The great rebellion ignited by Francisco Madero's call to arms in 1910 was a momentous event in the turbulent history of Mexico.

It is widely held that the struggle to overthrow the corrupt regime of Porfirio Diaz fundamentally transformed the structure of Mexican society, bringing social justice for downtrodden peasants and workers.

Ramón Eduardo Ruíz refutes the traditional view. Drawing on numerous archival sources, he carefully examines the economic consequences of the Diaz regime and traces the growth of widespread social discontent. He describes the backgrounds and professed aims of the Revolution's colorful leaders―Madero, Venustiano Carranza, Pancho Villa, Alvaro Obregón, and Emiliano Zapata―and then sets out to discover what, behind the superficial paper changes and the rhetoric, they actually did. He concludes that the so-called Revolution was led by elements of the dissatisfied middle class whose goals were narrow and bourgeois in character. Despite important paper reforms, many of the old political, economic, and social injustices and inequalities survived.