Synopses & Reviews
Although Latin America weathered the Great Depression better than the United States and Europe, the global economic collapse of the 1930s had a deep and lasting impact on the region. The contributors to this book examine the consequences of the Depression in terms of the role of the state, party-political competition, and the formation of working-class and other social and political movements. Going beyond economic history, they chart the repercussions and policy responses in different countries while noting common cross-regional trends--in particular, a mounting critique of economic orthodoxy and greater state intervention in the economic, social, and cultural spheres, both trends crucial to the region's subsequent development. The book also examines how regional transformations interacted with and differed from global processes. Taken together, these essays deepen our understanding of the Great Depression as a formative experience in Latin America and provide a timely comparative perspective on the recent global economic crisis.
Contributors. Marcelo Bucheli, Carlos Contreras, Paulo Drinot, Jeffrey L. Gould, Roy Hora, Alan Knight, Gillian McGillivray, Luis Felipe Sáenz, Angela Vergara, Joel Wolfe, Doug Yarrington
Review
"In
The Great Depression in Latin America, leading Latin Americanists address an important and timely topic from new perspectives, paying more attention to the cultural and social repercussions of the Depression in Latin America than have previous studies. A number of the essays take strong revisionist stands that will garner a lot of attention, and Paulo Drinot's introduction and Alan Knight's conclusion do a wonderful job of framing and enhancing the already strong essays."
Review
"At last we have a broad new look at the impact of the
Great Depression in Latin America, the most comprehensive and penetrating in a generation. Chapters by top scholars challenge past accounts of the economic collapse itself as well as its impact on politics and policymaking, the eruption of social movements, and the salience of class, race, and gender in the process. Without sacrificing the immense differences across countries and regions, this volume points to a much needed new synthesis."
Review
"This impressive collection breaks new ground in its treatment of the Great Depression's impact on Latin America. Gone are over-simplified emphases on populism, state cooptation of the masses, and the replacement of export-driven economies. In their place we have a more complex treatment of regional differences in the scale and impact of the Depression and of state responses to economic dislocation, as well as of the agency of protagonists like local bourgeoisies, foreign investors, workers, and women. This is obligatory reading for students of twentieth century Latin American political, economic and social history."
Review
“[A]n excellent collection of essays by an accomplished group of Latin American, US, and UK scholars. Breaking new ground in its treatment of the Great Depression's impact on Latin America, in nine country-focused chapters, contributors examine issues illuminating the impact of the Depression on the six largest economies (Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico) as well as Chile, Cuba, and Central America. . . . In sum, the collection provides a wealth of detail and undermines the idea that there was a single set of responses to the Great Depression or a uniform impact across countries and regions. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.”
Review
“The Great Depression, it would seem, remains an essential source of the debates that we are still having about the role of the state in the economy and monetarism. This book, therefore, is of real value to students and teachers of Latin American history. The collection offers a full picture of the impact and consequences of the Depression across much of the region, with chapters focusing on individual countries, from Mexico to Argentina.”
Synopsis
The contributors to this collection examine the lasting impact of the Great Depression on Latin America in terms of its effects on the role of the state, political-party competition, and the formation of working-class and other social and political movements.
About the Author
Paulo Drinot is Senior Lecturer in Latin American History at the Institute of the Americas, University College London. He is the author of
The Allure of Labor: Workers, Race, and the Making of the Peruvian State and editor of
Che's Travels: The Making of a Revolutionary in 1950s Latin America, both also published by Duke University Press.
Alan Knight is Professor of the History of Latin America at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Mexico: The Colonial Era; Mexico: From the Beginning to the Spanish Conquest; and The Mexican Revolution (two volumes).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction / Paulo Drinot 1
1. The Impact of the Depression on Argentine Society / Roy Horn 22
and#160;2. Chilean Workers and the Great Depression, 1930andndash;1938 / Angela Vergara 51
3. Change with Continuity: Brazil from 1930 to 1945 / Joel Wolfe 81
4. The Great Depression in Peru / Paulo Drinot and Carlos Contreras 102
5. Export Protectionism and the Great Depression: Multinational Corporations, Domestic Elite, and Export Policies in Colombia / Marcelo Bucheli and Luis Felipe Sandaacute;enz 129
6. Political Transition in an Age of Extremes: Venezuela in the 1930s / Doug Yarrington 160
7. Indigenista Dictators and the Problematic Origins of Democracy in Central America / Jeffrey L. Gould 188
8. The Character and Consequences of the Great Depression in Mexico / Alan Knight 213
9. Cuba: Depression, Imperialism, and Revolution, 1920-1940 / Gillian McGillivray 246
10. The Great Depression in Latin America: An Overview / Alan Knight 276
Contributors 341
Index 345