A History of Latin America, 6th edition

by Benjamin Keen, Keith Haynes

This best selling text for introductory Latin American history courses mixes a chronological and a national approach to explore the background of this fascinating region. The text's integrating framework is the dependency theory, which stresses the economic relationship between Latin American nations and wealthier nations, particularly the United States. The book provides in-depth coverage of society and culture in Latin America and their impact on population, settlement, trade, communication, and economic and political developments.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World History

624 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

Reviews

[Alexis]

Hard to follow at the beginning, however, when the book focuses on the past 100 years of a country, it becomes a much easier and more interesting read.

[Nicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This textbook isn't that bad. It's extremely in-depth, and it focuses on every single Latin American country, while continuing to describe the history of Latin America as a whole. My only problem with it is that it sometimes when too in detail on a relatively unimportant event. That, and it's extremely liberal-slanted. While I acknowledge that people are biased, it should be attempted to be left out of textbooks. But overall, it was extremely informative on Latin America, which is what one is looking for in a textbook.

[Muhammad al-Khwarizmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given this four stars but for a rather slanted emphasis on the (admittedly very numerous) misdeeds of right-wingers that didn't pay enough attention to things like corruption among Sandinistas (e.g. the Piñata scandal) or in the populist Cristina Fernández de Kirchner regime. I also still need to look further into the strengths and weaknesses of neoliberal development programs vs. their alternatives to make sure I have some reasonably objective picture of how things are in that regard.

[Nam Lam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good review book for any Latin American History class. Its information and language is clearly for college-level students and provides detailed accounts of the events.

[Ben Daghir · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a history college text, this book was quite interesting. Chapters are very focused, easy to follow, and provide legitimate information.