Review by Choice Review
Weaver (Hampshire College, author of Inside the Volcano: The History and Political Economy of Central America, CH, Sep'95) states that the purpose of his book is to "show how the interplay between international and local forces has shaped the major directions of Latin American political economy." He describes his volume as an imperialistic interpretation of the history of Latin American economic development right up to present day neoliberal reforms in the region. A lengthy but intermittent presentation of history of imperialism in the Northern Hemisphere occupies approximately 30 percent of the book and is not directly about Latin America. Particularly relevant for those whose point of view is centered on social conflict within Latin America, this work offers an imperialistic interpretation of Spanish colonization and the English financing of independence, right through the 1980s debt crises and current widespread adoption of the neoliberal model. For others, the text itself quintessentially represents the ideology of Latin American development thought that predominated prior to neoliberal reform. Chapter notes as well as a 30-page references section. For collections serving upper-division undergraduate and graduate students. D. G. Arce M.; Rhodes College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
