Table of Contents

List of Maps, Figures and Tables vii

Series Editor’s Preface viii

Acknowledgments x

Part I Latin America in a World Setting 1

Introduction 3

1 What Is Latin America? 5

2 Beliefs 20

Part II Government 41

Introduction 43

3 The Demise of Social Revolution 48

4 The Armed Forces Bow to Civilian Rule 67

5 The Turning toward Democracy 97

6 Religion, Politics and the State 113

7 Lawless Violence, Impunity and the Democratic Transition 127

Part III Wealth 143

Introduction 145

8 The Challenge of Sustained Growth 148

9 Poor Countries, Rich Countries 161

10 Agonies of Underdevelopment 185

Part IV Culture 207

Introduction 209

11 Education 211

12 Research and Communications 225

13 Literature and the Visual Arts 249

14 Cinema and Sports 263

Part V Communities 275

Introduction 277

15 The Family, Women and Sexuality 281

16 Indigenous Peoples and Their Movements 304

17 Toward a Latin American Community of Nations? 322

Sources Consulted 332

Index 342

About the Author

Robert H. Holden teaches Latin American history at OldDominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He is the author of,among others, Armies without Nations: Public Violence and StateFormation in Central America, 1821 1960 (2004) andco-editor of Latin America and the United States: A DocumentaryHistory (with Eric Zolov, 2010), and has written numerousscholarly articles. Rina Villars is the author of three books in Spanish on thehistory and political culture of Central America, and of scholarlyarticles on Spanish linguistics and women.

Reviews

"Summing up: Recommended. General readers and undergraduate students." -CHOICE, November 2013