Latinoamýrica: presente y pasado (2nd Edition)
- Book Review,
by Arturo A. Fox
From the Back Cover
Latinoamérica: presente y pasado, Second Edition, introduces students to the cultures and history of Latin America from pre-Colombian times to the present. Written in an easy-flowing, narrative style, this new edition continues to offer an extensive yet tangible view of Latin American history. Furthermore, Latinoamérica examines the Hispanic experience not only in Latin America, but also in the United States, a topic of increasing relevance and interest in the States. What's New? The second edition of Latinoamérica has been updated to include the latest political and economic developments in Latin America. The first three chapters have been rearranged to follow a clear chronological order. The scope of the text has been expanded to include greater coverage of countries from the Andean region, Central America, the southern cone, and the Caribbean. Latinoamérica en la red, a new reference section, lists and describes Web sites where additional inform anon on Latin American culture and history can be found. Features A basic chronology and chapter summary at the beginning of each chapter prepares students for the material that follows. Each chapter's Notas section contains supplemental information and terminology for further study. Varied activities test vocabulary and comprehension and prompt students to otter their m\ 11 analysis of and opinion on the chapter's themes. An extensive bibliography allows for more in-depth exploration of chapter topics.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
This second edition of Latinoamérica: presente y pasado intends to fulfill two primary objectives: to bring the material of the first edition up to date, especially with regards to recent political and economic developments in specific Latin American countries, and to introduce several changes in the coverage that I hope will be welcomed by both instructors and students; some of these changes have been suggested by faculty who are using the first edition. I have changed the order of the first three chapters in order to follow a more strict chronological sequence. In an effort to offer a more comprehensive review of the main cultural areas of Latin America, this second edition expands the coverage to include the Hispanic countries of the Caribbean and Central America, the Andean region, and the southern cone. This has been accomplished by partially reducing the coverage of Mexico, Argentina, and Cuba, thus adopting a regional approach without increasing the length of the chapters, and by dropping the chapter on U.S.-Latin American relations. The role of the United States in Latin American affairs, however, is still brought up in the context of the different regions, particularly Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. A list of useful Web sites on Latin America has also been added to this edition. While doing these revisions, I have endeavored to maintain the type of narrative approach and the linguistic tone and range that the users of the first edition have found appealing. This second edition still presents the historical and cultural data, not as an end in itself, but as factual support to the presence of cultural trends and structures. No mere laundry list of dates and names, it still contains the basic information the instructor will need in a survey course of Latin American culture and civilization. One of my main concerns has been to provide instructors with a text that makes using ancillary and complementary material a matter of choice rather than of necessity and that offers students an account that is truly pleasurable to read. Organization The book begins with an introduction to the main pre-Columbian civilizations of the New World (Chapters 1 and 2), followed by an examination of 15th-century Europe and Columbus's life and first voyage (Chapter 3), Spanish exploration and conquest (Chapter 4), and colonial Spanish America (Chapters S and 6). Chapter 7 is devoted to the period of Spanish American independence and to the emergence of the new Spanish American nations. Chapters 8 and 9 undertake an overview of 20th-century Latin America, including its main geographic features, its ethnic components, and significant developments in the real worlds of politics and economics; Chapter 9 also includes a discussion of the Latin American value system, the region's social structures, the role of religion, and the changing status of women, with a closing note on the problem of narcotrafico. Chapters 10 and 11 deal with the main intellectual, artistic, and literary trends of 20th-century Spanish America. Chapters 1-11 form the core of the book. Chapters 12-16 give instructors the opportunity to select the specific material to be emphasized beyond the basic core. They include an examination of modern and contemporary developments in such key cultural areas of Latin America as Central America and Mexico, the Caribbean, the main countries in the central Andean region, and the nations of South America's southern cone. The book ends with a discussion of the Hispanic population of the United States (Chapter 16). Instructors may, of course, prefer to concentrate on complementary topics of their own choosing, or to assign the topics included under Chapters 12-16 in imaginative ways—for example, as individual or small-group oral presentations or written reports. Pedagogy Each chapter is preceded by a Cronologia that gives students the basic chronology of the chapter and a summary of its contents at a glance. In the text itself, marginal glosses cover vocabulary items that may be beyond the range of the student of intermediate Spanish. At the end of each chapter, a number of Notas provide additional factual information and terminology. Each chapter also contains a complete set of exercises that test vocabulary comprehension and knowledge of the contents of the lesson. Two closing exercises, Comentarios and Opiniones e hipótesis, challenge students to contribute personal comments and opinions, often raising the controversial implications of the topics discussed in the chapter. At the end of the text, the list of Web sites—Latinoamérica en la red—is followed by an extensive bibliography, a general Spanish-English vocabulary, and an index of the book's contents.
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