The Human Condition in Latin America

Description

The existential conditions under which most Latin Americans live are explored in this book ih a systematic dialectic between primary documents and social science analysis. The authors develop their own interpretations in an ongoing argument, drawing on data from historical accounts, ethnographic reports, and essays by observers of Latin America. One of the major themes of this book is the growing polarisation of masses and elites in Latin America, and the forms of conflict such polarization entails. Thirty-three striking photographs illuminate various aspects of contemporary Latin America society. “This book is unusual in combining the strengths of a well-organized anthology or reader, containing substantial pertinent extracts from a wide variety of sources from the past three hundred years, and the very different strengths of a thoughtful and well-written textbook, providing a unitary and insightful overview and interpretation of the broad subject.” —Dwight B. Heath, Reviews in Anthropology “[The authors] have covered much time and territory and their work serves as a very useful starting point in attempting to understand the millions we call Latin Americans.” —Myron Glazer, The Annals of the American Academy “The workers and peasants are the protagonists of this excellent compilation of documents, primary sources, descriptive accounts and critical analysis. Wolf and Hansen have elaborated a fascinating framework for understanding Latin America from the bottom up. They avoid falling prey to easy generalizations (and rationalizations) of on going systems by synthesizing a vast amount of material derived from field-study monographs.”—James F. Petras, Department of Sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton Eric R. Wolf is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Herbert Lehman College of the City University of New York. Edward Hansen is Professor of Anthropology at Queens College of the City University of New York.