Tutorial: Modern Latin American History

The following is a guide for undergraduate
students to explore resources in Latin
American studies through the Rebecca Crown
Library.


 Our institution has an undergraduate population of
2,000 students.
 While there is no academic program for Latin
American studies at this time, students pursing a
degree in history and international studies in
particular may be interested in the area of modern
Latin American history.
Dominican University


This guide provides a listing of materials to delve into
the topic and understand the socio-political and
cultural nuances of Latin America in the twentieth
century. The following sources have been chosen to
cover a variety of topics in the modern history of
various Latin American countries to meet diverse
interests and research needs.
Objective:


 Circulating resources:
 Monographs
 Anthologies
 Videos
 Non-circulating items:
 Reference books
 Online Resources:
 Indexes & Directories
 Journals
Table of Contents:


The following monographs vary in topic and scope,
ranging from the modern social history of one country
to a comparative account of figures across Latin
America.
Monographs:

Adams, J. R. (2010). Liberators, patriots, and leaders of Latin America: 32
biographies. Jefferson, NC: McFarald and Co.
This is an updated version of the 1991 work with new additions to
reflect changes on the Latin American political scene. It contains
biographies of Chilean liberator Bernardo O’Higgins, Cuban Jose
Mati, Mexico’s Pancho Villa, Nicaraguan president Daniel
Ortega, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, and Chilean president Salvador
Allende, among others (Book News, 2010). The book details military
strategies, along with an overlooked aspect of Latin American
history, women’s participation in political campaigns (Leonard, 1991).
This work provides an comparative account of liberators and leaders
from a wide geographical span of Latin America and will help gain an
overview of Latin American politics through the lens of individual
lives.

Cullather, N. (2006). Secret history: The CIA’s classified account of its
operations in Guatemala, 1952-1954. Stanford, CA: Stanford
University Press.
Secret History is one of the standards in Latin American history; it
uncovers the CIA’s operations in Guatemala in the 1950s to overthrow
a popularly elected leader, Jacabo Arbenz. This book was
groundbreaking as Cullather uncovered CIA involvement leading to
disastrous results for Guatemalan history using classified CIA records
in 1994 (Domínguez, 2000, p. 314). The 2006 edition of the book
contains documents that were released after its first publication (Book
News, 2007). The later edition of the book will help better understand
how U.S. actions shaped the political history of Latin America through
an in-depth case study of Guatemala. Secret History makes for a
fascinating read that will make you reconsider your view of modern
Latin America.

Soto Laveaga, G. (2009). Jungle laboratories: Mexican peasants, national
projects, and the making of the pill. Durham, NC: Duke
University Press.
This monograph is a fine and unique work in the field of medical and
social history. Set in Mexico, the work examines the development of
the contraceptive pill from a native Mexican plant, barbasco, into a
drug sold worldwide and its eventual decline on the world market.
Soto Laveaga uncovers the affects of U.S. interest in barbasco on the
Mexican countryside from 1941 to 1989 (Hall, 2012, p. 342-343). The
author successfully reveals “the political and social consequences of
commodity extraction on the local community” (Hall, 2012, p. 343). It
not only focuses on the history of rural southern Mexico, but also
provides an international perspective, highlighting the contribution of
Mexico to the globalized science of birth control (Agostoni, 2011, p.
494).

Stern, S. J. (2006). Remembering Pinochet’s Chile: On the eve of London
1998. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
This volume is the second part of a trilogy that attempts to reconstruct
the history of Chile during autocratic rule. Stern examines the different
memories of the military rule of Augusto Pinochet in the second-half
of the twentieth century. For this, Stern relies on new primary sources
and neglected archives, making his work methodologically successful
(Collins, 2011, p. 287). The second volume is recommended for its
insight on the social history of Pinochet’s Chile, as well as for
providing greater details on the political atmosphere than the other
two volumes (Collins, 2011, p. 286-287). Stern contributes to Latin
American studies by highlighting the affects of the Cold War on Chile
and delineating the relatively recent controversies on the Chilean
political scene (Tinsman, 2009, p. 479).


