The Mexican Revolution: An Eyewitness Account

Mariano Azuela, the first of the "novelists of the Revolution," was born in 1873. He penned this novel in 1915 as “The Underdogs: The Story of the Mexican Revolution.” As a young writer he supported Francisco I. Madero's uprising, which overthrew the dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz. In 1911, Azuels was made Director of Education of the State of Jalisco and published his first novel, “Andres Perez”. After Madero's assassination, he joined the army of Pancho Villa as doctor, and his knowledge of the Revolution was acquired at firsthand. This book contained his accountof the revolution and while it did not receive immediate general recognition, in 1924 it was acclaimed as the novel of the Revolution. During Azuela’s later years, and until his death in 1952, he lived in Mexico City writing and practicing his profession among the poor.