Reviews for America in 20th Century:history

The average rating for America in 20th Century:history based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-08-03 00:00:00 Sarah Mendes Rating: 5/10. When you are as clueless as I was regarding the history of Latin America, you have to start somewhere and that's with a survey of the topic. Truthfully, you'd be better off with a volume which has been written in the last couple of years. Pendle, who was an Oxford professor and a Brit, wrote this book in 1963 and updated it a couple of times before he died in 1977. Part of the charm of reading old history books is to see how close the author came in predicting the future. In that regard, Pendle didn't do a bad job. He correctly predicts the massive urbanization and the pervasive destitution in the urban slums of most Latin American cities. He also tells us that the struggle to achieve democracy will a tenuous one at best and that dictatorships will continue to prevail in many parts of the area. He predicts that the concept of Anti-Americanism will be the one unifying force in all countries of the region. Surveys are supposed to whet your appetite for a more in-depth experience. The two countries which I wouldn't mind reading more about are Argentina and Brazil. I suppose in that sense Pendle's book was a successful one. I still think, though, you might be better with a book by a Latino author.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-09-22 00:00:00 Lindsey Herrera pendle writes well about a subject he clearly loved. good historical summaries (16th-19th centuries), though thin on the pre-columbian millennia. he wrote this in the 1960s, with a rushed end-note from 1975. that's fine, as i enjoy seeing the viewpoint from different periods. i'm also happy with writers of different political persuasions. but pendle's views seemed to blind him to some important issues. he favours land reform, more even distribution of income, help to neglected rural areas. but he also has a warm acceptance of most late 20th century military regimes in the region, as well as selected landed oligarchs. so on early 19thC feudal argentinean estates "Most people were poor so that the few might be rich; but the poor had all they needed for their simple lives, and bore no resentment against their masters". sure about that unlikely item, george? "[The majority of Andean Indians] have little or no ambition to better their material existence" again, any data to back up that suprising contention? plus, in the discussion of military regimes, some are rightly described as more progressive in social policy (velasco in peru), but there is no discussion of the murderous behaviour of any of them. in chile, salvador allende merely "lost his life in the fighting" that inevitably followed his leftist policies. mexican students "complained" about government policy in 1968 - i think some were also massacred for their trouble, but this not mentioned. fine to be conservative on some issues, but a historian should air all of what is going on, and back up conclusions with evidence. well that's the more modern approach. also nothing on latam writers, cinema or other culture, position of women, etc - not his kind of history. still, i enjoyed many of his descriptions, together with observations such as relatively liberal US policy in bolivia stemmed from the fact that only (liberal) state dept mid-level lifers were willing to serve in an unglamorous posting in la paz. presumably better connected cold war warriors grabbed santiago, buenos aires and the caribbean offices, and so more hawkish US policy (coups, invasions) followed in those places. i'm sure there are better historians of the region around, and would welcome any recent suggestions...