Exploitation, Inequality, and Resistance

A History of Latin America since Columbus

Mark Burkholder, Monica Rankin, and Lyman L. Johnson

The words "exploitation," "inequality," and "resistance" bind together attitudes and actions that encapsulate much of Latin America's economic, social, and political history for more than half a millennium. In this compelling text, authors Mark A. Burkholder, Lyman L. Johnson, and Monica A. Rankin tell the story of more than 500 years of Latin American history through the themes of exploitation, inequality, and resistance.

Some examples of exploitation and inequality include slavery and other labor systems, sexual and gender exploitation, an inequitable economic relationship with foreign countries, repressive political systems through dictatorship and military regimes, and an unequal diplomatic relationship with the United States and other powerful nations. Despite deeply entrenched systems of injustice, Latin Americans remain notable for their resilience. Active and passive resistance to oppression and discrimination still persist in the twenty-first century, with native revolts and slave flights, unionization, the emergence of the Latin American women's movement, black-market economies, the emergence of populism, and various forms of revolt and revolution. Exploitation, Inequality, and Resistance: A History of Latin America since Columbus emphasizes these themes and analyzes the ways in which earlier events continue to resonate today.

Exploitation, Inequality, and Resistance

A History of Latin America since Columbus

Mark Burkholder, Monica Rankin, and Lyman L. Johnson

Description

The words "exploitation," "inequality," and "resistance" bind together attitudes and actions that encapsulate much of Latin America's economic, social, and political history for more than half a millennium. In this compelling text, authors Mark A. Burkholder, Lyman L. Johnson, and Monica A. Rankin tell the story of more than 500 years of Latin American history through the themes of exploitation, inequality, and resistance.

Some examples of exploitation and inequality include slavery and other labor systems, sexual and gender exploitation, an inequitable economic relationship with foreign countries, repressive political systems through dictatorship and military regimes, and an unequal diplomatic relationship with the United States and other powerful nations. Despite deeply entrenched systems of injustice, Latin Americans remain notable for their resilience. Active and passive resistance to oppression and discrimination still persist in the twenty-first century, with native revolts and slave flights, unionization, the emergence of the Latin American women's movement, black-market economies, the emergence of populism, and various forms of revolt and revolution. Exploitation, Inequality, and Resistance: A History of Latin America since Columbus emphasizes these themes and analyzes the ways in which earlier events continue to resonate today.

Exploitation, Inequality, and Resistance

A History of Latin America since Columbus

Mark Burkholder, Monica Rankin, and Lyman L. Johnson

Chapter 1: The Eve of Atlantic Empires
Iberia
Indigenous Societies in "The Indies"
Africa and the Early Slave Trade

Chapter 2: Exploration, Columbus, and Early Settlement
An Age of Exploration
The Caribbean Experiment

Chapter 3: Conquest and Failure on the Mainland
The Fall of the Aztec Empire
The Fall of the Inka Empire
Continued Conquest
Rewards of Conquest
Spectacular Failures
Brazil

Chapter 4: Invaders Alter the Indies
Demographic Disaster
Environmental Change
The Columbian Exchange

Chapter 5: Tools of Empire: Administration
Imperial Organization
The Sale of Royal Appointments in Spanish America
Municipalities
Native Communities
Administration in Brazil

Chapter 6: Tools of Empire: The Church
The Early Church
The Mature Church
The Inquisition

Chapter 7: Language, Education, and Idolatry
Indians in the Clergy?
Formal Education
Campaigns to Extirpate "Idolatry"

Chapter 8: Economies and Trade
Early Tribute
The Evolution of Labor Systems
Domestic Economies and Regional Trade
Mining: Gold and Silver
Sugar
Trans-Oceanic Trade

Chapter 9: Societies of Caste and Class
The Broad Base of New World Societies
Family: The Foundation of Society
Women in the Societies and Economies of the Indies
The Culture of Honor

Chapter 10: Living in an Empire
Urban and Rural Environments
Daily Life

Chapter 11: Expanding Empires
The Spanish Empire from the Late-Seventeenth Century to the 1750s
The Reforms of Charles III
Brazil in an Age of Expansion
Protest, Popular Insurrections, and Conspiracies

Chapter 12: The Age of Independence (I)
A Political Revolution
Early Insurrections in Spanish America
Rebellion in the Spanish Empire's Periphery
Rebellion in the Old Viceroyalties
Portugal and Brazil in an Era of Revolution

