Cross-Border Resistance to the Porfiriato

book, the arguments Fowler advances are nevertheless useful for understanding how and why theWar of Reform came to happen in 1857 and for studying the numerous other civil wars that have taken place in Latin America since then. The book begins with a presentation of Fowler’s proposed “grammar,” a series of tables or “small-scale map” (14) that outlines the geopolitical context, political actions, and social, cultural, and economic issues that condition the outbreak of civil war, its development, and its resolution. This multifaceted list of causes and consequences highlights the interaction between individuals (their will, action, and planning) and their circumstances (social, racial, economic, and cultural structures). It suggests that civil wars, in common with all historical events, derive from a complex interdependency of factors. As the disciples of the Annales School insisted, “total history” is needed if we are to comprehend any civil war fully.