Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America's Soul (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, forgotten continent, populist challenge, Latin America, United States, Sao Paulo (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[A] comprehensive and erudite assessment of the region. . . . While the social and economic face of Latin America is becoming more attractive, political life remains ugly and, in some countries, is getting even uglier."-Mois�s Naim, Washington Post (Mois�s Naim Washington Post 20080801)

"No one who seriously aspires to discuss Latin American politics, economics and culture should go without reading Forgotten Continent."-Jorge Castaneda and Patricio Navia, National Interest (Josge Castaneda and Patricio Navia National Interest 20081201)

"Reid''s account is essential reading for its clear portrayal of what can be called a post-''Washington consensus'' view of Latin America."-Steven Volk, The Journal of American History (Steven Volk The Journal of American History 20091201)

"Reid''s book offers something valuable to both specialists and the general reading public. . . . He writes of Latin America with great empathy, intelligence, and insight."-James Brennan, Hispanic American Historical Review (James Brennan Hispanic American Historical Review )

"[An] intelligent and thoughtful overview. . . . Reid offers a serious and well-written synthesis of Latin America''s political economy that is meticulously supported by a wealth of data and the work of the best scholars studying the region."-Donald Share, The Americas (Donald Share The Americas )

Product Description

Latin America has often been condemned to failure. Neither poor enough to evoke Africa’s moral crusade, nor as explosively booming as India and China, it has largely been overlooked by the West. Yet this vast continent, home to half a billion people, the world’s largest reserves of arable land, and 8.5 percent of global oil, is busily transforming its political and economic landscape.

 

This book argues that rather than failing the test, Latin America’s efforts to build fairer and more prosperous societies make it one of the world’s most vigorous laboratories for capitalist democracy. In many countries—including Brazil, Chile and Mexico—democratic leaders are laying the foundations for faster economic growth and more inclusive politics, as well as tackling deep-rooted problems of poverty, inequality, and social injustice. They face a new challenge from Hugo Chávez’s oil-fuelled populism, and much is at stake. Failure will increase the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants to the United States and Europe, jeopardize stability in a region rich in oil and other strategic commodities, and threaten some of the world's most majestic natural environments.

 

Drawing on Michael Reid’s many years of reporting from inside Latin America’s cities, presidential palaces, and shantytowns, the book provides a vivid, immediate, and informed account of a dynamic continent and its struggle to compete in a globalized world.

 

 

(20080323)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (January 3, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300116160
• ISBN-13: 978-0300116168
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #264,871 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Democracy - and Capitalism - in Latin America, April 26, 2008

By	Omer Belsky (Haifa, Israel) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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Michael Reid's task in "Forgotten Continent" is onerous: in one book - a large one, to be sure - he wants to summarize two hundred years of a continent's history, and to argue that Latin America is now ready for a major change: the embrace of Free Market Democracy in earnest for the first time.

The thesis of the book is simple: Latin America is torn between reformers - democrats who support free markets and democracy, and populists - who support neither. Reid argues that although the populists have considerable appeal in the region, the tide has turned against them. Unlike previous eras, the current embrace of democracy and capitalism - augmented with a great deal of redistribution policies - is here to last.

Surprisingly for a journalist, Reid's history of Latin American, in three large chapters which take us from the 1820s to the 1990s, is cumbersome and hard to read. It is only when he gets to economic history that Reid, a correspondent for The Economist, hits his stride; A chapter on the development of the Washington Consensus is fascinating; I've read general economic accounts of 1997-1998 crisis (e.g. Paul Krugman's The Return of Depression Economics) and a specific study of Argentina's woes (Paul Bluestein's And the Money Kept Rolling In (and Out) Wall Street, the IMF, and the Bankrupting of Argentina), but Reid offers a continent wide survey of the economic liberalization program which started in the 1980s, and offers a balanced evaluation; Unsurprisingly, Reid, like the journal for which he writes, thinks that the reforms were largely successful and positive, and that the responsibility for economic failures in the countries of Latin America lies more in insufficient reform of their economies and institutions and hardly if at all in the malign influence of Wall Street, the US, and the International Monetary Fund.

