Monuments of Progress

In this groundbreaking book, Claudia Agostoni examines modernization in Mexico City during the era of Porfirio Diaz. She outlines the relationship of "enlightened" ideals of orderliness and hygiene to Mexican initiatives in public health. The implementation of new health policies and programs--such as the construction of a drainage system for the Valley of Mexico--were of utmost importance for the symbolic legitimization of Porfirio Diaz's durable regime (1876-1910), which emphasized modernization over individual rights and liberties. Thus, projects involving drastic engineering measures, authoritarian sanitary administration, and urban improvements were paramount in transforming the city into a healthy environment. Providing detailed analyses of the objectives and activities of the Superior Sanitation Council and, in particular, the work of the sanitary inspectors, Monuments of Progress provides a fresh take on the history of medicine and public health, shifting the emphasis away from the history of epidemic disease and the heroes of medicine to public health

Claudia Agostoni is currently a full-time researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Historicas, at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and lectures in Latin American colonial history.