Caudillos: Dictators in Spanish America

by Hugh M. Hamill

In this major revision of the Borzoi Book Dictatorship in Spanish America, editor Hugh Hamill has presented conflicting interpretations of caudillismo in twenty-seven essays written by an international group of historians, anthropologists, sociologists, political scientists, journalists, and caudillos themselves. The selections represent revisionists, apologists, enemies, and even a victim of caudillos. The personalities discussed include the Mexican priest Miguel Hidalgo, the Argentinian gaucho Facundo Quiroga, the Guatemalan Rafael Carrera, the Colombian Rafael Núñez, Mexico’s Porfirio Díaz, the Somoza family of Nicaragua, the Dominican "Benefactor" Rafael Trujillo, the Argentinians Juan Perón and his wife Evita, Paraguay’s Alfredo Stroessner - called "The Tyrannosaur," Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, and Cuba’s Fidel Castro.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

384 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

Reviews

[Clay · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an overview of the rise and institutionalization of the strongman (or caudillo) in Latin America. The editor writes a very cogent forward and the rest of the book is journal articles and essays written about the historical and psychological underpinnings of the phenomenon. I didn't make it through all of the essays, I started reading a bit and skipping past the ones that were focused on what seemed to me to be psycho babble. Some of the essays with historic context were very good and I found to be quite helpful.

This tome is very uneven by its very nature, I would recommend it for someone with a strong interest in Latin American culture and authoritarianism in general.