Latin America since Independence

In this panoramic study of Latin America since independence, Thomas Wright critically examines processes of continuity and change in crucial colonial legacies through two hundred years of postcolonial history. The book is invaluable for understanding the historical weight of many cultural traits, attitudes, values, practices, and institutions that crystalized in colonial times and have continued to influence two centuries of independent life. In clear and incisive language, it threads together complex political, socioeconomic, religious, and cultural developments, clarifying macroregional processes while providing detailed analyses of all the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries of the Americas. Textboxes, maps, images, and suggestions for further reading make it a persuasive learning tool. Highly recommended for any comprehensive course on Latin America. -- Luis Roniger, Reynolds Professor of Latin American Studies, Wake Forest University Thomas Wright has written an engaging, intelligent, and valuable history of modern Latin America that will benefit students and specialists alike. Latin American since Independence places the region in a global context but also captures its great diversity. -- Charles Walker, University of California, Davis This fresh introduction to Latin American history offers an enlightening and distinctly twenty-first-century perspective for students and general readers in our globalized world. Over two centuries, Wright shows, the international order has at every stage shaped five long-persisting features of the region's colonial legacy and made its societies what they are today. -- Alexander Wilde, American University Thomas Wright has provided a sweeping survey of two hundred years of Latin American history spanning postcolonial times to the post-Cold War years. His book renders comprehensible the complexities of diverse histories without diminishing the importance of a common experience-and excels as an introductory text. -- Louis A. Perez Jr., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Thomas C. Wright is distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Acknowledgments Acronyms Map of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean Map of South America Introduction Part I: Colonial Roots Chapter 1: Origins of the Colonial Legacies Part II: Independence and its Challenges, 1790s-1870s Chapter 2: The Independence of Latin America Chapter 3: The Age of Caudillos Reflections on the Colonial Legacies, 1790s-1870s Part III: Exports, Oligarchies, and Yankees, 1870s-1930 Chapter 4: The Export Economies Chapter 5: Political Consolidation and Social Change Chapter 6: Rise of the Yankee Reflections on the Colonial Legacies, 1870s-1930 Part IV: Revolution, Depression, and Cold War, 1930-1959 Chapter 7: The Mexican Revolution Chapter 8: Depression, Political Change, and Cold War Reflections on the Colonial Legacies, 1930-1959 Part V: The Era of the Cuban Revolution, 1959-1990 Chapter 9: The Cuban Revolution Chapter 10: The Cuban Revolution, Latin America, and the United States Chapter 11: The Reaction: Repression and State Terrorism Reflections on the Colonial Legacies, 1959-1990 Part IV: Contemporary Latin America, 1990-Present Chapter 12: Neoliberalism, Democracy, the Pink Tide, and Other Developments since 1990 Reflections on the Colonial Legacies, 1990-Present Conclusion: Colonial Legacies and Today's Latin America Bibliography Index