Introduction: Re-writing Guatemala's nineteenth century -- The transformation of Mam Quezaltenango from culahá to independence -- Disputing property : national politics and local ethnic conflict in the formation of a Guatemalan coffee zone -- Debt, labor coercion, and the expansion of commercial agriculture -- Intoxicating politics : gender, ethnicity and alcohol in the transition to liberal rule -- From Ladino state to Ladino nation : the malformation of Guatemalan national identity -- Popular insurrection, liberal reform, and nation-state formation : final reflections on Guatemala's nineteenth century.