A History of Latin American from the Beginnings to the Present

by Hubert Herring

Written from deep understanding, long acquaintance, and extensive knowledge, Hubert Herring's brilliant A History of Latin America is unquestionably the finest and fullest history of the complex and turbulent world of Latin America and its people. For this third edition, it has been extensively rewritten and brought completely up to date to tell the story of the Latin American experience from the Indian, Iberian and African backgrounds to the tumults of the mid-twentieth century. It cover Chile's epochal 'revolution by ballot' under Edurado Feri and the Christian Democrats; Brazil's recent military upheavals; Argentina's disappointing relapse into dictatorship; and the extraordinary rule of Fidel Castro in Cuba. The bibliography has been thoroughly revised and the statsitical tables include the latest available data. The colourful and verigated history of Central and South America provides the author with a challenge that is superbly met. Political, social and economic history are covered in great detail, but not at the expense of intellectual or cultural history; and the impressive personalities who have appeared with such profusion in this area are vividly portrayed. A History of Latin America is an authoritative and perceptive book, and one essential for any reader who wishes to understand the importance of this explosive continent in the world history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

1028 pages, hard cover textbook

First published January 1, 1955

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

i would not recommend this. Though herring has a fantastic bibliography, his own work is filled with errors and a strong communist bias. I could over look the politics but the factual historical errors were too much as I found myself throughout the book putting in notes of correction until I abandoned it as a loss. Really not worth the time as the facts are not there.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Herring is one of those historians that have managed to master the art of finding a balance between
being comprehensive and being concise.

Picking it up you certainly feel that the book could do justice to such a large region of the world, and it really does, but it never gets overwhelming. There are one volume treatments of single nations that are more difficult to carry around, and you're free to go back and forth between countries to always maintain your interest.

There's a large amount of historical context here, and Herring respects and gives credit to the fact that Latin America's heritage is Iberian, Amerindian and African. The Spain chapter by itself manages to serve as decent summary of almost the entire history of Spain going back to ancient times.

There's a substantial section towards the end detailing US-Latin American relations, which I feel
was a concession to Herring's audience, but it is important to note how much of an important role
the US has played in the history of Latin American nations, directly, and indirectly, financially,
diplomatically, or even militarily.

The only flaw really in this book is that it only goes up to 1967. It's interesting. There's a little footnote added while the book was being published covering a then breaking news story that Che had been captured and killed. The book then is going to miss out on a lot of important developments: the return of Peron, the overthrow of Allende, etc. An interesting coincidence though is that this book was published around the same time as John Gunther's excellent Inside South America, written from a more on the ground journalistic perspective. The books complement each other and I recommend reading them back to back.

[Rudyard L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out quite well. It really like the earlier chapters about the Spanish Empire. However, it falls into an issue that many histories in that it deals with a region with a relatively monotonous history by looking at each region individually rather than analyzing their differences. In each Latin American country you get the same 5 or so patterns repeating, the same types of dictators in different orders, the same anti and pro American phases, the same economic and social issues, and having a 1000 pages of similar figures in different regions gets really sickening. This is a common issue with people who try to write encyclopedic histories. I would have greatly preferred a chronological history with much more analysis.

Besides this, Herring did a good job at bringing the facts forward and was a pretty lucid writer. If you need to know what you need to know, this book is a good choice.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this one up at Goodwill, always fascinating what old books you can find there.

As the title implies, this book covers the history of Latin America from pre Columbian times to the present day(aka 1960) along with relevant backgrounds on the Iberian nations that colonized Latin America and the African regions that furnished the slaves. Pre Columbian America, the Iberian countries, Africa and Spain and Portugal's American empires warrant the first few chapters. The majority of the book covers the history since independence starting in 1810 and is split by region and country starting with Mexico and ending with Brazil.

One thing I appreciated about the book was how it tried to give the broader context behind events such as pointing out that dips in coffee prices lead to unrest in Brazil or how Bolivia's economic and political woes are driven by over reliance on tin as the primary export. Makes it much easier to understand why things are happening rather than just what.

And on a personal note, Herring gives a quote early in the book (which I have been annoyingly unable to find back) saying that in history there are no heroes and no villains only people. That's not a claim of moral relativism but a recognition that people are more complex than four letters words can suffice. In particular, he stresses that the conquistadors were not monsters solely intent on murder and oppression or how the 19th century American imperialists were not simply out to crush political freedoms. Rather he emphasized the religious motivations of the Iberians and the Americans' efforts to expand economic infrastructure and promote political stability. One can certainly argue that the imperialists actions were wrong and reprehensible but one can't simply dismiss the imperialists as evil. It's all too complex for that.