The Chile Reader: History, Culture, Politics ed. by Elizabeth Quay Hutchison, Thomas Miller Klubock, Nara B. Milanich, and Peter Winn (review)

The Latin Americanist, September 2014 The author’s fascinating discussion of pro-Spanish guerrillas also merits comment. Although Sartorius laments the limited information on these mobilized forces, there is one untapped source base: the extensive files of Spanish Treaty Claims Records in the United States National Archives II in College Park, MD. These are a great source for future research on black and Chinese loyalism. In summary, Sartorius has contributed a work of unprecedented importance for the study of the African Diaspora in nineteenth-century Cuba. The well-founded revisions of longstanding assumptions in nationalist history will prove invaluable to future scholarship in the field. Bonnie A. Lucero Dept. of History & Philosophy University of Texas-Pan American THE CHILE READER: HISTORY, CULTURE, POLITICS. ByElizabeth QuayHutchison , Thomas Miller Klubock, Nara B. Milanich, and Peter Winn (eds.). Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2013, p. 640, 78 fig., 3 maps, $29.95 paper, $99.95 cloth. This anxiously-awaited volume marks the tenth in Duke University Press’s series of Latin America Readers. The book includes over 100 images and written documents, many appearing in English for the first time, and it encompasses more than 500 years of Chilean history. The reader is organized into eight chapters, which begin with a brief introduction to the period and theme. The editors provide succinct context for each document. The general introduction lays out the goals of the book as a whole: to underscore certain “tensions” that have contoured Chile’s history, principally those between “authoritarian and democratic forms of governance,” as well as “economic modernization and social inequality” (4). The concept of Chilean exceptionalism—that Chile is distinctive in comparison to its Latin American neighbors—ties the sections together. The editors show how notions of exceptionalism have been shaped over time to serve specific purposes in particular historical contexts, from the colonial period to the present. The first chapter, “Environment and History,” covers the entire chronology of the volume. Its selections range from conquistador Pedro de Valdivia’s letter to Emperor Charles V extolling Chile’s natural resources, to a 1994 report on pollution in Santiago. The rest of the reader is organized chronologically, but each chapter displays tight thematic organization by following the book’s main argument and grappling with each era’s social, political, and cultural problems. Through indigenous artifacts and the words of conquistadors, chroniclers , and missionaries, the second chapter allows readers to explore Chile’s pre-colonial and colonial past. Chile (before it was so called) was 76 Book Reviews not only on the outskirts of the Spanish Empire, but also home to especially unyielding indigenous peoples. The third chapter moves into the nineteenth century, featuring voices of observers both inside and outside the new nation-state. Many perceived Chile as uniquely stable politically and economically following independence, though this stability was largely predicated upon authoritarian rule. Readers can scrutinize these arguments through the writings of figures such as presidential advisor (and controversial figure) Diego Portales, University of Chile founder Andrés Bello, and Charles Darwin. A fourth chapter explores the Nitrate Era of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, highlighting social pressures in the wake of accelerated economic modernization. The last half of the book takes readers through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. Chapter five’s documents complement the rich scholarship on Chilean politics, social reforms, gender, and labor from the 1930s to the 1950s. The readings explore how, despite inadequacies in democratic governance, Chile garnered notoriety as a bastion of nonviolent , participatory democracy in Latin America. In the final three chapters, we learn about Chile’s Road to Socialism and its transformation into a Cold War ideological arena when it became the first country in the world to democratically elect a Marxist president. Then, a military coup in 1973 ushered in Augusto Pinochet’s military dictatorship, and neoliberal reforms that began under his rule were touted as a standard for the region. Chile’s peaceful transition to democracy after seventeen years of ruthless dictatorship reinforced ideas about the country’s uniqueness. Readers uncover this history through the words of workers, peasants, businessmen, revolutionaries, retired generals, the U.S. State Department, Chile’s presidents , and many...