In the introduction to this collection of essays on the modern history of Peru, the editors invoke Albert Camus’ interpretation of the myth of Sisyphus both to express the frustration produced by one failed national project after another and to suggest the possibility that self-knowledge may emerge from repeated failure. The call for self-knowledge seems particularly timely in light of recent Peruvian events, such as a presidential election with thirty-six presidential candidates, that demonstrate the persistent weakness of the country’s political system. A translation with minor modifications of the earlier Spanish-language version La condena de la libertad De Túpac Amaru II al bicentenario peruano en seis ensayos y un colofón (2022), the volume offers a nuanced presentation of the uneven process of state formation in Peru, which gives historical depth to our understanding of current events.
A central theme throughout the chapters, written by prominent Peruvian historians and political scientists, is the persistent limitation of political inclusion, as exclusionary political projects have repeatedly triumphed. This organizing framework constitutes one of the collection’s major strengths, giving the volume a thematic coherence that edited collections do not always achieve, even if it occasionally risks casting Peruvian history as an almost unrelieved story of failure.
While the state-building narrative provides coherence and thematic consistency, it also limits the authors’ ability to explore a potentially messier “view from below.” Although Charles Walker’s opening chapter addresses this theme, the remaining chapters devote more limited attention to how popular sectors—particularly workers and Indigenous communities—have contested exclusionary projects and negotiated political participation on their own terms. In the opening chapter (1780–1840), Walker argues that although independent Peru was born conservative, a range of alternative political projects nonetheless began to emerge. A full understanding of this period, he contends, requires paying attention to competing visions, such as “federalism, Inca revivalism, radical liberalism, monarchism, and popular royalism” (27), as well as to the individual acts of resistance by subaltern classes.
In the second chapter, Natalia Sobrevilla identifies unequal wealth distribution as the defining feature of the much-debated Guano Period (1840–80). The state’s reliance on guano revenues facilitated certain liberal reforms but prevented the development of a broad base of tax-paying citizens, thereby exacerbating inequality. The guano boom also intensified corruption and clientelism while deepening the imbalance between increasingly centralized political power in Lima and the provinces.
In the third chapter, covering the years 1879–1919, José Luís Rénique examines the period of reconstruction and economic recovery following the War of the Pacific. A modernizing civilista elite rebuilt the political system on the basis of export revenues yet failed to integrate the majority of the population into its national project. Meanwhile, a growing labor movement brought the “social question” to the forefront of politics. Augusto B. Leguía ultimately emerged as the principal challenge to civilismo, although his government evolved into an authoritarian regime that suppressed political opposition.
In his chapter on the period from 1919 to 1968, Paulo Drinot describes the expansion of mass political participation during an era in which APRA, the country’s main mass political party, faced repeated repression, underscoring the persistence of exclusionary politics. Efforts to integrate Peru’s Indigenous population into national political life showed little respect for Indigenous culture and instead aimed to transform “Indians” into mestizos through programs of education, public health, and labor. Drinot appropriately situates these developments within a broader global context, tracing the interplay between Peruvian politics and international forces such as the Great Depression and the Cold War.
A more hopeful interpretation emerges in Eduardo Dargent’s essay on the years 1968–1994, which identifies the 1960s and 1970s as a period of increased political mobilization and stronger connections between citizens and political parties. Even the military government of General Juan Velasco Alvarado, an outlier in Cold War Latin America, encouraged forms of citizen mobilization by making the state more inclusive. Yet the economic crisis and political violence of the 1980s severely weakened the party system, paving the way for a new form of authoritarian rule under Alberto Fujimori.
In his chapter on the period from 1992 to 2021, Alberto Vergara elaborates on this theme, demonstrating how the Fujimori era severely undermined representative democracy. In keeping with a broader global turn toward neoliberal hegemony, effective governance came to be measured primarily in terms of economic growth rather than political representation, a transformation aptly captured in the essay’s title, “Shut Up and Shop!” Peru’s disastrous performance during the COVID-19 pandemic, together with the rapid succession of short-lived presidencies in recent years, has exposed the structural fragilities of this political model.
The volume closes on a relatively optimistic note that seems somewhat at odds with the tone of the book’s broader narrative. Cynthia McClintock’s concluding essay acknowledges the historical difficulties of nation-building while also pointing to recent progress in reducing poverty and inequality. She expresses cautious optimism that Peruvians will continue to press for meaningful reform.
Modern Peru constitutes a valuable contribution to current scholarship, offering a detailed account of the vicissitudes of state-building in the country. The references throughout the volume will be particularly useful for readers seeking new avenues of research, as the essays synthesize a wide range of recent scholarship on Peruvian history. The book will be of considerable value to scholars and advanced students of Peruvian and Latin American history, as well as to readers interested more broadly in state formation, democratization, and the political consequences of resource-dependent development.
