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Podcast: Exchanges: A Cambridge UP Podcast
Episode: Nicole von Germeten, "Death in Old Mexico: The 1789 Dongo Murders and How They Shaped the History of a Nation" (Cambridge UP, 2023)
Description: In a Mexico City mansion on October 23, 1789, Don JoaquÃn Dongo and ten of his employees were brutally murdered by three killers armed with machetes. Investigators worked tirelessly to find the perpetrators, who were publicly executed two weeks later. Labeled the 'crime of the century,' these events and their aftermath have intrigued writers of fiction and nonfiction for over two centuries. Using a vast range of sources, Nicole von Germeten recreates a paper trail of Enlightenment-era greed and savagery, and highlights how the violence of the Mexican judiciary echoed the acts of the murderers. The Spanish government conducted d...