Empire's End: Transnational Connections in the Hispanic World eds. by Akiko Tsuchiya, and William G. Acree, Jr (review)

Empire's End: Transnational Connections in the Hispanic World is a groundbreaking attempt to explain the end of the Spanish Empire. The study is a collection of essays put together by Akiko Tsuchiya and William G. Acree Jr. These essays, presenting varying viewpoints and expertise about the topic, are divided into the following categories: racial theory, Atlantic cartographers, slavery, empire and the problem of freedom, and cultural legacies of the empire. Through these categories, the study discusses different visions concerning relationships between disciplinary boundaries and the character and extent of cultural history. This well-written book provides an explanation of the so-called end of the Spanish Empire by clarifying not only what occurred at the time of its decline in the beginning of the nineteenth century, but also its consequences at present times. Similarly, the book gives insight into the social, economic, and cultural attempts that present-day Spain makes to recapture what it has lost over the centuries.

Empire's End presents the reader with examples of various cultural factors such as literature and scientific texts whose ideas culminated in the demise of the empire. In addition, the book addresses the impact of Spanish imperialism on its colonies. Empire's End elucidates why Latin America was excluded from mainstream peninsular hispanismo, or studies related to Spain and its colonies, and possible ways in which this region's inclusion in the existent literature can take place today. The investigation also traces interesting connections, showing how the city of Liverpool links the Anglophone and the Luso-Hispanic world. Liverpool's physical objects and substantial information, such as historical materials and symbols that can be seen in its huge and varied museums, contributed to the precise knowledge of global Anglo-Hispanic history. The authors' well-rounded reflections about Liverpool's Luso-Hispanic Connections, including routes, bodies, ideas and objects, provide the readers with a better understanding of the relationship between Anglophone and Luso-Hispanic relations.

One of the book's additional strengths is its references to literary, historical, and other artistic works offering a clear analysis of how racial fusion could help explain the identity in the final days of the empire in Spain and its colonies. When reflecting about this new identity, the book also explores the theme of race, as mentioned above, which helped shape how peripheral nations such as Spain's former colonies defined their race ideology. In order to illustrate race and nation, one whole chapter is dedicated to the Philippines, Spain's large and longest-held colony. An interesting point the authors make about the Philippines is its exclusion from Hispanic Studies and English departments due to the difficulty of such study. Such difficulty relies on the fact that there are many islands to be studied in the region and Spanish was not the majority language in the Philippines until 1898. Empire's End also provides cultural aspects from the Caribbean, South America and Africa as well, which bolsters the argument concerning racial hybridity in Spain and the colonies and touches on the similarities among these (former) colonies, such as in former civil rights issues and their ramifications today. In the case of the Dominican Republic, for example, besides race, gender is a crucial issue, as seen in contemporary literature from this region. "In the Name of Salomé," by Julia Álvarez (2000), for instance, describes the birth of the Dominican Republican by illustrating the life of Salomé, the main character. The novel describes the issues of genre and race both when the narrative takes place in the Dominican Republic and in the United States. Salomé's children had lived in the United States and thus experienced both cultures.

The inclusion of scholarly works from diverse areas (such as history, literature, science, geography, and architecture) provides not only authentic textual illustrations for the book, but also informational resources for an array of research topics, which include...