A short biography of the leftist Mexican poet Octavio Paz mixed in with still shorter sketches of comparable neo-Marxist intellectuals and heroes of the late 19th and 20th century. While ranging from Marti to Chavez, the author focuses on Mexico and returns often to the topics of the Catholic Church, postcolonial society, the place of indigenous Indians, the sociopolitics of revolution, and finally the relative value of democracy vs political messianism (i.e., progressivism or ‘redemptive leadership’), from which the work draws its title. Ultimately Krauze comes down on the side of democracy. A quick and useful primer on a collection of failed ideologues.