Customer Reviews

Dispatches from Latin America: On the Frontlines Against Neoliberalism

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I started this book hoping for an interesting viewpoint against neoliberal reforms. However, for the majority of the essays, a one-sided tirade against Neoliberalism ensues, and those that are not overly-critical are not very intesesting. Still many of the small essays are very good especially Hilary Wainwright's description of integrating the community into budget decisions in Porto Alegre. Her article, as well as David Bacon's investigation into US-Mexico Maquiladoras, are easily 5+star worthy, however the lesser essays included cause me to rate this book so low. In fact, I would almost rate the book as a 4-star but I did not appreciate how the book was edited, especially how so little citation was used throughout about half of the essays. I couldn't take all the information as fact when so little sources were used to strengthen arguments, and thus the 3-star rating.

Additionally, this read simply focused on South America and Mexico, with only one article for the entire Central American region and none on Latin American Caribbean. The overabundence of articles centered around the "New Left" of South America is fine, but the title and description should reflect that. Saying "...from LatinAmerica" seems to be a misnomer.

So, if you are looking for a 30-some essay tirade against neoliberalism, this book will be exactly what you want, and indeed you can uncover some of the diamonds sandwiched between the rough, difficult-to-read partner essays. However, if you are simply looking for an interesting look into Counter-Neoliberalism, there have to be more concise, worthwhile reads out there.