The Human Tradition in Modern Latin America will be an invaluable text for courses in Latin American studies.

This unique collection emphasizes the human element in the study of Latin American history by focusing on the lives of twenty-three men, women, and children. Though they differ widely from each other in background and circumstance, these individuals share a common experience: all are caught up in some way by the profound, sometimes devastating, changes that accompany the modernization of a traditional society. Their stories bring vividly to life the impact that revolution, economic upheaval, urbanization, destruction of community life, and the disruption of family and gender roles have on ordinary people. These studies also bring out the various ways, often creative and courageous, in which Latin Americans have coped with the fortunes and vicissitudes of 'progress.'

Now in its third edition, this leading reader has been updated to make it even more relevant to the study of contemporary Latin America. This edition includes an entirely new chapter, 'The New Left Turn,' and the globalization chapter has been thoroughly revised to reflect the rapid pace of change over the past five years. The book continues to offer a rich variety of materials that can be tailored to the needs of individual instructors. The reader's unique and successful chapter organization provides a thematic complement to narrative accounts of modern Latin American history. By focusing each chapter on a single concept or interpretive 'problem'-such as nationalism, women's rights, or social revolution-the text engages students in the analysis of historical sources and, at the same time, introduces them to the twists and turns of historiography. In addition, the book includes several 'reading images' sections that call on students to evaluate visual materials. With its innovative combination of primary and secondary sources and editorial analysis, this text is designed specifically to stimulate critical thinking in a wide range of courses on Latin American history since independence.

Like snapshots of everyday life in the past, the compelling biographies in this book document the making of the Black Atlantic world since the sixteenth century from the point of view of those who were part of it. Centering on the diaspora caused by the forced migration of Africans to Europe and across the Atlantic to the Americas, the chapters explore the slave trade, enslavement, resistance, adaptation, cultural transformations, and the quest for citizenship rights. The variety of experiences, constraints and choices depicted in the book and their changes across time and space defy the idea of a unified "black experience." At the same time, it is clear that in the twentieth century, "black" identity unified people of African descent who, along with other "minority" groups, struggled against colonialism and racism and presented alternatives to a version of modernity that excluded and alienated them. Drawing on a rich array of little-known documents, the contributors reconstruct the lives and times of some well-known characters along with ordinary people who rarely left written records and would otherwise have remained anonymous and unknown. Contributions by: Aaron P. Althouse, Alan Bloom, Marcus J. M. de Carvalho, Aisnara Perera Díaz, María de los Ángeles Meriño Fuentes, Flávio dos Santos Gomes, Hilary Jones, Beatriz G. Mamigonian, Charles Beatty Medina, Richard Price, Sally Price, Cassandra Pybus, Karen Racine, Ty M. Reese, João José Reis, Lorna Biddle Rinear, Meredith L. Roman, Maya Talmon-Chvaicer, and Jerome Teelucksingh.

SR Books' two popular Human Tradition in Latin America titles covering nineteenth- and twentieth-century history have been combined into one exciting new volume. The most compelling chapters from these books are now presented in The Human Tradition in Modern Latin America. This collection offers powerful, fascinating biographies of ordinary people caught in the sometimes devastating historical changes that have occurred in Latin America. From the turbulent struggles for independence in the 1800s to the profound and often overwhelming transformations that have accompanied modernization in this century, The Human Tradition in Modern Latin America personalizes the impact that revolution, economic upheaval, urbanization, the destruction of community life, and the disruption of both traditional family and gender roles have had on Latin Americans. The Human Tradition in Modern Latin America is an invaluable text for courses in Latin American studies. Nowhere else can such varied portraits be found as in these diverse and carefully researched essays written by leading scholars.

The Human Tradition in Modern Brazil makes the last two centuries of Brazilian history come alive through the stories of mostly non-elite individuals. The pieces in this lively collection address how people experienced historical continuities and changes by exploring how they related to the rise of Brazilian national identity and the emergence of a national state. By including a broad array of historical actors from different regions, ethnicities, occupations, races, genders, and eras, The Human Tradition in Modern Brazil brings a human dimension to major economic, political, cultural, and social transitions. Because these perspectives do not always fit with the generalizations made about the predominant attitudes, values, and beliefs of different groups, they bring a welcome complexity to the understanding of Brazilian society and history.

The Human Tradition in Premodern China is a collection of biographical essays revealing the variety and complexity of human experience in China from the earliest historical times to the dawn of the modern age. p China is a vast country with a long history, and one which is by itself as complex as the history of Europe. This broad expanse of time and space in Chinese history has largely been approached in terms of narrative political and cultural history in most books. The reigns of emperors and the thoughts of the great masters such as Confucius or Laozi have been the principal focus. Yet the history of the Chinese, as with any great people, is built up from the lives of individuals, families, groups, and movements. By presenting life stories of individuals ranging from ancient court diviners to late imperial merchants to women in various periods, this engaging anthology highlights aspects of Chinese social, political and intellectual history not usually addressed. Additionally, The Human Tradition in Premodern China broadens the common image and understanding of society based on the dominant elite male discourse.p Rich in new perspective and new scholarship, The Human Tradition in Premodern China is an ideal introduction to Chinese history, East Asian history, and world history.p

This engaging textbook provides a human perspective of the history of France from 1789 to the present through essays that highlight individuals and intriguing events that too often have been lost under labels and statistics. Students will gain an understanding of the humor and passion in French history from these original chpaters by established scholars. This collection also relates the individuals, events, and controversies to current historiographical debates. The Human Tradition in Modern France is an excellent supplementary text for courses on French history, as well as on Western Civilization.

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The Human Tradition in Colonial Latin America is an anthology of stories of largely ordinary individuals struggling to forge a life during the unstable colonial period in Latin America. These mini-biographies vividly show the tensions that emerged when the political, social, religious, and economic ideals of the Spanish and Portuguese colonial regimes and the Roman Catholic Church conflicted with the realities of daily living in the Americas. Now fully updated with new and revised essays, the book is carefully balanced among countries and ethnicities. Within an overall theme of social order and disorder in a colonial setting, the stories bring to life issues of gender; race and ethnicity; conflicts over religious orthodoxy; and crime, violence, and rebellion. Written by leading scholars, the essays are specifically designed to be readable and interesting. Ideal for the Latin American history survey and for courses on colonial Latin American history, this fresh and human text will engage as well as inform students. Contributions by: Rolena Adorno, Kenneth J. Andrien, Christiana Borchart de Moreno, Joan Bristol, Noble David Cook, Marcela Echeverri, Lyman L. Johnson, Mary Karasch, Alida C. Metcalf, Kenneth Mills, Muriel S. Nazzari, Ana María Presta, Susan E. Ramírez, Matthew Restall, Zeb Tortorici, Camilla Townsend, Ann Twinam, and Nancy E. van Deusen.