Anarchism in Latin America

by Ángel J. Cappelletti, Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez (Translation), Romina Akemi (Introduction)

The available material in English discussing Latin American anarchism tends to be fragmentary, country-specific, or focused on single individuals. This new translation of Ángel Cappelletti's wide-ranging, country-by-country historical overview of anarchism's social and political achievements in fourteen Latin American nations is the first book-length regional history ever published in English. With a foreword by the translator.

Ángel J. Cappelletti (1927–1995) was an Argentinian philosopher who taught at Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela. He is the author of over forty works primarily investigating philosophy and anarchism.

Gabriel Palmer-Fernández is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Youngstown State University.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, International, Latin American History, Anarchism, Philosophy

427 pages, Paperback

Published February 20, 2018

Reviews

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book, but I wanted it to be more than it is. It's a solid overview of anarchist movements in Latin America from roughly 1880 - 1950. If you're not familiar with these histories, it's a great place to start and a useful antidote to many histories focused on Europe and the USA. But unfortunately there are a decent number of focused books (such as Frank Fernandez's Cuban Anarchism, John Hart's Anarchism & the Mexican Working Class, or Ricardo Flores Magon's Dreams of Freedom [also put out by AK]), that this work seems a little thin. It also sometimes reads like a book of lists with not quite enough narrative stringing it all together. That said, if you're interested in the influence of anarchism on literature and the arts, each section of this work contains a bit, which is original. The introduction and preface are the best parts of this book, which is a compliment to the contemporary writers who helped bring this work to an English-speaking readership, but not the strongest endorsement of the book itself.

[Gráinne Ní Choinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an absolute goldmine of information. During anarchism's golden age of around 1880-1930, most Latin American countries had huge anarchist movements, particularly Argentina and Mexico. Here we see these movements in great detail, shining light on oft-neglected history. The introduction to this book is excellent (and explains why I am not giving it five stars): there's not enough focus on the Indigenous and Afro-Latinx roots of Latin American anarchism, as well as not enough focus on the role of women. But barring those critiques this is an amazing study.

[Robin P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It obviously was the product of a lot of research, and I'm glad it exists. But it serves as more of a reference book for things to research more yourself, rather than a comprehensive account of what it was like for the anarchist groups, publishers, activists, writers in the time. I guess I wanted more context than just who wrote and disseminated what and when.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is a great introduction/overview of the anarchist movements and presence within Latin America (literally what it says in the title). The introduction in the translation I read already pointed out how Cappelletti does not give as much focus to any women figures in these movements besides a few mentions of some explicitly feminist groups. There were many times where I was confronted by a paragraph of text literally just naming every single publication/newspaper/pamphlet that was published in a certain country over a certain time period, which while great for research was not so great for reading.