The Penguin History of Latin America
Now fully updated to 2009, this acclaimed history of Latin America tells its turbulent story from Columbus to Chavez. Beginning with the Spanish and Portugese conquests of the New World, it takes in centuries of upheaval, revolution and modernization up to the present day, looking in detail at Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Cuba, and gives an overview of the cultural developments that have made Latin America a source of fascination for the world. ‘A first-rate work of history …His cool, scholarly gaze and synthesizing intelligence demystify a part of the world peculiarly prone to myth-making …This book covers an enormous amount of ground, geographically and culturally’ – Tony Gould, “Independent on Sunday”.
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Tags: América, History, Latin, Penguin
3 responses to The Penguin History of Latin America
Excellent Introduction to the Subject,
As someone who always wondered about Latin American history – this book offered a superb introduction. It combines a broad sweep over the colonial period with briefer country-specific essays on the post-colonial histories of the the larger Latin Anerican nations. Reading it one gets a good sense of the common heritage of South America.
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|Exhaustive introduction to Latin America,
This book is a testimony that Mr. Williamson can be rated as a top notch literary critic. He is also a good English Historian. So here you have it: he combines the sensibility and mastery of language of a man of letters with the rigor and deapth of knowledge of an academic Historian to give us an introduction to Latin America through her history. What results is a complete and readable synthesis of the main currents in Latin politics, economy, society and literature.
Mr. Williamson’s underlying thesis is that of the search of Latin American societies for Modernity defined as a democratic, liberal and self-conscious state of affairs. The history is therefore roller-coasterish. But then Mr. Williamson will make your ride enjoyable.
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|A wonderful introduction to Latin American history,
As others have noted, this is a highly readable introduction to Latin American history. I had no background whatsoever on this subject and wanted to find out more, and this was just the right book. I found its coverage of modern (i.e., 19th and 20th century) history of Brazil, Chile, and Mexico to be quite illuminating. However, its treatment of cultural history was not as useful; I wish he had provided more excerpts of the original works of the writers and poets discussed. But, all in all, a very handy introduction. I am going to proceed to other books on Latin American history, and that is due in no small part to this work.
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