Americans have long been ignorant of Mexico. For years the U.S. public has tended to view our southern neighbor as a sunlit collage of glitzy tourist havens and sleepy retirement communities. We have seen Mexico not as an emerging middle-range power but as a playground—a land of never-ending mananas and fun-loving mariachis. The stereotype has its darker side as well. Concern over debts and narcotics has aroused U.S. fears that Mexico has fallen prey to chaos and corruption. Mexico's people have thus been reduced to a hodgepodge of dozing peasants, fawning tourist guides, and scheming politicians. Our ignorance is pervasive, profound, and dangerous.