PROMISCUOUS POWER  An Unorthodox History of New Spain

Description

Much has been written about the conquest of Mexico, the exploits of the conquistadores, and the many ways the indigenous people contested imperial authority. But the actual work of establishing the Spanish Empire in Mexico fell to a host of local agents-magistrates, bureaucrats, parish priests, ranchers, miners, sugar producers, and many others who cared less about goals of their superiors in Madrid and Mexico City. This is a case study of the province of Michoacan presenting rowdy, raunchy, and violent life histories from the archives. Typical of many frontier provinces, the author shows that the region became a refuge from imperial and judicial control, and formal Catholicism, where the ordinary rule of law, jurisprudence and royal oversight collapsed in the entropy of decentralized rule. Illustrated, 6 x 9 size