I'll second that recommendation for The Last Emperor of Mexico. Was a good book covering the events of a little known event in Mexican history and did a good job at it.

Mexico has a pretty interesting, messed up, and bloody history. From the war of independence from Spain, where they have a succession of presidents and dictators who get overthrown and executed on a somewhat regular basis. One of the heroes of the war of independence declares himself emperor, gets overthrown, and put before a firing squad. Other presidents get executed by their opposition, like Guerrero who is hanged.

You've got the US meddling in affairs and spurring revolution in Texas and eventually warring with Mexico and taking a good chunk of territory. Look up the books So Far From God by John Eisenhower for a good American perspective and A Glorious Defeat by Timothy Henderson for the Mexican side. After that is civil war where the liberal opposition wins, and then the conservatives get European intervention for the second Mexican Empire.

Porfirio Diaz gets power for 35 years after all this and has relative stability, but he does rule with absolute authority, and caters to the elite of the country and soliciting massive foreign investment. What's kind of ridiculous is that he triggers the Mexican revolution thanks to the Creelman interview, where he tells an American journalist he will not run for reelection. That gets everyone excited and getting political parties going, until Diaz changes his mind. That causes everything to boil over into revolution.

It's interesting stuff.