Walking a City's History: Mexico City from the Sixteenth Century to the Present
Walking a City's History: Mexico City from the Sixteenth Century to the Present
by Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo
University of Chicago Press, 2026 Cloth: 978-0-226-84162-5 | Paper: 978-0-226-84800-6 | eISBN: 978-0-226-84163-2 Library of Congress Classification F1386.3.T466 2026
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Take a street-level tour of Mexico’s capital and learn how one of the world’s most extraordinary cities has transformed over the centuries.
Walking a City’sHistory is both a richly documented panoramic view of Mexico City’s long history and an intimate essay on its social and cultural fabric. In this book, Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo uses his expertise as a historian and his talents as a storyteller to bring the city to life.
Using influential moments in Mexico City’s history from the Battle of Tenochtitlán in 1521 to the present, Tenorio-Trillo illustrates the capital’s transformations against a national and global background. Walking a City’s History offers an original, unique perspective on the social, architectural, artistic, and political dimensions of Mexico City, guided by chronicles, literary works, historical accounts, and the author’s own lifetime of walks through the city.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Mauricio Tenorio-Trillo is the Gustavus F. and Ann M. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He is the author of several books, including Latin America: The Allure and Power of an Idea; “I Speak of the City”: Mexico City at the Turn of the Twentieth Century; and Clio’s Laws: On History and Language.
REVIEWS
“A beautifully written and deeply personal tour of Mexico City, organized as a chronological discussion of literary and artistic sources, with ample discussion of architecture and urbanism. Tenorio-Trillo’s passion for the subject matter comes across in every page, and he’s managed to perfectly combine erudition and readability.”
— Rubén Gallo, Princeton University
“Despite its vast scope, this book offers both meticulous research and a highly engaging narrative. Through a witty and elegant style, it becomes not only a compelling meditation on Mexico City’s central role in the modern urban experience across the Atlantic world but also a reflection on language, on the city’s ability to absorb and reshape the diverse cultures in constant flux within its shifting urban landscape.”
— Adela Pineda Franco, University of Texas at Austin
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Part I. There . . .
1. Water and City
2. Matters of Ruins
Part 2. Urban Baroque
3. Water Again
4. “La razón de la sinrazón”
5. “Sueños de la razón”
Part 3. The Capital City of Barely a Nation
6. Imperial Capital I
7. Nation, City: Goodbye to All That
8. Imperial Capital II
Part 4. 1910, 1914
9. Celebrating the Pax Urbana
10. 1914: The Revolutionized City
Part 5. Walking the Megalopolis
11. 1940s: Making Sense of the Megalopolis
12. Layers of Cities
13. Earthquakes: 1968, 1985
14. 2020s: Extracts from a Perambulator’s Diary
Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
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