These works are great to read articles on various
aspects of modern Latin American history. Each
anthology covers a certain area or topic and includes
articles by renowned historians and scholars
specializing in that area of Latin American history.
Anthologies:

Arias, E. D. & Goldstein, D.M. (Eds.). (2010). Violent democracies in Latin
America. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
This anthology examines the continuance of violence in a number of
Latin American nations during decades of post-authoritarian rule. The
editors argue that Latin American democracies suffer from violent
pluralism, as various parties use violence to develop their visions of
society (Chauvin, 2011, p. 384). The work presents a nuanced view of
the social and political environment in Latin America (Chauvin, 2011,
p. 385). This multi-disciplinary work brings together a dialogue
between political scientists, sociologists, and historians on the
destructive nature of democracy (Gledhill, 2011, p. 675). This
anthology will help understand the recent history of Colombia,
Argentina, and Brazil in particular.

Branche, J. (Ed.). (2008). Race, colonialism, and social transformation in Latin
America and the Caribbean. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press.
This edited volume is a subaltern history of African-diasporic and indigenous
groups in Latin America (Beckett, 2010, p. 386). The first part of the book looks
at the continual of colonial racist ideologies in Uruguay, Brazil, Haiti, and
Puerto Rico. Other chapters examine indigenous movements in Mexico and
Bolivia, along with social movements in Ecuador, Guadeloupe, Martinique,
and Colombia (Beckett, 2010, p. 386). This collection of essays provides an
essential, in-depth look into race-relations in modern Latin America and a
social history from below. It covers a wide region, shedding light on areas
neglected by other Latin American studies (Earle, 2010, p. 578).
Joseph, G. M. & Spenser D. (Eds.). (2008). In from the cold: Latin America’s new
encounter with the Cold War. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
This anthology proves that a pivotal role was played by Latin American
nations in the Cold War conflict between the Soviet Union and the United
States. The volume explores Cuba and Argentina’s military participation in the
Cold War, along with the culture of propaganda in other countries, primarily
Mexico and Brazil (Navarro, 2009, p. 563). In From the Cold transforms a
military and political history topic into a cultural one. The work is important as
the authors utilize newly available Latin American archives to reveal stories
not examined before (Loveman, 2009, p. 190).

Rosen, F. (Ed.). (2008). Empire and dissent: The United States and Latin
America. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
This anthology consists of nine essays that reveal the impact of United
States and British imperialism on the political and economic
development of Mexico, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela
(Jaede, 2011, p. 612). The collection thus examines a wide scope of Latin
American history over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This
work will help understand the various Latin American countries’
resistance, from above by the state and below in the form of populist
movements, to imperialist policies (Jaede, 2011, p. 613). Empire and
Dissent will help gain a comparative view of the history from both
international and local perspectives (Fornes, 2011, p. 96).


Bensimon, G. (2011). Crossing our borders [Motion picture]. USA:
Landmark Media.
This video examines the political scene of Venezuela in the 1990s, along
with dictatorships in other countries, including Peru, Cuba, Argentina,
and Chile. Not limiting itself to history, the film also touches on the
current state of a number of Latin American countries that continue to fall
under dictatorship (Falato, 2011). The main purpose of the film is to reveal
the brutal and violent nature of dictatorial governments by focusing on
Hugo Chavez’s presidency in Venezuela (Hall, 2012). The work will
provide not only insight on the political history, but also on economic
history (Hall, 2012). Although the film has a clear political agenda, I
recommend it for its look into the more current state of Latin American
financial conditions leading to the continual of dictatorships in the area.
Videos:

