The Great Divide

University of California-Berkley geographer and author Michael Johns argues in his novel, The City of Mexico in the Age of Diaz, that the central Zocalo of Mexico City does more than geographically segregate the East from the West, but Mexico's national mentality as well. During the years of Diaz's democratic façade, the upper classes thrived upon plantation exports, feudalist economics and the iron fist of Diaz's rurales while struggling to maintain European social likeness. East of the Zocalo, shantytowns housed thousands of poor pelados that served as societal blemishes of a suburbanite's experience. In Johns's work, the penniless and indigenous serve as the scapegoats for the priviledged and their obsession with grooming Mexico City to be a little Europe.
A growing affluent class called upon the Diaz regime and imported architects to construct buildings in the Zocalo to reflect a "proper" image that drew on influences from Europe and the United States.......

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Title: Review Of "The City Of Mexico In The Age Of Diaz"
Approximate Word Count: 1113
Approximate Pages: 5 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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