Mariano Azuela

Mariano Azuela founded the “novel of the Revolution” genre with “Los de abajo” (The Underdogs), written in 1915 while he served as a doctor in Pancho Villa’s ranks. The book portrays the Revolution through the eyes of ordinary fighters and inspired later writers such as Martín Luis Guzmán and Nellie Campobello.

Azuela practiced medicine most of his life and wrote about the Revolution’s failures with unusual frankness for his time.