The History of Central America

by Thomas L. Pearcy

Central America is an extraordinarily beautiful part of the world, with sweeping panoramic vistas of tropical vegetation, towering mountains, and striking ethnic and racial diversity. This tropical paradise has a history as diverse as its people and cultures. Starting with the Maya in ancient Mesoamerica, the History of Central America continues with European contact and the subsequent subjugation of the people of Central America. Spaniards established and ruled their Central American empire during the Colonial period. This led to the National period, independence movements, and the subsequent development of independent, sovereign Central American nations. By the mid-20th century, the economies, governments, and populations of the seven republics had evolved so distinctly that each has its own unique set of challenges to deal with today. Pearcy examines the development of each individual nation and the regional similarities that propelled or constrained that development.

Ideal for students and general readers, the History of Central America is part of Greenwood's Histories of Modern Nations series. With over 30 nations' histories in print, these books provide readers with a concise, up-to-date history of countries throughout the world. Reference features include a biographical section highlighting famous figures in Central American history, a timeline of important historical events, a glossary of terms, and a bibliographical essay with suggestions for further reading.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2005

Reviews

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my quest to read a history of every country in the world, I often run into areas that lack good, in-depth histories and I often have to resort to a wider, regional history like this one. This is a fine book on the region, and I'm surprised to see it only has one review.
Although it could've been about three times the length and perhaps organized a little better (there are chapters on time periods broken down into each country, which I find only slightly confusing, but others might not mind), Pearcy manages to encapsulate as briefly as you possibly could, the complex history of the region, largely in the context of the Cold War and America's lascivious behavior towards the origin. This is where the book really shines. A good analogy might be this: the Central American nations are a group of schoolgirls walking home and the USA is a gray sex offender van slowly creeping along behind them, waiting for the right moment. Utterly and unabashedly complicit in propping up some of the most unsavory and atrocity-loving regimes on the planet, the US intervened, occupied, and turned a blind eye to barbarities their allies were committing (when not funding and utilizing narcotraffickers in their lame proxy wars) to pretty much every country in the region. Special attention must be drawn, of course, to Panama, where Manuel Noriega, long on the CIA paylist and playlist, was arrested in a hilarious American intervention that no one remembers, from those distant late 80s.
Anyway, one could chart American obscenity in Central America for weeks, but my point was that Pearcy doesn't show away fro including these bits in here, which is refreshing for what appears to be a middling-level survey text for students.

[Ian Casey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thomas L. Pearcy's 2004 book is a short and barely adequate introductory overview of Central America, providing a number of key facts and figures but little substantive commentary.

It's also confused. For example, a large portion of the (tiny) first chapter on 'Early Central America' discusses responses to earthquakes and hurricanes in the twentieth century, and British and American military interventions, as though Pearcy started trying to outline the ancient world inhabited by the Maya and other indigenous peoples, then rapidly got distracted.

And despite its brevity there is an unacceptable level of repetition and poor editing. For example, "Native Americans lived in Central America for millenia before prior to the arrival of Europeans. Surviving Maya architecture indicates that indigenous people Natives..." That's two obvious redundancies in consecutive sentences. It doesn't improve from there and much the same occurs in the next paragraph, and in many others.

If one can't manage insight, then clarity of thought can at least make for an informative and readable history. This is regrettably short on both. It also rather bizarrely uses possessive terms such as 'our' in reference to US policy. That is not only at odds with standard practice for history writing, but immediately alienates any potential reader from outside the US.

I hope one day to see a substantial longue durée or modern history of Central America as a region distinct from Latin America, Mexico, or the Carribean. Sadly, Pearcy's book is not it. I shall see if Hector Perez-Brignoli's book, though older, is any better.

[Namrirru · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grammar errors, spelling mistakes, the text is convoluted and confusing. And it's really tiny. So not only do you not understand anything, but there isn't much to understand anyway.

I recommend "Modern Latin America" by Thomas E. Skidmore.

[Andrew McClary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely readable considering it’s a reference/textbook with a pretty equal look at the various Central American countries. Noticed some odd spelling mistakes and even blatant mixups of two countries. I also wished it focused more on the pre Colombian history of the area even though it’d be largely out dated at this point. Over all despite the occasional mistake and being slightly outdated it’s a solid introduction to Central America