William Beezley

The Mexican government in recognition of William Beezley’s contributions to knowledge of the nation’s history and culture, in May 2017 awarded him the Ohtli medal. This confirmed his international reputation for his publications such as the classic Judas at the Jockey Club (Nebraska, 1985; Spanish translation, 2010) and others such as Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Mexican History and Culture, 3 vols. (Oxford University Press, 2018),  The Essential Mexico (Oxford University Press, 2013), Oxford History of Mexico, co-edited with Michael C. Meyer (Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 2010; Mondrian translation, 2013), Mexico: The New Oxford World History Series (Oxford University Press, 2011), Latin American Popular Culture: An Introduction (Rowman & Littlefield 2nd ed, 2011), The Companion to Mexican History and Culture (Wiley-Blackwells, 2011), Mexico’s Crucial Century, 1810–1910: An Introduction, with Colin MacLachlan (Nebraska, 2010), and other titles, articles, and reviews. His interests extend throughout Latin America and to the topics of craft brewing and Malbec wine.  Beezley has taught at SUNY and North Carolina State University, held Endowed chairs at TCU and Tulane and been a visiting professor at the University of Nebraska, Instituto de Estudios Ibero-Americanos, University of North Carolina, Guadalajara Summer School, University of Texas, University of Calgary, University of British Columbia, La Universidad de Colima, and a Fulbright Senior Specialist at La Universidad Nacional, Bogota, distinguished visiting professor at the Colegio de Mexico, and distinguished researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). For sixteen years, he directed the Oaxaca (Mexico) Graduate Summer Institute. He has appeared as a guest expert in over twenty PBS episodes of “The Desert Speaks” and “In the Americas with David Yetman.” Currently he and Rod Camp are filming interviews with former Mexican presidents and prominent men and women for a video-production on the democratization of Mexico. His immediate video research focuses on embroidery as the voice of Mexican women who express their domestic, civic, and human rights and explain the impact of migration in their lives. He now teaches at the University of Arizona.