Pilger, J. & Martin, C. (Directors). (2010). The war on democracy [Motion
picture]. England: Enhance TV.
This movie uncovers the reality behind U.S. relations with Latin
America, along with the social history of Latin American countries and
the rise of popular democracy. The main case study is, as in Crossing
our Borders, Venezuela, but Pilger provides a nuanced view by
revealing the positives of Hugo Chavez’s rule. The movie shows U.S.
involvement in a failed 2002 attempt to overthrow Chavez, and draws
in U.S. involvement in coup attempts in other Latin American nations
like Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua, and El Salvador (Wadland, 2008).
The film provides viewers with “firsthand narratives of human rights
violations” and reveals brewing conditions of grass root revolutions,
arguing that Latin American poor resent U.S. involvement in their
countries that only benefit the elite (Coffta, 2008).


These include encyclopedias, dictionaries, and atlases
that will help you start your research in Latin American
studies. In most cases, these can be utilized on library
premises as they are non-circulating materials.
Reference Books:

Figueredo, D.H. (2007). Latino chronology: Chronologies of the American
mosaic. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Figueredo provides a chronology of the Americas from prehistory to 2006.
The volume covers forty-four subject areas from
economics, education, religion to arts and crafts (Slattery, 2008). It is unique
in that it covers Latino life and accomplishments in the U.S. (Slattery, 2008).
The book is well-written and readable for undergraduate students, and can
be utilized as a fast and reliable source for information (American Library
Association, 2008-).
Kline, H. F. (2012). Historical dictionary of Colombia. Lanham, MD:
Scarecrow Press.
This dictionary contains various topics from Colombian history, covering
political, economic, cultural, and social areas. The volume contains over one
thousand entries, a chronology, list of abbreviations and acronyms, and an
extensive bibliography (Slattery, 2013). The volume is comprehensive and
simple, appropriate to use as a starting guide on Latin America
(Webb, 2012). There are historical dictionaries on other Latin American
countries, but this is one of the latest resources from Scarecrow Press’s
Historical Dictionaries of the Americas series. Some of the older historical
dictionaries in this collection may be outdated by now.

Larosa, M. J. & Mejia, G. R. (2007). An atlas and survey of Latin American
history. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Virtual Reference Library.
This resource is one of the latest printed atlases in this field of study. The atlas
contains text analyzing the social, cultural, and political events in Latin
American history, with maps to illustrate these developments (Slattery, 2007).
The work is informative, even as the maps are “line-drawn with gray-scale
shading” (Book News, 2007). An online version of the book will makes it
easier to access the material from off-campus and print maps as necessary.
Leonard, T. M. (Ed.). (2010). Encyclopedia of Latin America. New York:
Facts on File.
This resource is a four-volume encyclopedia with the economic, political, and
cultural history of Latin America. The four volumes cover Latin American
history from prehistoric times to the present and highlight the development of
modern Latin American nations. The work includes contributions from “a
notable group of more than 60 contributors,” helping it provide an expansive
coverage of the area (Sutton, 2010). The entries range from a paragraph to
several pages, depending on the topic (Sutton, 2010). The resource is
recommended as a starting point for research on topics pertaining to Latin
American cultures and history (Hall, 2011). The articles included are
comprehensible and the resource contains a bibliography to consult for
further research (Hall, 2011).

Smith, J. (2007). Historical dictionary of United States-Latin American
relations. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
This dictionary provides an overview of U.S. and Latin American
diplomatic relations from the 18th century to the present. It is a
helpful introduction on the topic with a chronology of events and
bibliography to guide users (American Library Association, 2008-).
Other features include a regional map, section on abbreviations and
acronyms, and a dictionary of areas where political interaction
occurred (Ockerman, 2007). This work is an important supplement
to the circulating monographs and edited volumes available at the
library.


