Thomas Ponniah is Lecturer and Assistant Director of Studies in the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies, and Faculty Associate in the Program on Justice, Welfare, and Economics, Harvard University. Jonathan Eastwood is Boetsch Associate Professor of Sociology at Washington & Lee University.

Thomas Ponniah and Jonathan Eastwood have produced an engaging and profoundly thought-provoking collection of essays on Venezuela’s process of political and social change under the late President Hugo Chávez. The volume rises above the simplistic, and often sterile, debates over democracy versus authoritarianism, and capitalism versus socialism that Venezuela’s polarized politics all too frequently elicit. Instead, its high quality analytic and theoretically-driven essays explore the consequences of Venezuela’s political experiment for institutions and individuals in all of their complex, multidimensional, and contradictory nature. In carefully selecting essays that reflect the gamut of political positions, the editors invite us to confront our preconceptions, move past them, and draw our own conclusions about the impact, meaning, and legacy of Venezuela’s ‘revolution.’

Thomas Ponniah is Lecturer and Assistant Director of Studies in the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies, and Faculty Associate in the Program on Justice, Welfare, and Economics, Harvard University. Jonathan Eastwood is Boetsch Associate Professor of Sociology at Washington & Lee University.

Thomas Ponniah and Jonathan Eastwood have produced an engaging and profoundly thought-provoking collection of essays on Venezuela’s process of political and social change under the late President Hugo Chávez. The volume rises above the simplistic, and often sterile, debates over democracy versus authoritarianism, and capitalism versus socialism that Venezuela’s polarized politics all too frequently elicit. Instead, its high quality analytic and theoretically-driven essays explore the consequences of Venezuela’s political experiment for institutions and individuals in all of their complex, multidimensional, and contradictory nature. In carefully selecting essays that reflect the gamut of political positions, the editors invite us to confront our preconceptions, move past them, and draw our own conclusions about the impact, meaning, and legacy of Venezuela’s ‘revolution.’