Customer Reviews

Modern Latin America, Sixth Edition

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Modern Latin America, Sixth Edition was the primary text used in my 3000-level Latin American history course. Its chapters include:

The Colonial Foundations (1492-1880s)
The Transformation of Modern Latin America (1880s-2000s)
Argentina
Chile
Brazil
Peru
Colombia
Mexico
Cuba
The Caribbean (Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico)
Central America: Colonialism, Dictatorship, and Revolution
Latin America, United States, and the World
What Future for Latin America?

There's also a nice appendix of leaders and recommended additional reading.

Overall, all prospective readers must know that Skidmore is a subscriber to dependency theory. In essence, dependency theory classifies countries as either in the economic "core" or "periphery" in the world. Countries like Japan, China, U.S.A., and Germany would be considered in the core. Everyone else, especially most of Latin America, would be in the periphery. Thus, according to dependency theory, one of the primary sources of Latin America's economic woe is its inability to control its own economic destiny due to being in the periphery. Many problems have surfaced in regard to this stance, but you should know that this ideology is what Skidmore bases himself in.

As such, I find much of the analysis to be painfully lacking. This is an overview book with heavy reliance on facts alone and chronological progression. Causal analysis and historiographical considerations are quite sparse.

Additionally, Skidmore does not use footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical referencing to back-up any of his writing with evidence. Once again, this is consistent with an "overview" book lacking in real argumentation.

Nevertheless, those limitations aside, this is a very good general introduction to Latin American history which focuses on political and economic progression in many Latin American nations. There is brief mention of culture in most chapters, but an accompanying book such as Peter Winn's "Americas" is most likely necessary to satisfy a more socially-based historical education. I recommend this book not as a finish line for Latin American study, but as a window to the Latin American world.

How many North Americans really know what Latin America is like? How many can name more than six countries in the region? The history and politics of the region are rich and complex. Skidmore and Smith make this rich region understandable for a layperson who is not a specialist in the Latin American region.

The first two chapters of the book are a general historical overview, beginning with pre-Columbian times right up until the present. After that, it looks at a variety of case studies within the region, including Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Cuba, the Caribbean, and Central America.

The authors are successful at presenting not only the common threads that bind the region (for example dependencia theory) but also the distinctions between the countries (for example the lack of a local working class in Argentina compared to the oversupply of indigenous labor in Mexico) and explains how that affects each individual country in the region.

For most of the second half of the 19th century as well as the 20th century, the United States is the primary foreign actor in the region. How they resolve their relations with the U.S. and with one another is a driving force in the political development of the region. From the 1950s (and especially from the 1960s), the Soviets enter the fray. While the Soviets are now gone, as can be seen from the news today, the legacy of leftism (which predated the Soviet influence in the region) is still an active part of Latin American politics.

While many in North America may think that the leftist movements in Latin America (i.e. Venezuela and Bolivia) are a knee-jerk anti-American reaction, the roots are far deeper than that. One can't help but come out of reading this book with an appreciation of the spirit of the Latin American and a deeper understanding of not only their challenges, but also their frustrations.

This is a fantastic read for someone wishing to get their feet wet into the scholarship of this region.

This is a great book for thoes who know little about Latin American and want to get both snipits as well as the general feel of the past 150 years of Latin American history. As a history major I highly recomend it.

This is an excellent textbook for anyone who wants a summary of Latin America. It covers all of the regions in very clear detail and excellent prose. You hardly feel like you are reading a text book at all. For those who have no background in Latin American history this is a great place to start. For those who have read widely they will find this an invaluable summary and an essential addition to any Latin American History library.

Great companion to any intro course of study of Latin American history. You will find easy to follow and clear accounts of the regions and their occastionally hostile beginnings, the political, social and religious climates as well as the traditions and beliefs handed down through the centuries.

There is much to appreciate in this book and I'd recommend it for anyone interested in delving deeper into this region which is rich in history and development.

Skidmore and Smith deliver a great historical review of the development of Latin America covering the span between the precolonial period and present time. These authors further engage in individualized analysis of some countries, though leave out some with great historic importance, like Bolivia. Overall however, this book serves as an outstanding reference guide to those interested in Latin American Studies.

I'm in a Latin America master's program, and I have used this book as a source for just about every paper I've done - it's a great overview but has enough specific information for each major area/country that you're silly NOT to use it.

In my college going career, I have never crossed a book written by someone that is clearly so knowledgeable... unfortunately, the author is also so incredibly boring that I can't believe that they've read their own book. This one is a snoozer and I struggle to get through it.

Written in English, this is a nice supplement to my "Latin American Culture" Spanish class. So far I have covered material that explains the tumultuous rise and fall of various governing styles in Latin America. It is an easy read -- for the student using this book, I recommend taking notes as you go to keep the material fresh in your mind.

Thomas Skidmore is simply a genius. Modern Latin America brings a insightful and precise analysis of Latin America. Skidmore is neither superficial nor boring. He presents the reader a very smart and interesting analysis of Latin America. After reading this book one gets pretty much the idea of why "There is no sin south the Equator".