Jeffrey M. Pilcher is professor of history at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Excellent. The ideal biography of Cantinflas would set the comic's life within Mexico's social and political history, within Mexican popular culture, and within the context of the nation's emerging cinema. Solidly researched and splendidly written, Jeffrey Pilcher's book does all this and more. It finds a way to convey to the non-Spanish-speaking reader Cantinflas's imaginative and wonderfully convoluted wordplay.

• Chapter 1 List of illustrationsChapter 2 AcknowledgmentsChapter 3 ChronologyChapter 4 IntroductionChapter 5 From Vale Coyote to the Carpa ValentinaChapter 6 Ambiguous ProfilesChapter 7 The Details of FameChapter 8 Syndicalism and StardomChapter 9 The MagicianChapter 10 Around the World or Just the StudioChapter 11 A Modern QuixoteChapter 12 ConclusionChapter 13 NotesChapter 14 Bibliographical EssayChapter 15 Index

Jeffrey M. Pilcher is professor of history at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Excellent. The ideal biography of Cantinflas would set the comic's life within Mexico's social and political history, within Mexican popular culture, and within the context of the nation's emerging cinema. Solidly researched and splendidly written, Jeffrey Pilcher's book does all this and more. It finds a way to convey to the non-Spanish-speaking reader Cantinflas's imaginative and wonderfully convoluted wordplay.

• Chapter 1 List of illustrationsChapter 2 AcknowledgmentsChapter 3 ChronologyChapter 4 IntroductionChapter 5 From Vale Coyote to the Carpa ValentinaChapter 6 Ambiguous ProfilesChapter 7 The Details of FameChapter 8 Syndicalism and StardomChapter 9 The MagicianChapter 10 Around the World or Just the StudioChapter 11 A Modern QuixoteChapter 12 ConclusionChapter 13 NotesChapter 14 Bibliographical EssayChapter 15 Index

Jeffrey M. Pilcher is professor of history at the University of Toronto Scarborough.

Excellent. The ideal biography of Cantinflas would set the comic's life within Mexico's social and political history, within Mexican popular culture, and within the context of the nation's emerging cinema. Solidly researched and splendidly written, Jeffrey Pilcher's book does all this and more. It finds a way to convey to the non-Spanish-speaking reader Cantinflas's imaginative and wonderfully convoluted wordplay.

• Chapter 1 List of illustrationsChapter 2 AcknowledgmentsChapter 3 ChronologyChapter 4 IntroductionChapter 5 From Vale Coyote to the Carpa ValentinaChapter 6 Ambiguous ProfilesChapter 7 The Details of FameChapter 8 Syndicalism and StardomChapter 9 The MagicianChapter 10 Around the World or Just the StudioChapter 11 A Modern QuixoteChapter 12 ConclusionChapter 13 NotesChapter 14 Bibliographical EssayChapter 15 Index