"Founder of numerous labour unions in Mexico and Latin America between 1920s and 1960s, Vicente Lombardo Toledano was not only an organiser but also a broker between them, the government and business managers, able to disentangle difficult conflicts. An operator of the Mexican government and when he found it appropriate of the neighbouring nations and even on behalf of the Soviet Union, he was identified with communism without belonging to the party and with the party of the Mexican government without being its member. Daniela Spenser is the first biography of Lombardo Toledano, based on primary sources from European, Mexican and American archives, and on personal interviews. Her even-keeled portrayal of the man counters previous hagiographies or vilifications"--