Maximilian and Carlota

"On the 150th anniversary of the installation of Austria’s Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian von Habsburg as emperor of Mexico, McAllen offers an authoritative, detailed, and engrossing account of the rise and fall of Mexico’s Second Empire... McAllen ably demonstrates how the Second Empire’s collapse was one of the most spectacular personal tragedies and political failures of the 19th century." — Publishers Weekly

“Meticulously researched and filled with colorful narrative, Maximilian and Carlota is an absorbing read for both amateur historians and students of the human condition." — San Antonio Current

"McAllen's book offers a fascinating and meticulously researched glimpse at Maximilian's doomed empire." — Santa Fe New Mexican

“McAllen has forged a multifaceted jewel of narrative history, sweeping and cinematic, delving into one of the more fascinating and tragically misguided episodes in Mexico's history." — Houston Chronicle

"This is a thorough, complete history of Mexico’s second empire. The author leaves nothing untouched." — William H. Beezley, professor of history at the University of Arizona

"Maximilian and Carlota is a deeply researched book about a period of Mexican history that, while vital for understanding modern Mexico and its relations with the United States and Europe, is of perhaps unparalleled cultural, political, and military complexity for such a short period." — C. M. Mayo, author of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire

“Mexican history offers a phantasmagoria that beggars the imagination. Most writers seem to focus on three distinct eras: Conquest, Independence, and Revolution. But perhaps the most surreal, tragic, yet oddly comedic era in Mexico has gone largely unexamined, until now. M. M. McAllen has written an important book that not only reads like a novel of fantastic inventions but is key to understanding the soul of Mexico today." — Luis Albertio Urrea, author of The Hummingbird’s Daughter

“Examines the short reign of a married Austrian archduke and Belgian princess appointed by France's emperor Napoleon III to rule Mexico." — Chronicle of Higher Education

“With rich texture and apposite detail, McAllen ably recounts the events of Maximilian’s short and disastrous reign." — Booklist

“With the 150th anniversary in mind (April 10, 1864), Maximilian and Carlota details Louis Napoléon’s intrepid scheme to install Maximilian von Habsburg and his wife as emperor and empress, but also details the intrigues and incongruities that occurred while nineteenth-century European leaders sought to remake the New World in their vision." — Foreword Reviews

“Enthralling, exhaustively researched and fresh.... A big multi-layered story — cinematic, nightmarish and poignant." — Austin American-Statesman

“World history is most engrossing when read not as a litany of dates, battles, and lineages, but as a drama of real people living messy, interesting lives, and McAllen does just that in Maximilian and Carlota. Maximilian von Habsburg and his wife, Carlota, were installed as the emperor and empress of Mexico 150 years ago, and their surprising story has rarely been told until now.”— Texas Exes Alcalde Magazine

“McAllen has forged a multifaceted jewel of narrative history, sweeping and cinematic, delving into one of the more fascinating and tragically misguided episodes in Mexico's history — a rich pageant that is full of them.”— San Antonio Express-News

“McAllen’s research sheds light on a disastrous, yet important period in Mexico’s history.”— San Antonio Magazine

“A wonderfully written book accessible to history buffs and scholars alike, Maximilian and Carlota charts an important but often-overlooked moment in the history of the Western Hemisphere.”— McAllen Monitor

“McAllen has produced a much-needed fresh look at an often neglected and misunderstood period in North American history.”— The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Latin American History

“Gripping duel biography.”— Daily Beast

“A highly readable and accessible narrative.”— Hispanic American Historical Review