Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution | 
 enlarge | Author: Elena Poniatowska
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $7.69
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 583341
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 93
Shipping Weight (lbs): 6.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 7.7 x 0.3
ISBN: 1933693045
Dewey Decimal Number: 972.08160222
EAN: 9781933693040
ASIN: 1933693045
Publication Date: November 1, 2006
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Product Description
The photographs of Las Soldaderas and Elena Poniatowska's remarkable commentary rescue the women of the Mexican Revolution from the dust and oblivion of history. These are the Adelitas and Valentinas celebrated in famous corridos mexicanos, but whose destiny was much more profound and tragic than the idealistic words of ballads. The photographs remind Poniatowska of the trail of women warriors that begins with the Spanish conquest and continues to Mexico's violent revolution. These women are valiant, furious, loyal, maternal, and hardworking; they wear a mask that is part immaculate virgin, part mother and wife, and part savage warrior; and they are joined together in the cruel hymn of blood and death from which they built their own history of the Revolution.
The photographs are culled from the vast Casasola Collection in the Fototeca Nacional of the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico.
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 Tribute to the brave women who were active participants in the Mexican Revolution May 13, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Elena Poniatowska's "Las Soldaderas: Women of the Mexican Revolution" (Cinco Puntos Press, $12.95 paperback) demonstrates the riveting, almost hypnotic power of photographs.
Poniatowska's text (translated from Spanish by David Dorado Romo) is wisely limited to about two dozen pages and acts as a frame for the remarkable black-and-white images of the brave women who fought on either side of the Mexican Revolution.
The term "soldadera" comes from "soldada," or salary. Poniatowska explains that "during all wars and invasions, soldiers used their 'soldada' (a word of Aragonese origin) to hire a female servant. The woman would go to the barracks to charge her salary, i.e., soldada." Thus, the term "soldadera" was coined.
The photographs are culled from the enormous Casasola Collection in the Fototeca Nacional of the National Institute of Anthropology and History in Mexico. The publisher tells us that the collection is based on the work of Agustin Casasola (1874-1938), one of the first photojournalists in Mexico and founder of the photo agency that carries his name.
It is difficult not to mull over these photographs of Mexican and indigenous women from the early part of the last century as they pose with their pistols, horses, children or husbands. These are women who played different roles, sometimes as brave soldiers, other times as helpmates (or even prostitutes without much choice) to the male warriors.
Poniatowska offers anecdotes to help us know these women, sometimes using their own words. Pancho Villa does not fair well here, nor do other men who took brutal advantage of -- or even murdered -- these women.
"Las Soldaderas" perfectly weds words with photographs as a poignant tribute to the brave women who were active participants in the Mexican Revolution.
[The full review first appeared in the El Paso Times.]
 Waste of money ! May 9, 2007
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
The pages of the book are not even numbered correctly at the beginning of the story . The book is very thin, with only 89 pages (57 pages are of photographs, all of which are easily available on the internet for free, like on Pancho Villa's Photos website of Ojianga). Throughout the book, everything is so contradictory. The author seems confused. No real effort seems to have been put forth to educate the reader.Seems like she gave a bunch of jumbled reviews of different novels she picked up . You can't tell what is true and what is fiction. Can't believe this is supposed to be a book.
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