Customer Reviews

Indians, Oil, and Politics: A Recent History of Ecuador (Latin American Silhouettes)

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

 

 

I have recently moved to Ecuador and thought this book might give me a better understanding of what is going on here. There is plenty of information in this book--but it is completely garbled! I have read many political science books, and this is the most disorganized, badly written, unedited one I have ever tried to get through. There are outright misktakes, frequent repetitions, poor translations, and no clear storyline, chronological or otherwise. Could someone please write a better book about Ecuadorean politics? It should be a fascinating subject.

This book has lots of information and a lack of jargon but I do agree that an editor could have helped make the text flow better. Once the author starts talking about indigenous movements he tends to move around in time and repeat points in ways which make it hard to keep a clear thread. The chapters on recent presidencies also could use more structure. Still, worth reading if you want to get a quick picture of Ecuaforan politics till about 2001.

Gerlach's discussion of the Indian uprising of 2000 is excellent, although at times his book suffers from too much detail and too little abstraction. If you are in search of a history of Ecuador, specifically the rise of the indigenous movement, then this is your book.

If you want to understand the current economic climate in Ecuador, this book will lend you a helping hand as to the pre-cursor that has led to Correa's regime.

I'm going to Ecuador soon and I feel like this book has given me a great introduction to social issues and politics in the country. With the information I have gained I have been able to follow the most recent developments in the current Gutierrez administration, and I can put these events in a historical perspective. Gerlach, for me, has made sense of the senseless. The book has also helped me to form a lot of questions for which I hope to get answers on my upcoming trip.

A superb review of contemporary Ecuadorian politics and their historical roots. It's very engaging and many chapters read like a political thriller.