The book analyses present Latin American issues in their historical course since independence (beginning 1810) and its aftermath, up to the contemporary period. The authors focus on political, economic, social, environmental and cultural developments.It examines the legacies of the past and the multiple changes that have taken place in the last two centuries. Today's situation suggests that modernization is well under way and will continue. Offering broad insight into present and future concerns, the book enables readers to evaluate potential areas of economic and social growth, as well as assess risks stemming from past events.

This study of 200 years of Latin American constitutionalism (1810-2010) both presents a description and a critical analysis of what Latin Americans did with their Constitutions during those years.

A comprehensive and accessible overview of the economic history of Latin America over the two centuries since Independence. It considers its principal problems and the main policy trends and covers external trade, economic growth, and inequality.

Latin America's quest for independence is revealed through the national struggles of Mexico, Spanish Central and South America, and Brazil. Excerpted from the Cambridge History of Latin America.

Seven extraordinary young men led South America to freedom. Treated with contempt by their Spanish overlords, given to dissipation and debauchery and high-sounding proclamation, they nonetheless achieved military feats unsurpassed elsewhere in history. Francisco de Miranda impressed both George Washington and Catherine the Great, narrowly escaped the guillotine in revolutionary France, and became dictator of Venezuela before capture and death in a Spanish gaol. The aristocratic Simon Bolivar, inconsolable widower (with countless lovers), led his guerrilla armies through swamp, jungle and Andean ice to surprise his enemies and liberate most of northern South America. Meanwhile the inarticulate San Martin had joined Bernardo O'Higgins, illegitimate son of a Spanish viceroy, to do the same in the south.;This story covers a vast range of human experience, from butchery in the torrid Orinoco basin to two astonishing crossings of the high Andes, from a cavalry battle fought with lances 13,000 feet up in Peru, or Bolivar's soliloquy on the silver mountain at Potosi, to Pedro's doomed love affair with Domitila.

The author has chosen articles which have made permanent contributions on significant topics, sometimes embodying new approaches to the study of Latin American history, and in general representing a balance between the work of veteran historians and younger scholars in the field. The text of each article appears in its entirety, minus the footnotes but with a brief introductory note to identify the author and to suggest the relation of his article to the relevant literature on the topic he treats-- Preface.