Updated and revised with many new detailed maps and photographs, this sixth edition enables geographers to explore the changes and major issues facing this dynamic region today. The historical material has been streamlined in order to focus on contemporary issues. Key environmental issues are highlighted in new boxes throughout the chapters. The Systematic surveys have been restructured. New profiles of Latin American countries and major issues are also covered. This approach will help geographers visit the dynamic people and places of Latin America.

This is a broad introduction to Latin America, ranging from religion and history to literature and education, with a focus on cultures and cultural change. With lively prose and a variety of informative inserts, Williamson draws the reader in to the diverse realities of a continent in flux, holding it together by a strong theoretical framework.

The explosive spread of democracy has radically transformed the international political landscape and captured the attention of academics, policy makers, and activists alike. With interest in democratization still growing, Nathan J. Brown and other leading political scientists assess the current state of the field, reflecting on the causes and diffusion of democracy over the past two decades. The volume focuses on three issues very much at the heart of discussions about democracy today: dictatorship, development, and diffusion. The essays first explore the surprising but necessary relationship between democracy and authoritarianism; they next analyze the introduction of democracy in developing countries; last, they examine how international factors affect the democratization process. In exploring these key issues, the contributors ask themselves three questions: What causes a democracy to emerge and succeed? Does democracy make things better? Can democracy be successfully promoted? In contemplating these questions, The Dynamics of Democratization offers a frank and critical assessment of the field for students and scholars of comparative politics and the political economy of development. Contributors: Gregg A. Brazinsky, George Washington University; Nathan J. Brown, George Washington University; Kathleen Bruhn, University of California at Santa Barbara; Valerie J. Bunce, Cornell University; José Antonio Cheibub, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Bruce J. Dickson, George Washington University; M. Steven Fish, University of California at Berkeley; John Gerring, Boston University; Henry E. Hale, George Washington University; Susan D. Hyde, Yale University; Craig M. Kauffman, George Washington University; Staffan I. Lindberg, University of Florida; Sara Meerow, University of Amsterdam; James Raymond Vreeland, Georgetown University; Sharon L. Wolchik, George Washington University

"Latinos brings together the most sophisticated thinking on the changing intellectual complexion of America."--Henry Louis Gates, Jr., author of Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man