Abstract
In a brief historical sketch —porfirism and revolution— the author recounts the origins of the Ateneo de la juventud, later known as Ateneo de México, whose history goes back to modernism and the novelty of publications as Revista Moderna, Revista Moderna de México and Savia Moderna. Outstanding intellectuals such as Antonio Caso, Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Ricardo Gómez Robelo and José Vasconcelos, along with other members of the Ateneo de la Juventud, set the ground needed to regain Mexican nationalism as well as Latin-American values for one purpose: to achieve a real identity with a viable future.