An updated edition of the definitive, highly regarded history of Chile in the English language.

The Atacama Desert, a coastal area where the borders of Chile, Peru, and Bolivia meet, was a region of little interest in the late nineteenth century until European research on the use of nitrates in fertilizers and explosives rendered the droppings of millions of sea birds a valuable commodity. In a move that echoed the California Gold Rush, the three neighboring countries soon battled for control of the region. In 1879, a comparatively modern and powerful Chile seized Bolivia's coastal province, and a secret alliance between Peru and Bolivia soon led to a full-scale war, one which saw the employment of much new military technology. Using such new weapons as the breech-loading rifle, rapid-fire cannon, ironclad warships, torpedoes, and electronic mines, Chile quickly crushed the allied armies, but a guerrilla war would drag on for years. While the three armies fought over some of the most inhospitable terrain imaginable, from burning, waterless deserts to snow-clogged mountain passes at 15,000 feet, their governments bumbled and wrangled. In the end, the lure of easy wealth undermined the economies of all three nations and served no good purpose when the market for nitrates soon evaporated, leaving all three much poorer for the experience.

"As a journalist, orator, politician, historian, and diplomat, Bowers defended democracy locally, nationally, and internationally. Through his writings and as editor for newspapers in Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Fort Wayne, and New York, Bowers supported liberal reform. Nationally, Bowers was an outspoken proponent of William Jennings Bryan's populist ideas, Woodrow Wilson's progressivism, and Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Internationally, he served six years as ambassador to Spain followed by fourteen years as ambassador to Chile." "With best-sellers such as Jefferson and Hamilton: The Struggle for Democracy in America (1925) and The Tragic Era: The Revolution after Lincoln (1929), Bowers "renewed the definition of American Politics." His democratic writings, speeches, and talks won the respect of national and international leaders, such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Manuel Azana, and authors such as Theodore Dreiser and Ernest Hemingway."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Contains primary source material.

Includes "Bibliographical section".