For several years, the historiography on Latin America has critically debunked the claim that the typical Latin American hacendado (rancher) was backward and averse to risk. Yet despite a myriad of publications on the topic, the assumption remains. Scholars (and here I refer to those whose research focuses on the first modern globalization) have shown that, far from being “unproductive,” prominent Latin American hacendados were keenly aware of national and international demands when planning their operations. What is more, they actively engaged in the modernization of the late nineteenth century, expanding their investments into the railroad, meatpacking, and manufacturing sectors. In Mercado, ganado y territorio: Haciendas y hacendados en el Oriente y el Magdalena Medio antioqueños (1920–1960), José Roberto Álvarez Múnera tackles this issue by looking into the Colombian livestock industry after the export boom of the late nineteenth century. Both the theme and the timeframe of this book are noteworthy. The former is in the spotlight, given current (dietary and environmental) concerns over high consumption of animal-derived foods. The latter coincides with a period when most of Latin America adopted inward-looking and nationalistic economic policies, the extent of which is still unclear.

Álvarez Múnera shows that in such a context ranchers implemented capitalist practices in the Colombian countryside. The author develops this argument by questioning dichotomies that divorce urban and rural environments and by describing ranchers’ entrepreneurial behavior. The common thread throughout the book is that in two regions of the Departmento of Antioquía, Oriente y Magdalena Medio, cattlemen in the sectors of milk and meat production modernized their operations to attend to the demands of a burgeoning working and middle class in Medellín, the capital of Antioquía. Such modernization entailed imports of purebred animals and related technology to improve the quality of local herds and to enhance native forage. These haciendas, in turn, invigorated the regional business chain not only as suppliers of agricultural commodities but also as consumers of, for instance, veterinarian services and electricity.

The book is structured in four chapters. After providing a historiographical outline of the livestock industry in Colombia, in chapters 2 and 3 the author delves into dairy farming in the Oriente antioqueño and cattle ranching in Magdalena Medio, respectively. Consistent with the approach mentioned above, these chapters link milk and beef cattle output in these regions to their primary consumer market in Medellín. In the last chapter, Álvarez Múnera details the organizational structure of ranches in both areas with respect to land tenure, technology adoption, quality of herds, production and transportation of goods, and labor force characteristics. The comparison reveals that in the Oriente antioqueño, cattle were raised in a semi-intensive system and fattened with supplementary feeding. Hence, those animals required regular veterinary attention and skilled workers. In contrast, in Magdalena Medio, extensive livestock management relied less on labor-intensive animal husbandry.

Álvarez Múnera shows that independently of farm size, scale of operation, and level of market integration, ranchers in Oriente and Magdalena Medio “reproduced the rationality of the industry in the hacienda” (p. 358). They structured their operations according to environmental constraints and market needs while seeking alliances with the political sector to gauge support for infrastructure improvement. It should be noted that the author's treatment of the environmental variable is eloquent. Such an approach will certainly draw attention from an audience interested in the intersection between environmental, economic, and social phenomena.

There is no doubt that the author makes a compelling argument as he unveils the entrepreneurial skills of ranchers. The book is well documented. Some quotations, however, seem excessive and distract the reader from the main point. Regarding its structure, the work would have benefited from a succinct description of the role (if any) that domestic policies, such as tax incentives, played in the development of the livestock industry in Colombia. In a different vein, the author hardly mentions ranching experiences outside his area of study. The reader misses, if not a framework, at least references about the topic in other latitudes of the American continent. Environmental differences aside, several countries in the Americas underwent (beginning in the late nineteenth century) similar ranching innovations, and these strengthened supranational markets. Consider, for example, the trade of live cattle and processed meat between Mexico, the United States, and Canada, and that of jerked beef and beef cattle of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay.

As the reader learns about the capitalist strategies of Columbian ranchers, one wonders about those ranchers’ partnerships with national and international actors, particularly in neighboring countries. Such parallelisms not only tend to unveil little known south-to-south networks but also help to demystify the relationship between entrepreneurs of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. To that end, a broader context would also have underscored the specifics of the Colombian ranching system. Nevertheless, this book presents a much-needed account of the roots of the livestock industry in Colombia. It is always refreshing to encounter historical studies that challenge long-standing views of Latin America, for instance, that it was a “late” adopter of capitalist practices or that such practices were confined to a few in the urban environ. Álvarez Múnera shatters both conjectures.