Review: Las culturas de la prensa en México (1880–1940), edited by Yanna Hadatty Mora and Viviane Mahieux

The press for the press’s sake. As I was going through the pages of Las culturas de la prensa en México (1880–1940), I kept thinking of this variation, echoing the nineteenth-century phrase “L’art pour l’art.” In its original version, the slogan expresses the philosophy that “true” art should always be considered independent. It should also be approached as separated from any and all social values and utilitarian functions: didactic, moral, or political. The book under review, edited by Yanna Haddaty Mora and Viviane Mahieux, proposes to do the same, but with the academic approaches to the press. As an object of study, periodicals, magazines, fanzines, and “papeles sueltos” have usually been analyzed within the frame of larger investigations related to history, literature, art history, and mass culture. Studying and researching the press are often considered a step toward more important and pressing issues. But not here. Las culturas de...