Table of Contents

Maps and Tables
Preface
1. An Introduction to Twenty First Century Latin America
2. Early History
3. Democracy, Dictators, and Tio Sam: A Historical Overview from Independence to the Present Day
4. The Other Americans
5. Society, Family, and Gender
6. Religion in Latin America
7. Latin American Culture and Thought
8. The Political Economy of Latin America
9. Democracy and Authoritarianism: Latin American Political Culture
10. Politics, Power, Institutions, and Actors
11. Struggling for Change: Revolution, Social and Political Movements in Latin America
12. United States-Latin American Relations
Authors
Index

About the Author

Gary Prevost is Professor of Political Science at St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict. He is the author, coauthor, or coeditor of several books, including Neoliberalism and Neopanamericanism: The View from Latin America (2002) and The Bush Doctrine and Latin America (2007).

Harry Vanden is Professor of Political Science and International Studies at the University of South Florida. He is the author, coauthor, or coeditor of several books, including Inter-American Relations in an Era of Globalization (2007) and Latin American Social Movements in the Twenty-First Century: Resistance, Power, and Democracy (2008).

Prevost and Vanden are coauthors of Politics of Latin America, Third Edition (OUP, 2009), and Democracy and Socialism in Sandinista Nicaragua (1993), and coeditors of The Undermining of the Sandinista Revolution (1997).They were both Fulbright scholars in Latin America--Prevost studied in Nicaragua, and Vanden in Peru and Brazil--and have lived and traveled extensively throughout Latin America.

Reviews

"One of the main strengths in this proposal is its thematic organization. I like the idea of putting a the basic historical narrative up front and then exploring different themes, and the book hits what I see as some of the most important themesEL I would be pretty likely to adopt it on an experimental basis as long as it has a strong, lively written narrative running through it that would help to keep my students' attention."
-Nancy P. Appelbaum, SUNY at Albany
"The book looks exciting. I cannot guarantee I would use it since it stresses a political science approach while I use a more historical approach. However, I would consider it as part of a mix of texts. It seems to offer a good balance of simplicity and depth. I particularly like its coverage of issues such as gender and religion alongside political economy and US-Latin American relations. This looks like a thorough introduction to Latin AmericaEL This
looks like an exciting and thorough introduction to Latin America. I would certainly consider using it."
-Sujay Rao, Gustavus Adolphus College
"I would use the proposed text as a main text in all of the Latin American courses that I teach (PSC 405N, 407E, etc.). Given my experiences with Vanden and Prevost's politics book, I would think that students would respond very well to the proposed textEL The outline for the proposed text is well organized around a number of common themes that are typically covered in an introductory class. The chapters on gender, religion and political economy are
appropriately multidisciplinaryEL I support this book proposal. The book is likely to be supported by strong research and scholarship. Based upon the proposed table of contents, it will cover many important
themes - but the coverage and analysis will be done in a way that is theoretically consistent and coherent."
-John Tuman, University of Nevada at Las Vegas
"I found the writing to be straight forward and dynamic, which I think is critical to engaging students in texts. The use of contemporary examples is important in a subject for which new undergraduate material is hard to come byEL Again, I like the contemporary feel of the textEL I would consider using this book if it was available. If it appears as presented, on a scale of one to ten, I would give it a ten."
-Lisa Lundt, University of Nevada at Las Vegas