The ordeal of hegemony : the United States and Latin America /

Poitras has written the first of this decade's books on the decline of US power in Latin America. He quickly reviews the US century in the Western Hemisphere and analyzes the uses of US power and the causes for its decline during the last decade. After a thoughtful review of the concept of hegemony, and its demise, Poitras then spends two chapters analyzing Central America--the ongoing participation crisis and the attempt to contain communism during the Reagan administration. The author provides an overview of the security interests of both the US and of Latin America--real and imagined--and raises the issue of whether US policy is concerned with "securing the Americas or security hegemony?" The book ends with a chapter on the debt crisis in Latin America and one on hegemony and intervention. The volume is well written, straightforward, and informative, with a short bibliography and a good index. The tables are clear and self-explanatory. Will be of interest to graduate and upper-division undergraduate students as well as to general readers interested in the changing relationship between the US and Latin America in the 1990s. -R. Roett, Johns Hopkins University