In from the Cold: Latin America's New Encounter with the Cold War

by Gilbert M. Joseph (Editor), Daniela Spenser (Editor)

Over the last decade, studies of the Cold War have mushroomed globally. Unfortunately, work on Latin America has not been well represented in either theoretical or empirical discussions of the broader conflict. With some notable exceptions, studies have proceeded in rather conventional channels, focusing on U.S. policy objectives and high-profile leaders (Fidel Castro) and events (the Cuban Missile Crisis) and drawing largely on U.S. government sources. Moreover, only rarely have U.S. foreign relations scholars engaged productively with Latin American historians who analyze how the international conflict transformed the region's political, social, and cultural life. Representing a collaboration among eleven North American, Latin American, and European historians, anthropologists, and political scientists, this volume attempts to facilitate such a cross-fertilization. In the process, In From the Cold shifts the focus of attention away from the bipolar conflict, the preoccupation of much of the so-called "new Cold War history," in order to showcase research, discussion, and an array of new archival and oral sources centering on the grassroots, where conflicts actually brewed. The collection's contributors examine international and everyday contests over political power and cultural representation, focusing on communities and groups above and underground, on state houses and diplomatic board rooms manned by Latin American and international governing elites, on the relations among states regionally, and, less frequently, on the dynamics between the two great superpowers themselves. In addition to charting new directions for research on the Latin American Cold War, In From the Cold seeks to contribute more generally to an understanding of the conflict in the global south. Contributors . Ariel C. Armony, Steven J. Bachelor, Thomas S. Blanton, Seth Fein, Piero Gleijeses, Gilbert M. Joseph, Victoria Langland, Carlota McAllister, Stephen Pitti, Daniela Spenser, Eric Zolov

Genres: History, Latin American History, World History

456 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Matthew Linton]

A mixed bag of essays about the Cold War in Latin America. Highlights include essays by Piero Gleijeses (on Cuban involvement in Africa), Eric Zolov (on the destruction of an American cultural center in Mexico in response to the Bay of Pigs invasion), and Carlota McAllister (on rural resistance to Guatemalan conscription). Useful book for someone looking to see the general contours of the field, though Daniela Spenser's final remarks are nothing more than a summary of the articles.

[Gregory]

Good re-evaluation of the Cold War in Latin America, focusing on the local mediation of the conflict as opposed to considering Latin American governments as a passive player in a bipolar world. It is not light reading, but certainly useful for anyone interested in the topic.

[AskHistorians]

Another of Joseph's edited collections on the Cold War, this time looking more specifically at the grassroots experience of the Cold War in Latin America, reading the post-war period against the grain of the "Grand Strategy" narratives that have gotten a disproportionate amount of attention.