This innovative anthropological study develops a theory of process and applies it to the Gulf Nahuas, descendants of the Aztecs and custodians of one of the last rainforests in Mexico. It takes a multi-disciplinary approach to the conflicts and contradictions of social history, looking at how institutions change in response to the imposition of a new ruling order, the unequal distribution of wealth, and the confrontation of classes and parties, genders and age-groups, spirits and humans. Its exploration of the impact of state power and the cattle and oil industries on native economics and ecology helps the reader to understand broader processes of underdevelopment and impoverishment.