Emiliano Zapata: A Biography

This thorough narrative examines Emiliano Zapata’s life, his role in Mexico’s revolutionary movement, and his true motivations and beliefs.

Emiliano Zapata is regarded as among the most important figures of the Mexican Revolution. This book provides more than just a biography of a great leader; it enables readers to understand who Zapata was and the interests and ideologies he supported, emphasizing his ideals and distinguishing him from those who have used his name for their own purposes.

Emiliano Zapata: A Biography is organized chronologically, detailing Zapata’s youth and early adulthood in the years preceding the Mexican Revolution; his role in getting his home state involved in the Revolution; and his ascent to power in Morelos’ revolutionary movement. The author elucidates Zapata’s continual struggle to bring meaningful change to the lives of Mexico’s poorest people, how his commitment to revolutionary reform came to define his existence, and how his ideals led to his own violent death as they had to the deaths of so many of his adversaries. A fascinating read for high school students as well as general readers, this biography tells an unforgettable story of one of Mexico’s heroic figures.

A timeline of important events in Zapata’s life prefaces the narrative

Photographs depicting Zapata over the course of his turbulent public career provide glimpses of a legend

A complete bibliography provides students with a guide for further research

An appendix contains a hard-to-find Mexican ballad about Zapata’s funeral with an original English prose translation