomes hopelessly factionalized. At once a spare, moving depiction of the limits of political idealism, an authentic representation of Mexico's peasant life, and a timeless portrait of revolution, The Underdogs is an iconic novel of the Latin American experience and a powerful novel about the disillusionment of war.
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Original Binding: Trade Paperback
Pages: 176 pages
ISBN-10: 0143105272
Item Weight: 0.3 lbs
Dimensions: 5.0 x 0.4 x 7.7 inches
"Mariano Azuela, more than any other novelist of the Mexican Revolution, lifts the heavy stone of history to see what there is underneath it." --Carlos Fuentes, from the Foreword
"This is not only a novel of the Mexican Revolution, but also of our own contemporary madness, and Sergio Waisman's translation captures its full force and fervor." --Sandra Cisneros
"An essential book for Mexico, about the first revolution of the twentieth century. Mariano Azuela's pen is a warm gun, and Sergio Waisman's translation, introduction, and notes are as vivid, well aimed, and sharp as the gunshots in the battle." --Elena Poniatowska
Mariano Azuela (1873-1952) studied medicine in Guadalajara and served during the revolution as a doctor with the forces of Pancho Villa, which gave him firsthand exposure to the events and characters that appear in The Underdogs.
Sergio Waisman (translator, notes) is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Translation Award and is a professor of Spanish at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012, foreword) is the author of more than twenty books and the recipient of many awards, including Mexico's National Prize in Literature, the Cervantes Prize, and the inaugural Latin Civilization Award.
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