Latin and South American History

Mexico's fascinating complexities are difficult to approach. This illustrated Concise History begins with a brief examination of contemporary issues, while the book as a whole - ranging from the Olmecs to the present day - combines a chronological and thematic approach while highlighting long-term issues and controversies.

With a land mass larger than the continental United States, a unique culture that is part European, African, and indigenous, and the world's ninth largest economy, Brazil is one of the most important--yet one of the least understood--nations in the world.

Presenting an accessible introduction to Argentina's complex history, this book enables readers to better understand how Argentina's history follows and diverges from other South American nations.

The Chile Reader makes available a rich variety of documents spanning more than five hundred years of Chilean history. Most of the selections are by Chileans; many have never before appeared in English. The history of Chile is rendered from diverse perspectives, including those of Mapuche Indians and Spanish colonists, peasants and aristocrats, feminists and military strongmen, entrepreneurs and workers, and priests and poets. Among the many selections are interviews, travel diaries, letters, diplomatic cables, cartoons, photographs, and song lyrics. Texts and images, each introduced by the editors, provide insights into the ways that Chile's unique geography has shaped its national identity, the country's unusually violent colonial history, and the stable but autocratic republic that emerged after independence from Spain.

This book is a history of the three Guianas, now known as Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Though histories of each of the countries exist, this is the first work in a century to consider the three countries as a group, and thus the first to present the history of all three as a comparative and overarching study. Special emphasis has been given to the story of how each colony was administered by Britain, the Netherlands, and France respectively, and how these differing colonial administrative policies have given rise to three vastly different cultures. Because the geographical area of the Guianas is relatively small, the indigenous population at the time of contact was relatively uniform across the area, and the external pressures on the three colonies over their histories exhibited significant similarities, the book presents the Guianas as an ideal laboratory in which to study the effects of imperialism and cultural assimilation practices. The book also briefly considers the present political and cultural status of the three polities and makes some projections about their possible futures. In all, the book presents a complete history from prehistory until the present day covering the entirety of the Guianas region, relating a colorful history from a little-studied corner of the world.

Surveying Bolivia's economic, social, cultural and political evolution from the arrival of early man in the Andes to the present, this current version brings the history of this society up to the present day, covering the fundamental changes that have occurred since the National Revolution of 1952 and the return of democracy in 1982. These changes have included the introduction of universal education and the rise of the mestizos and Indian populations to political power for the first time in national history.

The story of the Surinamese Jews is
one of a colonial Jewish community that became ever more interwoven with the local environment. Jewish migrants from diverse backgrounds were faced with challenges brought about by a colonial order and, in essence, a race based slave society.

In White Lies and Black Markets, Fatah-Black offers a new account of the colonization of Suriname--one of the major European plantation colonies on the Guiana Coast--in the period between 1650-1800. While commonly portrayed as an isolated tropical outpost, this study places the colony in the context of its connections to the rest of the Atlantic world. These economic and migratory links assured the colony's survival, but also created many incentives to evade the mercantilistically inclined metropolitan authorities.

This updated and expanded edition extends the narrative from 1990 to the first decade of the present century, beginning with the collapse of the Dominican economy. In addition to the electoral fraud and constitutional reforms of 1994 and the return administration of Leonel Fernandez, the updated chapters focus on financial crises, the economic reforms of the 1990s, the free trade agreement with the United States, and party politics. They also take account of the recent Dominican electoral processes, the colossal and fraudulent banking crisis of 2002-2004, and the perpetuation of corruption as part of Dominican political culture.

Combining fertile soils, vital trade routes, and a coveted strategic location, the islands and surrounding continental lowlands of the Caribbean were one of Europe's earliest and most desirable colonial frontiers. The region was colonized over the course of five centuries by a revolving cast of Spanish, Dutch, French, and English forces, who imported first African slaves and later Asian indentured laborers to help realize the economic promise of sugar, coffee, and tobacco.

Among the themes examined are colonialism, slavery, and the involvement of the Christian Church in both colonial rule and enslavement. The essays also analyze the pre-independence and post-independence periods of the twentieth century, with examinations on topics that include prostitution, departmentalization, education, visual art, and the musical form known as Reggae.

The Companion to Latin American History creates a single-source overview of the diverse history and current trends in the study of Latin America.