I was pleased with Reid's decision to dedicate a chapter to Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan President. I originally bought "Forgotten Continent" to a large extent in order to learn more about the man and the phenomenon. Unfortunately Reid's account, although informative about Chavez's biography (coolest tid-bit: did you know that Chavez has his own TV show in which he dazzles Venezuelan audiences for five to seven hours every week?) but did not really enlighten me about the overall significance of "The Chavez Revolution", for Venezuela, Latin America, or the world. Overall, Reid's conclusion corresponds to the views I held before reading his book: Chavez's Venezuela is less democratic and more corrupt than the very imperfect regimes that came before it. Chavez's entire regime rests on the high price of oil; once that is gone, Chavez, and unfortunately, his country are in for a rude awakening (for a dissenting view, see Bart Jones's biography Hugo!: The Hugo Chavez Story from Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution).

Reid's focus is squarely on economics and politics. The chapter on the changing societies of Latin America is short and feels rudimentary. Reid touches briefly upon the region's press (becoming more liberal and open), religion (becoming more diverse, with a decline of traditional Catholicism and the rise of Protestantism) and race relations (becoming more complicated, as the previously hushed reality of racism is brought to the surface, unleashing various forces and counter forces), but doesn't do them justice.

The heart of the book is the description of the struggle to reform: not only the state and the economy, but the law enforcement and education systems. That improving schools is a difficult job comes as no surprise; Investing in education is relatively easy, but making sure that the investment is productive is much more difficult (see William Easterly's The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists' Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics and The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good). The difficulties of reforming the law enforcement services owe much to the so-called "War on drugs": US pressure on Latin American countries to destroy coca production causes unnecessary resentment, and is unlikely to effect the availability of crack-cocaine on US streets - the high price of cocaine isn't due to scarcity but to the risks involved in moving it within the market countries, where it is much more heavily regulated (p.256). But beyond the inherent problems in reform, the main obstacle to the spread of effective, free market democracies is the weak economic performances of Latin America. Unlike China and India, which clearly enjoy the benefits of Globalization, the economic performance of most Latin American countries have been abysmal.

Why has Latin America's economies (with few exceptions such as Chile) performed so badly? It's hard to say. The great differences in size, population, geography, system of government, availability of natural resources, etc, guarantees that challenges would always be launched against any single "one size fits all" explanation. Regardless of the cause, Reid argues that Latin America's improved economic policies in the 1990s and 2000s would lead to improved economic outcome, and thus the reformers (and not the populists) would win the "Battle for the Soul of Latin America". Let's hope he's right - a poor Latin America dominated by quasi-socialistic dictators, as in the 20th century, would be a grim reality for the 21st.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing, balanced interpretation of modern Latin America, February 17, 2008

By	BRANDON KNOX (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In "Forgotten Continent" Michael Reid offers a balanced, and in many ways refreshing, interpretation of modern Latin America. He eschews two common, competing views of the region, disagreeing with the leftist argument that Latin America has been a victim of "neoliberalism" and globalization, as well as the opposing thesis that Latin countries are doomed to dictatorship and poverty due to deeply rooted cultural impediments. Instead, Reid argues that Latin America has made tremendous strides--economically, politically, and socially--during the past quarter century. Despite his largely positive assessment, the author is under no illusion regarding the continued challenges facing the region. Its largest challenge comes from populism, best embodied by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, and the continuing temptation of economic policies that have proved disastrous in the past.

While the text is at times dry (especially in sections heavy on economics), overall it offers a fresh take on a part of the world that does not receive much attention among the popular press. After reading the book, I could not help but to share some of Reid's cautious optimism about the "forgotten continent." This book can be enjoyed both by Latinamericanists and curious newcomers alike.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Impressive, August 8, 2009

By	mark "cubanote" (washington dc) - See all my reviews

I just finished reading this book and while it is a bit pessamistic, the outlook for the continent is the same. I would love to respond to an earlier review saying that the author was "not academic". I have a Ph.D. and teach Latin American Studies and found his footnotes to be very thorough and would not expect him to carry out interviews as they would be biased to his cause. However, he draws from previously published sources. I ask the previous reviewer what his experience of academia is?

Excellent! Read this book to know what is happening now in Latin America, especially for a concise overview of the Argentina debacle where I spend half the year.