Juarez And His Mexico

Orphaned just years after his birth, and cast into life with a negligent uncle, Benito Juarez seemed destined to live his life as a humble shepherd in a tiny village outside of Oaxaca, Mexico. But young Benito had a passion for learning, and a desire to achieve more. This ambition led him to study to join the clergy, and then into law school. But soon the revolution sweeping across his country led the humble lawyer from a governorship in Oaxaca to an exile in New Orleans, and then back to Mexico, where he became the country's first Indian president. But Juarez's struggles didn't end there. Soon after coming to power, Juarez confronted power-hungry generals within his own country, and the invading influence of Napoleon III, who hoped to make Mexico part of his global empire, ruled over by the installed emperor, Maximilian Hapsburg. Juarez alone, a man who grew up in poverty as part of one of Mexico's oppressed peoples, stood up to the French Empire and reclaimed Mexico for its people. Book jacket.