In the preface to this new historical survey, Peter Henderson states that his principal motivation for writing the book was to provide an updated and comprehensive text to assign to undergraduates. Henderson also states that the principal focus of his textbook is the national histories of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. However, he is a little modest in his introduction. The Course of Andean History provides a comprehensive narrative stretching from the pre-Columbian to the present, emphasises the Andes’ connections with the world and weaves cultural change into its analysis. Instructors and scholars will find Henderson's survey a valuable tool for teaching and reference.
Henderson's work is arranged as a standard textbook. Chapters are thematically organised but move in a chronological sequence starting with human settlement of the region. Henderson skilfully links the diverse national and regional histories of the Andes together in these balanced, well-structured chapters. The text is supported by maps and images, and a glossary inserted at the end adds to the book's instructional value. Each chapter is concluded with an up-to-date list of suggested reading that undergraduates and professional historians will find useful.
Although the bulk of the text is focused on the national period, Henderson provides a skilful summary of the pre-Columbian and colonial past of the Andes. He admirably reminds undergraduates that the vaunted Inca were, in fact, the inheritors of many advanced civilisations that rose and declined over millennia. Moving toward encounter, Henderson clearly narrates the many shifting alliances and civil wars between and amongst Andeans and Spaniards that erupted during the first century of conquest. He integrates recent scholarship on the ‘Age of Andean Insurrection’ by including the Túpac Katari and Tómas Katari revolts alongside the more well-known Túpac Amaru uprising. The independence era, another difficult narrative, is also interpreted well by Henderson for undergraduate readers.
In addition to recounting history, Henderson is able to interpret ideas, terms and thoughts cogently. Concepts of the ayllu, mita, caste, inkarrí, import substitution industrialisation, populism and many others are explored well for undergraduate readers unfamiliar with them. Henderson's summary of José Carlos Mariátegui's theoretical contributions and limitations is particularly well done, as is his description of the differences and conflicts of mestizaje and indigenismo. The text covers the well-known debates of the twentieth century regarding the challenges of democratic inclusion and economic development. Even magical realism and tinkuy rituals are employed to illustrate the diverse contemporary culture of the Andes. Henderson's survey covers recent regional challenges of drug trafficking and climate change. Finally, the text provides cogent insights into the recent rise (or lack thereof) of indigenous-centred politics and renewed leftism in Andean nation-states.
Henderson's narrative does have some limitations. It is impossible for a textbook like this to fulfil every instructor's goal, but those who emphasise chronology in particular may find the thematic focus of the chapters, especially those dedicated to the nineteenth century, to be a little too broad. For example, the chapters on caudillos and post-independence economics span from 1830 to 1875, obscuring the interrelationship between these two historical trends over time. Chapter 12, ‘Creating National Identity’, also covers the unusually long period of 1830 to 1936. Such long periodisation obscures some events that instructors regard as important. For example, Andrés de Santa Cruz's liberal experiment to unite Bolivia and Peru receives only a paragraph (pp. 191–2) and Bolivia's vast Aymara peasant uprising of 1899 is hardly mentioned (p. 211). There are other instances in the textbook where oversights, while not refuting the overall narrative, leave the reader wondering why certain details were omitted. For example, Henderson documents Alberto Fujimori's corruption, authoritarian nature and reliance on Vladimiro Montesinos, but fails to mention his 1992 autogolpe (p. 304).
Henderson's text might also have benefited from a deeper analysis of violence in the Andes. Unfortunately, the area's history has often contained some of the most violent episodes in Latin America, and this past has produced a strong body of scholarship on the social causes, outcomes and memory of violence. Henderson covers cases like Colombia's internal wars since La Violencia and Sendero Luminoso in Peru. However, considering the wealth of scholarly work conducted on these two countries in particular, the text would benefit from including more from these perspectives. Liberation theology, another field of study with deep Andean roots, receives scant attention in the text.
Perhaps the most serious omission is the near total absence of Amazonian peoples. This reviewer understands that, technically, the Amazon is not geographically part of the Andes. However, since independence, nearly all of the Andean nation-states have looked to el oriente for regional strength, settlement and economic exploitation, often at the expense of the original inhabitants of these areas. Beyond some references to border disputes, events in the Amazon, even the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century rubber boom and its devastating social effects, are overlooked in Henderson's narrative.
However, it must be repeated that these omissions do not negate the overall value that Henderson's textbook provides to undergraduates, graduate students and historians of the Andes. These issues will hopefully be addressed in many more editions and publications of this valuable and much-needed textbook. Andean scholars of all levels will find Henderson's survey a handy reference and an enjoyable read.
