The title of this book suggests that it is a history of the recently completed Interoceanic Highway, which connects Peru and Brazil in the Amazonian region of Madre de Dios. The authors introduce their study as a “focus on routes and corridors . . . compared to histories of territories” (p. 7). By placing roads as the central object of study, the authors provide the reader with a new sense of understanding regional history through its relationship to infrastructure. One of the most interesting findings of the book is that, by nearly all metrics, large road projects in Madre de Dios have rarely been economically feasible. As a result, road construction has always reflected larger political demands exerted on Madre de Dios as well as those emerging from the region.
The book's chapters provide the reader with a longue durée history of Madre de Dios as understood through transportation infrastructure....
