Review by Choice Review
A welcome book about a pivotal period in recent Chilean history (1973-90). The Pinochet era attracted global attention and played a key role in US-Latin American relations. Although many publications are available covering the preceding Marxist Allende government (1970-73), books in English on the rightist Pinochet years are still scarce and lack comprehensiveness. The authors of this detailed study are a journalist and a scholar who are experts on Chile. The first chapter sets the scene for 1973 to 1990 and sketches the Chilean military traditions and Pinochet's personality from his cadet years. Although the book is basically a study of the political dimensions, the economic aspect is also covered. The presentation is lucid and written in good prose. The authors are quite critical of this harsh, autocratic government but also strive to be balanced. Among the Latin American nations Chile had a record of stability and respect for democratic rights. The authors attempt to explain why Chile under Pinochet became a government of fear and repression, but also detail how democracy eventually reemerged peacefully. No bibliography but it does have footnotes. Readers at all levels.-C. W. Arnade, University of South Florida
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
By a foreign correspondent for the Boston Globe teamed with the director of the center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University, a vigorously comprehensive but very approachable examination of the 17 years (1973-90) General Augusto Pinochet ruled Chile with an iron fist. The story of this repressive military regime in a country that, unusual for South America, had a time-honored democratic tradition, actually began in 1970 with the advent into the presidential office of Salvador Allende, the first freely elected Marxist head of state in the world. Dissent from the Right burgeoned into open rebellion, and in a lightning coup, Allende was displaced by Pinochet, whose intention was to recast Chilean institutions and values in his own efficient but narrow mold. Responsibly, Constable and Valenzuela track the record of Pinochet's dictatorship, and in the process, they reveal all details of Pinochet's self-aggrandizing way of government, identifying who benefited from authoritarianism and who did not, asserting that Chile under him was a society divided nearly in two by fear and hostility. Answers to how and why an advanced nation succumbed to military rule are explained both expansively and accessibly. ~--Brad Hooper
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this rigorous study, based on hundreds of interviews with Chileans, the authors chronicle the divisive dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Veteran journalist Constable and distinguished academic Valenzuela re-create life for most ordinary Chileans during the past 20 years when ``they were dubious spectators caught in a system that they had not chosen.'' Chile had a 150-year-old tradition of stable democracy and civilian rule. Yet from the coup that ousted President Allende in September 1973 until March 1990 when Patricio Alywin was inaugurated as President of Chile, General Augusto Pinochet and the military completely dominated Chilean life. Based on broad sources, including many interviews, this book chronicles without ideological bias the lengthy struggles for the reemergence of democracy in Chile and concludes that after two decades Chileans grew tired of hating each other and have regained ``new appreciation for the values of moderation and compromise.'' Written for both general and academic audiences, this will stand as the definitive work on Chile under Pinochet for many years to come. It belongs in all public and academic libraries.-- James Rhodes, Luther Coll., Decorah, Ia. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Constable and Valenzuela use quotes gathered through interviews with members of every sector of Chilean society to present a varied, if somewhat superficial, view of life under the 16-year dictatorship of General Pinochet. The authors stress that President Allende was elected with less than 50 percent of the popular vote and show how his accelerated course toward socialism eliminated powerful sectors of the nation, including the army, the business elite and a larger portion of the urban middle class. But the military dictatorship that followed similarly alienated a large part of the population after it became apparent that Pinochet planned to maintain his seat rather than return to a Democratic tradition. The authors recount how Pinochet's ``Chicago boys''--hard-core believers in the free market theories they learned at the University of Chicago--caused a bust and boom of the national economy. The boom had 14,000 citizens rushing to get their first credit cards, and the following bust saw small businesses fail and their owners and managers become taxi drivers who worked ``in tweed jackets and ties, invariably with a tale of dignity destroyed and dreams evaporated.'' Just as the dictatorship's first economic boom was based on credit and unsustainable growth, so too was Pinochet's social program based on appearances rather than on improved life for the poor. While infant mortality--an internationally recognized measure of prosperity--fell dramatically, the gains were made at the expense of health-care access for the elderly and indigent. In the end, however, the authors argue that the lessons learned from the brief presidency of Allende and the 16 years of Pinochet taught Chileans ``a new appreciation for the values of moderation and compromise.'' While many of the statements of the average Chilean Joe help to present a picture of life under the dictatorship, one wonders whether some of the comments, especially those made by Pinochet's collaborators, can be taken at face value.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
