In defense of biography:toward forging a “total history”. A call to the new generation of historians of 19th-century Mexico

The purpose of this essay is to highlight the importance of biography as a means to forging a “total history”. It defends the merits of biographical studies by emphasizing what it allows us to discover in terms of public, private, social, economic, legal, diplomatic, military and cultural history. Based on the success of a selection of recent biographies that have revolutionized the way the historiography has interpreted 19th century Mexico, together with a personal reflection by the author based on his experience as a biographer, this article aims to show how biography can be a particularly versatile vehicle for reviewing our knowledge of the past. This article concludes with a call to the new generation of academics interested in the history of 19th century history, urging them to make up for the current lack of biographies, and help us better understand –in a way only a biography can– the reasons behind the many forgotten events of the 19th century