There are a number of websites that review and
organize Latin American resources. Consulting these
indexes will help guide you to in-depth primary and
secondary resources for your research.
Online Indexes &
Directories:

Abraham, T. Repositories of primary sources. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/special-
collections/Other.Repositories.html.
Repositories of Primary Sources is a website that indexes over 5000 online
resources, covering manuscripts, archives, and primary sources for regions
worldwide. There is a section on Latin America and islands in the Caribbean
that is further divided by country, covering twenty-five Central and South
American countries. Abraham maintains the site up-to-date, testing resources
for correctness and appropriateness (Abraham). The site is authoritative as
Abraham is a renowned professor and former head of Special Collection and
Archives at the University of Idaho Library (American Library Association,
2008-).
LANIC: Latin American Network and Information Center. Retrieved
from http://lanic.utexas.edu.
The website for the Latin American Network and Information Center provides a
directory of online resources relating to Latin America. The site can be arranged
by countries or topics, and covers topics ranging from economy, social sciences,
environment, art, and culture (American Library Association, 2008-). This
extensive and well-designed resource will help you begin their research
endeavors (Jacoby, 2008). The online site is current, updated daily, and provides
free, quality information (Jacoby, 2008).

Library of Congress. HLAS online: Handbook of Latin American
cultures. Retrieved from http://lcweb2.loc.gov/hlas.
HLAS indexes journal articles, books, papers, and other online resources
for Latin American history and current studies. The bibliography
contains over 5000 works, chosen by 130 academics each year (Library of
Congress). The site is updated on a weekly basis, and provides users
with “rapid, comprehensive access to future, current, and retrospective
volumes of the Handbook” (Library of Congress). This resource can be
freely accessed online; it is authoritative as it maintained by the Library
of Congress (American Library Association, 2008-). The website will
help you conduct further research into any topic in Latin American
history, being a great supplement to the texts in the curriculum.


There are a number of journals on Latin America
available for you to utilize, many of these are indexed
by the websites listed above. The following are just two
of the open-access resources to examine.
Online Journals:

Dawes, G. (Ed.). (2003-). A Contracorriente: A Journal of Social History and
Literature in Latin America. Retrieved from
http://www.ncsu.edu/acontracorriente.
A Contracorriente is an open access journal that will be advantageous for you to
explore. It is published three times a year, since 2003, covering the subjects of
Latin American literature, culture, history, and theory (MLA Directory of
Periodicals). The journal publishes essays, reviews, and interviews pertaining to
modern Latin American social and cultural history from 1950s onwards (MLA
Directory of Periodicals). The resource is authoritative as it is maintained by the
North Carolina State University.
The Economist. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/topics.
The Economist is a British journal and parts of this can be accessed freely online.
The journal provides users with features such as country profiles, economic
forecasts and statistics, and political outlook for a number of Latin American
countries (American Library Association, 2008-). While part of site can be
accessed for free, other areas require membership or can be purchased on an
individual basis (Field, 2003). The site is current, as the information is kept up-
to-date with the print version’s weekly publication. The option to search by
topic is useful, and topics for the region include economy, politics, and markets
that will be useful for a more contemporary look into Latin American studies.

Agostoni, C. (2011). [Review of the book: Jungle laboratories: Mexican peasants, national
projects, and the making of the pill]. American Historical Review, 116(2), 493-494.
Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.
American Library Association. (2008-). Guide to Reference. Retrieved from
http://guidetoreference.org.
Beckett, G. (2010). [Review of the book: Race, colonialism, and social transformation in Latin
America and the Caribbean]. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 29(3), 385-387.
Book News. (2007). [Review of the book: An atlas and survey of Latin American history].
Reference and Research Book News. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.
Book News. (2007). [Review of the book: Secret history, the CIA’s classified account of its
operations in Guatemala, 1952-1954]. Reference and Research Book News. Retrieved
from http://web.ebscohost.com.
Book News. (2010). [Review of the book: Liberators, patriots, and leaders of Latin America: 32
biographies]. Reference and Research Book News. Retrieved from
http://web.ebscohost.com.
Bibliography

