The Last Emperor of Mexico
by Edward Shawcross
The surreal story of Ferdinand Maximilian (1832-1867), the Habsburg archduke and younger brother of Emperor Franz Josef of Austria who was executed after a brief reign as Emperor of Mexico. In addition to the inherent interest of this strange tale, the book is also a nice introduction to a period when Mexico—which had been the centre of the Spanish empire in the Americas for three centuries—became independent but also lost ground to the emerging power of the United States.
Recommendations from our site
“The Last Emperor of Mexico particularly appealed to me, just the madness of a Habsburg archduke, in line to the Austrian throne, somehow thinking that taking on this position thousands of miles away was a good idea, and the general setting, in 19th-century Mexico.” Read more...
Notable Nonfiction of Early 2022
Sophie Roell, Journalist
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