He was editor in chief of Historia Mexicana, a leading journal on Mexican history published by El Colegio de México, where he was a researcher and a professor for many years.
He is considered a pioneer of microhistorical studies, especially for his book Pueblo en vilo (1968) about his hometown in the Western Mexican state of Michoacán.
He was Director of the Center for Historical Studies at El Colegio de México, founder and president of El Colegio de Michoacán and a tenured researcher at the Mexican National System of Researchers.
He was elected a member of El Colegio Nacional, probably the most exclusive institution of Mexican intellectuals.
[3] He was awarded with the National Prize of History, Social Sciences and Philosophy (1983), the Great Cross of Alphonse X the Wise granted by the Spanish king Juan Carlos I (1999), an honorary doctorate by the Michoacán University (2001), the Belisario Domínguez medal granted by the Mexican Senate (2003),[4] and he was a scholar for the French government and the Rockefeller Foundation.