Ricardo Flores Magón might not be a household name in much of the U.S., but nearly a century after the Mexican activist died in a Kansas penitentiary, his legacy lives on. That's the argument that Kelly Lytle Hernández makes in her new book, "Bad Mexicans" — and it's a convincing one.
Lytle Hernández's book covers the decade leading up the Mexican Revolution of 1910, focusing on Flores Magón and his supporters — "magonistas" — whose tireless agitating for liberal ideals "changed the course of history both north and south of the border."
At the time, there was no shortage of Mexicans who opposed the regime of Porfirio Díaz, the country's long-serving, despotic president who "draped his rule in a veil of democracy." Flores Magón, a law-school dropout and businessman, became something of a first among equals; with two other activists, he founded the newspaper Regeneración, which was strongly critical of Díaz.