Chapter 13: The Age of Independence (II)
Societies at War
Social Change
Government and Political Life

Chapter 14: Colonies to Nations
Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Independence
Centralism or Federalism?
Caudillos

Chapter 15: Nation-State Formation
Politics and Parties
Mexico and la Reforma
Colombia and Liberal Reform
Liberals and Conservatives in Central America
Venezuela
Society and Culture in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Chapter 16: Early Foreign Wars and Interventions
Inter-American Wars
Direct Intervention and Territorial Acquisition (1830s-1860s)
Manifest Destiny
U.S.-Mexican War
Filibusters
Spain and the Dominican Republic
French Intervention
Social and Cultural Impact of War
War, Nationalism, and National Heroes
Nationalism and the Written Word

Chapter 17: Progress and Modernization
Oligarchies
Argentina's Liberal Oligarchy
Mexico
The Age of Guano in Peru
Coffee Elite in Central America
Positivism
Mexico
Brazil
Venezuela and the Guzmanato
Peru
Social Limits of Progress

Chapter 18: The Age of Informal Imperialism
New Attitudes in the United States
Expansion of U.S. Trade
Venezuela and the Boundary Dispute
Cuba
Panama
Intellectual Response to Imperialism
Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine

Chapter 19: Early Populism
Populist Responses
Populism and the Labor Movement
Early Populism in South America
Social and Cultural Dynamics
Revolutionary Populism
Indigenismo

Chapter 20: Depression and World War
The Great Depression in Latin America
Latin America and the World
Changes in Populism
Women's Suffrage
Mass Media and a National Imaginary

Chapter 21: Onset of Cold War
Leftism in Latin America
Post-War Economic Trends
Consumers and Culture at Mid-Century
Cold War Security and Politics

Chapter 22: Cuban Revolution
Interventions and Dictatorship
Revolution
New Government and Initial U.S. Reaction
Legacy of the Cuban Revolution

Chapter 23: National Security State and Dirty Wars
National Security State Defined
The United States and National Security Doctrine
The Emergence of National Security State Trends
Bureaucratic Authoritarianism
Cultural Expression under Authoritarianism

Chapter 24: Debt and the Lost Decade
Debt Crisis
Challenges to Neoliberalism
The Cuban Exception to Neoliberalism
Cultural Production in the Lost Decade and the Special Period
Latin American Tourism

Chapter 25: Violence and Security in the Late-Twentieth Century
Civil War in Guatemala
Other Violence in Central America
The United States and the Contras
Democratization and the End of Cold War
The Illegal Drug Trade
Social and Cultural Impact of Violence

Chapter 26: Latin America in the Twenty-First Century
The Turn "Left"
Regional Integration
New Developments in Drug Trafficking
Immigration
Globalization

Exploitation, Inequality, and Resistance

A History of Latin America since Columbus

Mark Burkholder, Monica Rankin, and Lyman L. Johnson

Author Information

Mark Burkholder is Curators' Professor of History at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is the coauthor, with Lyman L. Johnson, of Colonial Latin America, Ninth Edition (OUP, 2014).

Monica Rankin is Director of the Center for U.S. Latin America Initiatives and Associate Professor of History at the University of Texas, Dallas.

Lyman L. Johnson is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Exploitation, Inequality, and Resistance

A History of Latin America since Columbus

Mark Burkholder, Monica Rankin, and Lyman L. Johnson

Reviews and Awards

"Burkholder, Johnson, and Rankin offer a compelling and provocative interpretation of Latin American history. This magisterial work is the product of decades of study and reflection by historians who have lived and researched in many Latin American countries. It is unique in its range of subjects and sophistication of analysis. This fine one-volume synthesis of Latin America, which moves deftly over the centuries, covers a broad range of topics including race, politics, economics, religion, urban and rural life, education, art, and literature."--Jaime E. Rodríguez Ordóñez, University of California, Irvine

"Exploitation, Inequality, and Resistance is a sweeping, well-written tour de force of Latin American history since Columbus's voyage, paying due attention to social, cultural, political, and economic developments. It is required reading for undergraduate students and general readers alike."--Jurgen Buchenau, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

"This book is outstanding. It is the product of three major figures in the field, written in an exceedingly clear, accessible, and readable style, and impeccably organized and researched."--Peter Klaren, George Washington University

"The authors have managed to provide a survey of a complex region from its early colonial period to the present, and have done so elegantly and in a way that students--most of whom have no experience with Latin America or the Caribbean--will easily understand."--Teresita Levy, Lehman College