It's hard to imagine a timelier book than La condena de la libertad. The fact that many Latin Americanists were surprised when social unrest exploded in Peru beginning in late 2022 illustrated that a new comprehensive understanding of the origins of modern Peru was needed. The fact that many have struggled to understand the current Peruvian political crisis makes the need to read this book urgent.
Edited by Paulo Drinot and Alberto Vergara, La condena de la libertad contains seven historical essays covering Peru's history since independence. The editors set out the general goal of the project in their introduction. The anthology mercifully does not aim to find the moment—or moments—of the republican era when (to borrow from a certain writer) “se había jodido el Perú.” Instead, Drinot and Vergara introduce the image of Sisyphus to interpret Peruvian history as a series of eras in which efforts to forge...
