Rituals of rule, rituals of resistance

The Eighth Conference of Mexican and North American Historians in San Diego, 1990, provided an opportunity for the editors to present early versions of their essays in a session called "Mentalidades in 1 8th-20th Century Mexico." The success of the session and the conference as a whole encouraged us to undertake this book. Consequently, we extend our thanks for creating such an excellent opportunity to the Joint Organizing Committee, headed by Jaime E. Rodriguez O. and Roberto Moreno de los Arcos, and the local organizers, Eric Van Young and Paul Vanderwood. We also thank each of the contributors to this volume. Their cooperation, patience, and confidence in the project made it a pleasure to complete. We appreciate the assistance of Howard Campbell of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas, El Paso, and Robert A. J. McDonald of the Department of History, University of British Columbia. Both of them read the introduction and gave us perceptive comments that we incorporated in our revisions. Charles Reagan Wilson and Paul R. Beezley at the University of Mississippi also reviewed the introduction and provided a helpful critique. K. Steven Vincent, Department of History, North Carolina State University, shared his knowledge of French popular, labor, and revolutionary history with us. The staff at Scholarly Resources, especially Richard Hopper and Laura Huey Cunningham, has supported this book since it was no more than a glimmer of an idea. We appreciate the assistance of the staff and the enthusiastic backing of the coeditor of the Latin American Silhouettes series, Judith Ewell. ix