Maximilian and Jaurez

By Jasper Ridler and Jasper Ridley

In an ill-starred undertaking, Napoleon III attempted to install Archduke Maximilian of Austria as the Emperor of Mexico. The move pitted liberals against conservatives and the New World against the Old-and ended with Maximilian's execution, the insanity of his wife, Charlotte, and the emergence of the United States as a world power. "It is also essential reading to understand the history of the United States today."-Antonia Fraser.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0899199895
• ISBN13: 9780899199894
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 353 Pages
• Weight: 1.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A man with a tragic flaw

Maximilian wanted to be wanted. Probably he wished it so badly he was blinded to the facts. Comparisons between the Ridley work and the earlier one are probably needless. The French invasion of Mexico in the 1860s is such an obscure piece of historical knowledge for most outside Mexico as to render the point moot. A new work every few years to remind a few readers is most likely a positive development. With each reiteration...

Worth Having on your bookshelf

I started doing some basic reading about Juarez prior to writing a newspaper article about Cinco de Mayo. A number of sources recommended this book, so I found a copy and dug into it. Ridley doesn't "whitewash" any of the main figures, nor is it a hatchet job. I'd certainly gained more respect for Benito after reading Ridley's book.

More than Max and Benny

Ridley does a more than credible job of portraying the conflict surrounding the attempt to install a foreign emperor in Mexico. Much emphasis is placed on the internal power struggle between conservatives and liberals and the ultimate succes of the Mexican hero Benito Juarez. Many of the leaders of the times are introduced but seldom with any great depth. The title is Maximillian & Juarez and this is not a biography I suppose...

Fascinating look at one of history's great failures

I began Ridley's book knowing only the basic outline of the story of Napolean III's attempt to establish Maximilian as Emperor of Mexico, and when I finished I felt that I knew a great deal indeed about the subject. Best of all, Ridley piqued my interest in all sorts of ways that I didn't expect. His presentation of the politics of the day takes us back to a time when Liberal simply meant believing that all human beings have...

Maximilian and Juarez

Having friends on both sides of the argument I will say that Ridley gives a great study of the French intervention in Mexico. I took the book with me for a month in Mexico and it helped me as I studied both sides of the story of Maximilian.