The Penguin History of Latin America

Given the diversity of its people, its connection to European and U.S. history, the geographic scope and the time horizons involved, writing a history of Latin America is a daunting task. It is our good fortune that University of Oxford historian, Edwin Williamson, managed to succeed so admirably in surmounting the various difficulties involved. Moreover, his audience is the general reader: “the primary aim of this book is to provide a general survey to the non-specialized reader.” The result is a lucid account, vast in scope, but no breezy beach read. Despite its long history, Latin America as a whole has yet to find a reliable road to political stability and economic prosperity, at least an economic prosperity more evenly distributed. After 1945, according to Professor Williamson, “it proved impossible to find a new consensus for constitutional democracy; the stresses of rapid industrialization were too great.” Virtually all advanced Latin American countries experienced “periods of internal war and military despotism.” One popular avenue to modern industrialization became known as export substitution. One resulting problem was the problem of not sacrificing social welfare in the attempt to increase exports. Latin American governments found themselves between “the high spending required to improve living standards” and the various anti-inflationary programs pursued in an attempt to stop price increases. As political solutions failed to find traction, military intervention followed The military sought to pursue technocratic solutions in an attempt to bypass entirely the often volatile world of politics. A partial listing of military interventions include Brazil (1964), Argentina (1966), Peru (1968), Uruguay (1973) and Chile (1973). How do these modern episodes relate to the vast history Williamson surveys? These interventions, Williamson notes, illustrate the weakness of Latin American states, and that weakness was long antecedent to attempts to modernize. Weak states “derived from the peculiar deficiencies of the state in the new world.” However powerful the Crown might have appeared, it was, in fact, “circumscribed by the oligarchic interests of landowners and merchants” in Latin America. Despite their weakness, modern era governments tried “to cushion their changing societies against the shocks of rapid industrialization…” This required state spending and that, in turn, “led to borrowing from foreign banks.” Attempts at fiscal discipline, ran counter to leftists, many of whom were enamored with the Cuban Revolution. Leftist proclivities complicated, but did not dictate the result. In the in the 1980s “almost all countries defaulted on their foreign debts, bringing economic growth to a virtual standstill.” Edwin Williamson’s narrative concluded with a chapter on Globalization and Reform. The saga on both subjects appears poised to continue well into the twenty-first century.

Williamson is a Genius - the story he weaves is captivating and a joy to follow. I especially liked the sections on the growth of the societies involved and how that contributed to the rise of Intellectual pursuits and the Arts. I love this book so much I've given it to friends and followed its reading with Williamson's biography of Borges! The Penguin History is without question the perfect introduction to Latin America's rich and inspiring history!

Edwin Williamson's Penguin History of Latin America is the best in field yet from the major publishers. Eschewing the campy marxist and the de rigeur post-constructionist "theories of exploitation," Williamson cuts to the chase with old fasioned British "political economics." He makes economically deterministic arguments for colonial administration, for protracted independency wars, for caudillismo, for liberal democracy, for neo-caudillism, and, finally, for neo-liberalism cum populism, post-Cold War style. Slightly disturbing is the absence of at least a pen sketch history of the less important countries, rather than subordinating these countries to adjunctive roles vis-a-vis the big ones. Highly refreshing is Williamson's non-use of tired exploitation and dependency theories, victimization rants, and villainization of "the military" in vaguely stated polemics. This is sophisticated history. It needs a few simple maps ao that it can be used as the introductory text for the "history of Latin America" courses. Williamson says that Latin America has a valid history of its own. Russell W. Ramsey, Ph.D., D. Min. Graduate Professor, History & Diplomacy Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont

I am of European origin living here for a long time. "the meeting of two cultures: of gentlemen who didn't like to work, with people that did`t invent the wheel nor writing." In a few words Mr. Williamson describes the reasons of my frustrations

One of our children is involved in the school academic club. In preparation for an upcoming competition is required to read this book. My spouse and I are glad to see the children involved in reading various forms of literature. For this review we can only say the book has met all expectations. Once our child has completed the competition we can obtain more details on the flow and content of the book. We purchased the book used and the quality was great! We will continue to purchase a mix of new and used books as appropriate for the usage and perceived length of ownership.

The history is concise but extremely difficult to read due to its very small print. This book has been assigned as the primary reading source for UIL academic contest in Texas, but I feel many will choose to not do the contest due to the book's lengthy passages. Several chapters feel like they take forever to finish, and its 700+ pages are very intimidating to teenage readers. Producing a larger version in print and size would help its readability. I did fine myself caught up in its history telling where some passages will inspire the reader to learn even more about the subject.

The book describe the role that the Iberian peninsula played in Latin America as we see it today. It gives one a good feeling of how, after 300 years of Spanish occupation, the deposition of the king of Spain by Napoleon (and the movement of the royal court of Portugal to Brasil) played a role in the formation of the current states and current travails. With the political history an account is also given over time of trends in literature, poetry and music and its reflection of societies. The latter is a bit long winded, but, I must say, I found it quite fascinating.

An outstanding achievement. This history is valuable and unusual first for the extensive coverage of Latin America before the European arrival and secondly for the detail of the Spanish and Portuguese history that explains so much of the Columbus to Independence centuries. I was disappointed in the chapters on the twentieth century-they seemed to bog down in detail without structure. There is a shocking factual error in the chapter about the conflict in Central America in the 70s-80s-the author describes in detail the fictional assassination of Archbishop Romero on the steps of his cathedral, an event in films but not in life where he was shot saying mass in a hospital chapel. The kindle edition of this book has many errors of spelling, grammar, and incomplete sentences, not quite something on every page, but close.

If you need to learn about Latin America, this book is a foundational work. After a long, slow reading, my copy is now heavily marked-up and tabbed for future reference.

O livro aborda com bastante propriedade os mais relevantes fatos históricos dos países da América Latina.

I didn't find a lot of books on South America and buy this book without expectation. Finally this is a very good story, complete, from conquistador living Spain to the new multicultural South America.

This is a terrific book. I've been reading it while travelling in Peru/Bolivia/Chile and I found that it gave me a fascinating insight into why things are the way they are. It covers a huge swathe of history in (for me) just the right level of detail - though I did skim read some of the stuff on the literary heritage. It is easy to read, very informative and leaves you with a taste for a bit more detail in the areas that especially interest you interested.

Awesome