The Peru Reader: History, Culture, Politics ed. by Orin Starn, Carlos Iván Degregori, Robin Kirk (review)

Book Reviews 183 to which Bosch turns in order to discuss the Trujillo regime and the political militancy in which the RevolutionaryParty displaces and guides the great peasant mass. It is here where one learns how agrarian populism is increased to become anti-dictatorial patriotism . Nevertheless, Bosch’s vision remains philosophical; not only in terms of defining Dominican geography as permanently plagued, but also in terms of the bleak prospects of political militancy . For San Miguel, the irony is that Bosch’s historical vision estimates both the messiah-complex of the dictatorship and its academia as well as the critical anti-Haitianismo belief. In conclusion, The Imagined Island is a ground-breaking analysis of history, power, and identity of Hispaniola as well as the rest of the Americas. Hispaniola poses a challenge for many scholars in regards to the subject of race, ethnicity, and national identity. San Miguel proposes a unique approach to the realities of race and ethnicity in both Dominican and Haitian societies. He bridges literature, history, and ethnography to situate the origins of racial, ethnic, and national identity on the island. Moreover, his work combinesagoodusageof conservativesocioeconomicmethodologies with textual analysis, which creates a prevailing historicalhocial science study of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Christina VioletaJones Department of History, Howard University The Peru Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Fdedition. By Orin Starn, Carlos Ivan Degregori, and Robin Kirk (eds.). Durham: Duke University Press, 2006. p. 600, $25.95. In June 2006,Alan Garcia, whose first presidency from 1985 to 1990was marred by high inflation and social unrest, was again elected president of Peru. Garcia defeated Humala, a retired lieutenant colonel whose candidacy and program of nationalization was publicly endorsed by Hugo Chavez. Although these most recent eventshappened shortlyafterthe secondeditionof ThePeru Reader went to press, the rich and diverse pieces in this collection will prove valuable to both the general public reader and the specialist in better understanding Garcia’s comeback and Peruvians’ difficult decisions, obstacles, and opportunities in the present. Starn, Degregori, and Kirk provide a rich introduction to the history, politics, and culture of Peru by presenting a multiplicity of voices-both Peruvian and foreign-n topics that include pre-Inca cultures, the conquest, colonial and republican 184TheLatin Americanist Fall 2006 Peru, the breakdown of the old order, poverty, the cocaine economy , violence (particularly in connection to the armed conflict between the State and Sendero Luminoso), religion, racism, and sexuality. Divided into ten parts, the carefully selected seventyfour pieces in this collection include chronicles, travel accounts, poetry, autobiographical pieces, excerpts from novels, transcriptions , speeches, song lyrics, and excerpts from academic pieces. Each of the ten parts begins with a short introduction to provide the context through which to understand the selections. Each of the seventy-fourpieces includes a more focused and much shorter introductory note about the author,time period, main themes, and significance of the piece. These introductory notes are especially valuable in situating and understanding excerpts from longer works. One of the main strengths of this anthology is the inclusion of Peruvian voices that often go unheard. This is not to say that better known voices past and present are absent. Accounts by Garcilaso de la Vega, Guamin Poma de Ayala, Bartolome‘de las Casas, Ricardo Palma, Manuel Gonzilez Prada, Ce‘sarVallejo, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Alfred0 Bryce Echenique, to name only a few, all appear. Yet also present and given equal attention are the less often heard voices of Maria Elena Moyano (a shantytown leader assassinated by Sendero Luminoso), Raquel Martin de Mejia (a teacher whose husband was murdered by an army squadron and who was raped by the leader of that squadron),and Pascuala Alvarado Huallpa (a shepherdess turned successful seamstress in Lima). Also worth noting is the inclusion of the piece “Peru’s African Rhythms” by Nicomedes Santa Cruz. The presentation of multiple and often conflictingvoices and themes results in a more realistic picture of the diversityof Peru, where class conflicts,violence , and racism reside alongside creativity, strength, and persistence . The inclusion of translations of documents previously unavailable in English is also a welcome feature of this book. In comparing the first edition of The Peru Reader to this revised and updated version, readers...