by John E. Findling & Frank W. Thackeray (2000)
"To help students understand this sweep of history, this resource provides detailed description and expert analysis of the ten most important events through the seventeenth century.". "Each chapter features an introductory essay that presents the facts of the event in a clear, chronological manner that makes complex history understandable. This essay is followed by an interpretive essay, written by a recognized authority in the field in a style designed to appeal to a general readership and promote critical thinking, that places the event in a broader context and assesses it in terms of its political, economic, sociocultural, and international significance.". "With an illustration and an annotated bibliography for each event, a glossary of names, events, and terms of the period, and a timeline of important events in American history through the seventeenth century, Events That Changed America Through the Seventeenth Century is an ideal addition to the high school, community college, and undergraduate reference shelf, as well as excellent supplementary reading in social studies and American history courses."--BOOK JACKET.
Jay Wertz
A visual guide to Native American history examines the experiences of tribes from coast to coast and their influence on the development of North America, in a volume that features removable facsimiles of rare historical documents throughout the text.
Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr
Caudillismo, the personality cult of the "great man," has been a primary catalyst in Central American politics since the Spanish Conquest. In Guatemala, where this passion for charismatic and forceful leaders is especially strong. Rafael Carrera is unrivaled in the length of his domination and the depth of his popularity. Based on extensive research in Central American archives, this monumental, revisionist narrative provides the most balanced and detailed account to date of Carrera's times and of his conservative legacy. Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr., explains the political, social, economic, and cultural circumstances that preceded and then facilitated Carrera's ascendancy and also shows how Carrera in turn fomented changes that persisted long after his death and far beyond the borders of Guatemala. An illiterate drifter of mixed blood, Rafael Carrera began his rise to power in 1837, on the eve of a conservative backlash against years of liberal rule in Guatemala.^ For more than a decade reforms aimed at rapid modernization and development had chipped away at the country's old Spanish institutions and customs - alienating and finally galvanizing the country's creole patriarchy, the Catholic Church, and the devout, tradition-bound peasantry. Carrera first led a small revolt in a mountainous rural district of eastern Guatemala, and as similar isolated uprisings escalated into a bloody, full-scale, reactionary revolution, he advanced quickly through the insurgents' ranks. A brilliant military strategist and tactician and an intuitive problem solver, Carrera knew how to charm people even as he exploited them, and he regarded brutality as a legitimate political tool. By 1839, at age twenty-five, he commanded the Guatemalan army; he was to remain the dominant caudillo on the isthmus, almost without interruption, until his death in 1865. Woodward establishes Carrera as an aberration of regional politics.^ He emerged from the revolution as something of a rural populist, able to mobilize Indians, Ladinos, and other segments of society that were disdained and feared by elites of all political leanings. His sway over the common people forced the elite factions to lay aside political differences in the interest of preserving their social status. Carrera himself thrived amid the resulting intrigue and ideological bickering, so secure at home that he often sent troops into neighboring countries to oust liberal elements. In this context of turmoil, Woodward traces many of Central America's present-day characteristics to Carrera's time: the region's reputation for economic and political instability, its minimal contributions to hemispheric trade, the prevalence of self-interest in politics, the dismaying similarities of liberal and conservative rhetoric and tactics, shortsighted alliances and agreements with foreign powers, and the rise of a powerful and arbitrary military class.^ Contradicting widely held notions, Woodward presents evidence that Guatemala enjoyed stable growth and an increase in agricultural exports during Carrera's reign. In addition, Woodward reassesses Carrera's administrative capabilities as well as the effects of his attitude of benign neglect toward his lower-class constituencies. Conveying the full sweep of events during the tumultuous first half-century of Central American independence, yet encyclopedic in rendering details of everyday life, this is a landmark work in the history of the Americas.
Louisa Schell Hoberman and Susan Migden Socolow
Our ideas about colonial Latin American are often tied to urban scenes - images of towering cathedrals fronting large plazas or bullion-laden caravels anchored in ports. But this collection of eleven original essays, the first overview of rural life in colonial Latin America, shows the many, ways in which the countryside rather than the city dominated colonial life in Brazil and throughout Spanish America. Over 80 percent of the population lived in rural areas, earning their livelihood from raising crops and livestock. Most were laborers, either Indian peasants or black slaves. Land owners and church officials comprised a tiny elite which, together with a few artisans, rural traders, and local officials, enforced social control, provided capital, and linked haciendas to city markets. The racial and occupational characteristics of each of these social groups are carefully delineated in individual essays. Three essays also examine the rural economy, material culture, and ecosystem of the countryside. The colonial hierarchy often rested on the coerced labor of Indians and slaves, and another essay assesses the role of conflict, violence, and resistance.
Robert J. Muckle
The First Nations of British Columbia presents a concise and accessible overview of First Nations peoples, cultures, and issues in the province. Robert Muckle familiarizes readers with the history, diversity, and complexity of First Nations in order to provide a context for contemporary concerns and initiatives.