Anita Brenner :: Essays Papers

Anita Brenner In 1905 Anita Brenner was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Her parents left Mexico in 1910 when the Mexican Revolution started. Anita was educated in the United States but never forgot the homeland that she loved. Anita's family moved back and forth from Mexico to Texas during the revolution, and then in 1916 they permanently settled in Texas. Anita understood what it was to be displaced from her homeland in times of war. Anita was of Jewish decent, her father had immigrated from Russia in the late 1880's her father and mother met in Chicago then moved to Aguascalientes. Even though she was not of Mexican decent she always considered herself to be Mexican. Her greatest influence of the Mexican culture was her nanny, Nana Serpia. The Mexican Revolution was something that happened when Brenner was very young but it continued to shape her for the rest of her life. Brenner wrote several books but Idols Behind Altars and The Wind that Swept Mexico were influential and publicly acclaimed. B renner also established a publication in 1955 called "Mexico"/ This Month. Brenner spent all of her years writing about Mexico its art, history, and culture. Anita Brenner loved Mexico and spent her life trying to teach mostly an American audience what Mexico was really about. Idols Behind Altars was Anita Brenner first book. It was about that arts and culture of Mexico. In the Introduction to the book Brenner wrote of the historical significance of the Mexican Revolution and what it was meant to accomplish. She wrote of the treachery of the ruling class and of the humble beginnings of the revolution. She wrote that, But the high-voltage current that blew up the works was the brutal and insolent disparity between money and position granted the native technician or professional man --the man of brains and cultivation -- vis-a-vis his foreign counterpart. This devaluation on the basis of, not exactly color, not exactly race, but the same thing really, cooked and rankled and set working the consciousness of skilled men thoroughly aware of their own capacities. They and people like them were among the most effective organizers of 1910-24. (into. 2 idols) This is how Anita Brenner described the people that started the revolution. She believed that the Revolution was bound to happen because of the way the land owners and politicians were running the government.