The editorial office has received a number of textbooks and syntheses of scholarly literature that will be of interest to our readership, especially for teaching purposes. To introduce these works, we occasionally list in this section the publication information and tables of contents entries. The five volumes selected for this issue examine Brazil, economic history, dictatorship, Central America, and modern Latin American history.
Brazil: The Troubled Rise of a Global Power. By Michael Reid. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014. Pp. 334. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $32.50 paper.
Introduction: A New Power
Brazil's Troubled Rise
The Brazilian Way of Life
Part I: History from Geography
The Forging of a People
From Monarchy to Coffee Republic
Getúlio Vargas and ‘National Developmentalism’
The Long Dictatorship
Part II: The Making of Democratic Brazil
From Disorder to Progress under Cardoso
Lulismo and the Brazilian Dream
The Long Road to a Middle-class Society
Oil, Farming, and the Amazon
Brazil's Guided Capitalism
Part III: Prospects
Global Ambitions and Frustrations
An Unreformed Leviathan
Brazil's Century?
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The Economic History of Latin America since Independence. Third Edition. By Victor Bulmer-Thomas. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Pp. xxv, 595. Tables. Figures. Maps. Index. $45.00 paper.
Section 1: Latin American Economic Development: An Overview
Section 2: The Struggle for National Identity From Independence to Mid-Century
Colonial Legacy
The Economic Consequences of Independence
The Free-Trade Question
The Export Sector
The Nonexport Economy
Regional Differences
Section 3: The Export Sector and the World Economy, circa 1850–1814
World Demand and the Export-Led Growth Model
Export Performance
Export Cycles
The Pattern of External Trade
The Terms of Trade and International Transport Costs
Section 4: Export-Led Growth: The Supply Side
The Labor Market
Land
Capital Markets
Foreign Investment
The Policy Context
Section 5: Export-Led Growth and the Nonexport Economy
Domestic-Use Agriculture
Manufacturing and Its Origins
Industry and Relative Prices
Regional Differences on the Eve of the First World War
Section 6: The First World War and Its Aftermath
The Collapse of the Old Order
Trade Strategies
Exchange-Rate, Financial, and Fiscal Reform
External Shocks, Relative Prices, and the Manufacturing Sector
Section 7: Policy, Performance, and Structural Change in the 1930s
The Depression of 1929
Short-Term Stabilization
Recovery from the Depression
The International Environment and the Export Sector
Recovery of the Nonexport Economy
The Transition toward Inward-Look Development
Section 8: War and the New International Economic Order
Trade and Industry in the Second World War
Trade Surpluses, Fiscal Policy, and Inflation
The Postwar Dilemma
The New International Economic Order
Section 9: Inward-Looking Development in the Postwar Period
The Inward-Looking Model
Outward-Looking Countries
Regional Integration
Growth, Income Distribution, and Poverty
Section 10: New Trade Strategies and Debt-Led Growth
Export Promotion
Export Substitution
Primary-Export Development
The State, Public Enterprise, and Capital Accumulation
Debt-Led Growth
Section 11: Debt, Adjustment, and the Shift to a New Paradigm
From Debt Crisis to Debt Burden
External Adjustment
Internal Adjustment, Inflation Stabilization, and the Exchange-RateProblem
Growth, Poverty, and Income Distribution since the Debt Crisis
Section 12: Conclusions
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Dictatorship in South America. By Jerry Dávila. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2013. Pp. xvi, 207. Illustrations. Introduction. Index. $25.95 paper; $89.95 cloth.
Dependency, Development, and Liberation: Latin America in the Cold War
Brazil: What Road to Development?
Argentina: Between Peronism and Military Rule
Chile: From Pluralistic Socialism to Authoritarian Free Market
Argentina: The Terrorist State
Brazil: The Long Road Back
Chile: A “Protected Democracy”?
Conclusions
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Understanding Central America: Global Forces, Rebellion, and Change. Sixth Edition. By John A. Booth, Christine J. Wade, and Thomas W. Walker. New York: Westview Press, 2014. Pp. xxvi, 374. Figures. Tables. Index. $39.00 paper.
Section 1: Crisis and Transformation
Section 2: Global Forces and System Change in Central America
Poverty and Its Causes
Regime Change in Central America
Three Literatures on Regime Change in Central America
A Theory of Regime Change in Central America
Explaining Regime Change in Central America
Discussion
Section 3: The Common History
Conquest to 1839
1838 to the Present
Section 4: Costa Rica
Historical Background
Weather Global Forces
The Economic Development Model Transformed
Changes in Politics and Parties
Economic Policy
Contemporary Costa Rican Politics
Conclusions
Section 5: Nicaragua
Historical Background
Global Forces and Insurrection
The Revolution
Replacing the Revolution
Contemporary Nicaraguan Politics
Section 6: El Salvador
Historical Background
Global Forces and Insurrection
Government and Politics since the Peace Accord
Conclusions
Section 7: Guatemala
Historical Background
Global Forces and Conflict
The Civilian Transitional Regime and the Civil War
The Peace Accords and Contemporary Guatemalan Politics
The Economy
Contemporary Politics
Conclusions
Section 8: Honduras
Historical Background
Weathering Global Forces
Contemporary Honduran Politics
Conclusions
Section 9: Political Participation, Political Attitudes, and Democracy
Citizen Participation
Citizen Attitudes
Factors Shaping Attitudes and Participation
Conclusions
Section 10: Power, Democracy, and US Policy in Central America
The Problem of Power
Democracy
Mobilization
The Roots of US Policy in Central America
Communism in Central America
Demobilization in Central America
US Policy in the Post-Cold War Period
Conclusions
Section 11: Reflections and Projections
Reflections: Repression, Mobilization, and Democratic Transition
Projections: Prospects for Democratic Consolidation
Conclusions
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From Frontiers to Football: An Alternative History of Latin America since 1800. By Matthew Brown. London: Reaktion Books Ltd., 2014. Pp. 248. References. Index. $30.00 cloth.
Latin America and the World: An Introduction
Goodbye, Colonial Worlds: Independence
Building Nations, Looking for Models
Raw Materials, Raw Wounds
New Exchanges, New Markets
Beneath a New Empire
Latin America in the Cold War
Violence and Exoticism
Unleashed from Empire?
