Table of Contents

Living in Revolutionary Time: Coming to Terms with the Violence of Latin America's Long Cold War / Greg Grandin 1
Part One: The First Cold War
violence and Terror in the Russian and Mexican Revolutions / Friedrich Katz 45
Mueras y matanza: Spectacles of Terror and Violence in Postrevolutionary Mexico / Jocelyn Olcott 62
On the Road to "El Porvenir": A Revolutionary and Counterrevolutionary Violence in El Salvador and Nicaragua / Jeffrey R. Gould 88
Ránquil: Violence and Peasant Politics on Chile's Southern Frontier / Thomas Miller Klubock 121
Part Two: The Cuban Conjuncture
The Trials: Violence and Justice in the Aftermath of the Cuban Revolution / Michelle Chase 163
Beyond Paradox: Counterrevolution and the Origins of Political Culture in the Cuban Revolution, 1959-2009 / Lillian Guerra 199
Part Three: The Weight of the Night
The Furies of the Andes: Violence and Terror in the Chilean Revolution and Counterrevolution / Peter Winn 239
A Headlong Rush into the Future: Violence and Revolution in a Guatemalan Indigenous Village / Carlota McAllister 276
"People's War," "Dirty War": Cold War Legacy and the End of History in Postwar Peru / Gerardo Rénique 309
The Cold War That Didn't End: Paramilitary Modernization in Medellín Miracle, Colombia / Forrest Hylton 338
Reflections
You Say You Want a Counterrevolution: Well, You Know, We All Want to Change the World / Corey Robin 371
Thoughts on Violence and Modernity in Latin America / Neil Larsen 381
Conclusions
Latin America's Long Cold War: A Century of Revolutionary Process and U.S. Power / Gilbert M. Joseph 397
History as Containment: An Interview with Arno J. Mayer / Greg Grandin 415
Contributors 423
Index 427

Promotional Information

Considers causes of violence in Latin America, how important ideology and social relations are as determinants of political violence and whether Cold War violence was unique

About the Author

Greg Grandin is Professor of History at New York University. He is the author of Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City, a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and The Blood of Guatemala: A History of Race and Nation, also published by Duke University Press.

Gilbert M. Joseph is the Farnam Professor of History and International Studies at Yale University. He is the author of Revolution from Without: Yucatan, Mexico, and the United States, 1880–1924, and a co-editor of In from the Cold: Latin America’s New Encounter with the Cold War and The Mexico Reader: History, Culture, Politics, all also published by Duke University Press.

Reviews

"The abstract rejection of violence is one of the pillars of today's hegemonic liberal ideology, and is paradoxically used to legitimize most brutal forms of actual violence. This is why this outstanding book not only offers an excellent study of the Latin American revolutionary process, but has universal relevance. Its precise analysis of the necessary role of emancipatory violence against the violence of the system itself brings a much-needed fresh air into the stale moralism of the liberal Left. A much-needed awakening from our humanitarian dogmatic dream!" Slavoj eiuek "Showcasing the work of a remarkable group of scholars, this collection provides a sweeping reinterpretation of Latin America's twentieth century and a thought-provoking intervention into our understanding of the history and meaning of political violence."oLaurent Dubois, author of Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution