Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-258) and index.
Introduction: Bandits, Real and Imagined -- Pt. I. The Balance of Order and Disorder -- 1. Ambitious Bandits: Disorder Equals Progress -- 2. The Aura of the King -- 3. The Spoils of Independence -- 4. Bent on Being Modern -- 5. Bandits into Police - and Vice Versa -- Pt. II. Toward the Western Model -- 6. Order, Disorder, and Development -- 7. The Limits to Dictatorship -- 8. A Kind of Peace -- Pt. III. A Political Police Performance -- 9. Constabulary of Campesinos and Artisans -- 10. The President's Police -- 11. It's the Image That Counts -- Pt. IV. Demons of Revolution Unleashed -- 12. The Rollercoaster Called Capitalism -- 13. Unraveling the Old Regime -- 14. Disorder in Search of Order