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Hispanic American Historical Review 80.2 (2000) 404-405



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Book Review

Germany in Central America:
Competitive Imperialism, 1821-1929

International and Comparative

Germany in Central America: Competitive Imperialism, 1821-1929. By Thomas Schoonover. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1998. Photographs. Map. Tables. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. xv, 317 pp. Cloth, $39.95

This book represents a major scholarly contribution to nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Central American history, particularly for specialists interested in the region's relations with the European world. It is well written, conceptually sophisticated, and massively researched to interest specialists on modern Central America, but short enough (only 212 textual pages) to not be overwhelming for more general readers. As a whole, these pluses in the book outweigh problems that actually should be viewed as opportunities for further advancing the historiography of modern Central American history.

This is only one product of a massive research project the author began 25 years [End Page 404] ago. Schoonover realized early on that Central America's history was tied intimately to its relations with the external world, and more intensively so after independence from Spain. The historiography of this situation, however, has largely excluded the region's relations with continental Europe, and specially its most important actor, Germany. So for 25 years he has systematically researched in the archives of Europe and the U.S. securing materials now presented in this volume. Trade and investment information is neatly presented in eleven tables, and the breadth of his scholarship is not only found in the endnotes (60 pages long!), but in a superbly detailed bibliographic essay.

Conceptually, Schoonover organizes his analysis and narrative using two notions: social imperialism and dependency theory. The former serves to explain the phases and character of German expansion between the 1820s and the later 1920s. The latter organizes the impact of social imperialism in Central America, particularly regarding struggles between comprador elites who "stifled the discontent generated by the loss of sovereignty, infringement of cultural values, loss of land ownership, and the protests of exploited workers" and artisans, peasants and other excluded or marginal groups (p. 5). Schoonover's use of the notions of social imperialism and dependency, especially when articulated to world-systems theory, as is the case in this monograph, challenges traditional diplomatic history.

Unfortunately, however, Schoonover's over-reliance on dependency theory and historiography when narrating the social imperialists' entanglements with the locals, compradors and others, particularly the latter, makes the actual scope of the book's main title, Germany in Central America, appear superficial. This is because the compradors, peasants, workers, artisans, and other excluded or marginal groups appear in the book mostly in reactive postures, lacking complicated subjectivities. This is especially striking when these subaltern histories are juxtaposed to the much more sophisticated presentation of the book's main interest: Germany's commercial and diplomatic relations with Central American elites while all of these actors struggled with the competitive imperialism posed by the other extra-regional imperial powers. Perhaps a more appropriate title might be, Germany and Central America in the Age of Competitive Imperialism, 1821-1929. Is this a fair criticism of a book that offers so much more? I leave the judgement to readers.

Dario A. Euraque
Trinity College

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