Reviews for The Americas in the Modern Age

The average rating for The Americas in the Modern Age based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2014-08-22 00:00:00 Bethan Hunter Used this book for an essay I wrote on "Clientelism and patronage in the political behavior of party elites and citizens". Some of the case studies were interesting to read, especially Argentinian and Honduras examples. However, work of the authors is useful for model thinking on substitute informal institutions and comparisons between how are they being created in different political and social environments. Not too much of a read, if you seek anything more than references and data.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-06-29 00:00:00 Eric Thorson Obligatory terse review, as things are still hectic around here. I waffled and wavered all over this. First, inclined for a four, then a two, so going for a three. Why? It's concise, clear, non-pretentious prose, not without its bias but not heavily so. It offers the usual summary of political and historical events in Latin America (for Brazil is discussed almost as much as the Hispanophone countries), with a few moments where the author clears up a few things that either are misconceptions or what he considers to be so. The reason I couldn't give it a full raving review is that I believe it's geared to be used as a text, and this man doesn't cite his sources. Ever. Yes, I know, Doris Kearns Goodwin and all that, but I simply couldn't put this in front of my students and say "yes, this is allowed." As a matter of fact, I fight them yearly on the issue. A section at the end of each chapter highlights a particular phenomenon, and there are black and white photos at the beginning of each chapter and each of these end segments, with some good charts interspersed.