Central America: A Nation Divided (Latin American Histories) [Paperback]

Ralph Lee Woodward Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 21, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0195083768 | ISBN-13: 978-0195083767 | Edition: 3

This popular text surveys the history of the Central American region, covering Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, from pre-Columbian times to the present. It emphasizes the common characteristics of the Central American states as well as their potential for political union. Now completely updated, the third edition of Central America: A Nation Divided encompasses the significant new research and tumultuous events that have taken place since the last edition was published. The text now includes coverage of the civil wars in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, as well as the restoration of peace to the region under the Central American peace accords. It also recounts and analyzes the substantial changes that have occurred in the economic and social arenas as Central American states have turned increasingly to neoliberal policies that emphasize the private sector and the development of exports while reducing government entitlement programs. Students will find this text enormously helpful for sorting through the vast amounts of significant research that has been written and compiled in the past decade. In addition, the Selective Guide to the Literature section has been completely revised to reflect the great increase in research and writing on Central America. Comprehensive and incisively written, Central America: A Nation Divided is an essential text for Latin American History courses.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I have used this book in successive editions since it first came out. It is the most satisfactory survey of Central American history available. The bibliographical essay is extremely thorough--a valuable guide for serious students of Central America."--Charles L. Stausifer, Universitiy of Kansas

"Professor Woodward has made a very good book even better. Its thorough, balanced, readable....His work is most useful for novices and generalistis as well as scholars and other professionals. The bibliography is simply outstanding and comprehensive."--Charles F. Gruber, Marshall University

"This work is a balanced approach to a difficult subject. Professor Woodward has produced the best revised text on Central America."--Howard Meredith, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma

Praise for the previous edition

"The best single-volume history of Central America available today."--Bruce Calder, University of Illinois at Chicago

"Still the best survey of this important region of the New World. Easy-to-read, and based on excellent sources. A great asset to any course on Latin American or Caribbean history."--Marcial E. Ocasio-Melendez, University of Michigan

"Lee has created an unusual and important volume that both adds a new perspective to the practice of architecture and underscores the vagarious dimensions that practice can acquire in service to the state... By writing this valuable book, Lee not only encourages inquiry into the realms of practice and patronage, she gives us a sense of the rich legacy of public buildings that still beg for scholarly attention." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians

About the Author

Ralph Lee Woodward is at Tulane University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 3 edition (January 21, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195083768
• ISBN-13: 978-0195083767
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #794,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrid apology of Rios Montt, April 11, 2005

By 

MKS (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Central America: A Nation Divided (Latin American Histories) (Paperback)

In 1982, Guatemalan President Rios Montt, a general who had assumed power via a coup, began a military campaign that the UN Truth Commission has called genocidal. Tens of thousands of innocent Guatemalan civilians, almost all of them Mayan Indians, were killed, tortured and burned out of their villages.

Woodward in his book, re-published with a new Forward in 1998, had this to say of Rios Montt:

"Rios Montt's ascension to power changed the pattern of military rule....More impressive was the decline of death squad activities and the restoration of security and peace in the central highlands...Political assassinations virtually ceased..." (page 250.)

Unbelievable. The "central highlands" was where the Ixil Maya were almost completely exterminated by Rios Montt's infamous "beans or bullets" campaign. Woodward's glowing report on Rios Montt is inexcusable and left me speechless. He himself refers to the Catholic Church's human rights report issued in 1998 and announced by Archbishop Juan Gerardi who was murdered two days later. (See page 332.)

Woodward's book is either propaganda of the most wretched sort or a lazy refusal to acknowledge accepted facts. In either case, this book is absolutely the least credible source of Latin America history around.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting thesis and a wonderful overview, March 26, 2007

By 

Lehigh History Student (Bethlehem, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Central America: A Nation Divided (Latin American Histories) (Paperback)

Woodward does an excellent job of showing how Central America developed from the Kingdom of Guatemala into the nations it is today. His view of Central America includes Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize. Panama is considered a part of South America and left out of most discussions for that reason. South America went through a tumultuous time during its years under Spanish rule and despite the bourbon reforms it did not advance as Mexico or South America did. The terrain is unforgiving with malaria filled swamps along the coast and steep mountains at the top. This did not allow for the development of railroads in the post independence period or for much economic development beyond coffee production. This coffee production was difficult to ship as they lacked the infrastructure to send the product across the world.
The dictatorships that would come about after the wars for independence found another source of revenue. The so called Banana republics would suffer many intrusions from filibusters but became stronger in the process. The dictatorships of the Somoza's and others would outlast many different groups causing all sorts of problems across Central America. This book seeks to capture this turbulent time period and put forth a question that has no easy answer. Why did Central America fragment into so many disparate pieces instead of remaining whole? This country would remain a nation divided of people who had common background under Spain but did not have unity in independence. One of the reasons for this is the tremendous competition between right and left. These two forces would hold sway over various aspects of these countries development through the end of the cold war. This is a great read for those who want to gain a sense of what Central America looks like and why it developed the way it did.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A review of Central America: A Nation Divided, May 2, 2000

By 

Paul Lockard (Moline, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Central America: A Nation Divided (Latin American Histories) (Paperback)

Ralph Woodward's Central America: A Nation Divided, has been the best introductory book to the region. This third edition is a clear improvement over the previous editions. Both the chronology and the bibliography have been updated and expanded. (The Bibliography is now 77 pages long!) The book is strong on the era of independence and the early national period (1780's to 1840's). It is excellent for the 1970's to the present. All of the countries are evenly covered, including Belize. However, it is not as comprehensive for the rest of the 19th century when coffee and bananas permanently shaped the economies and societies of the region. It is also weak on the Indian cultures prior to the Spanish conquest.