Chauvin, I. D. (2011). [Review of the book: Violent democracies in Latin America].
Hispanic American Historical Review, 91(2), 383-385. Retrieved from
http://www.ebscohost.com.
Coffta, M. (2008). [Review of: The war on democracy]. Educational Media Reviews
Online. Retrieved from
http://emro.lib.buffalo.edu/emro/emroDetail.asp?Number=3296.
Collins, C. (2011). [Review of the book: Remembering Pinochet’s Chile: On the eve of
London 1998]. Journal of Latin American Studies, 43(2), 392-394. Retrieved
Dominican University. Retrieved from http:///www.dom.edu/academics.
Domínguez, J. I. (2000). [Review of the book: Secret history]. Journal of
Interdisciplinary History, 31(2), 314-315. Retrieved from
http://www.ebscohost.com.
Earle, R. (2010). [Review of the book: Race, colonialism, and social transformation in
Latin America and the Caribbean]. Hispanic American Historical Review, 90(3),
578-579. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.
Falato, B. (2011). [Review of: Crossing our borders]. Educational Media Reviews Online.
Retrieved from
http://emro.lib.buffalo.edu/emro/emroDetail.asp?Number=4559.
Field, J.J. (2003). Economist country briefings [Review of economist.com/countries].
ARBAonline. Retrieved from http://arba.lu.com.
Fornes, G. (2011). [Review of the book: Empire and dissent: The United States and
Latin America]. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 30(1), 96-97. Retrieved

Gledhill, J. (2011). [Review of the book: Violent democracies in Latin America]. Journal
of the Royal Anthropological Institute 17(3), 675-676. Retrieved from
Hall, M. R. (2012). [Review of the book: Jungle laboratories: Mexican peasants, national
projects, and the making of the pill]. Journal of Third World Studies, 29(1), 342-
344. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.
Hall, P. (2011). [Review of the book: Encyclopedia of Latin America]. ARBAonline.
Retrieved from http://arba.lu.com.
Hall, P. (2012). [Review of: Crossing our borders]. Video Librarian Plus. Retrieved
from http://www.videolibrarian.com.
Jacoby, J. (2008). [Review of: LANIC: Latin American Network and Information
Site]. ARBAonline. Retrieved from http://arba.lu.com.
Jaede, M. (2011). [Review of the book: Empire and dissent: The United States and Latin
America]. Journal of World History, 22(3), 612-615. Retrieved from
Leonard, L. (1991). [Review of the book: Liberators and patriots of Latin America:
biographies of 23 leaders from Dona Marina (1505-1530) to Bishop Romero
(1917-1980)]. Library Journal. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.
Loveman, B. (2009). [Review of the book: In from the cold: Latin America’s new
encounter with the Cold War]. Journal of Cold War Studies, 12(3), 190-193.

MLA Directory of Periodicals. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.
Navarro, A. W. (2009). [Review of the book: In from the cold: Latin America’s New
Encounter with the Cold War]. Bulletin of Latin American Research, 28(4), 562-
564. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com.
Ockerman, H.W. (2007). [Review of the book: Historical dictionary of the United
States-Latin American relations]. ARBAonline. Retrieved from
http://arba.lu.com.
Slattery, K. S. (2007). [Review of the book: An atlas and survey of Latin American
history]. ARBAonline. Retrieved from http://arba.lu.com.
Slattery, K. S. (2008). [Review of the book: Latino chronology]. ARBAonline.
Retrieved from http://arba.lu.com.
Slattery, K. S. (2013). [Review of the book: Historical dictionary of Columbia].
ARBAonline. Retrieved from http://arba.lu.com.
Sutton, S. (2010). [Review of the book: Encyclopedia of Latin America]. Library Journal.
Tinsman, H. (2009). Cold War memories [Review of the book: Remembering
Pinochet’s Chile: On the eve of London 1998]. Social History, 34(4). 477-482.
Wadland, J. (2008). [Review of: The war on democracy]. Video Librarian Plus 23(6).
Retrieved from http://www.videolibrarian.com.
Webb, P. (2012). [Review of the book: Historical dictionary of Colombia]. Booklist.

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