Gaitanismo has been one of the most popular subjects of Colombian historiography. W. John Green’s book seeks to provide new explanations for the movement’s political constitution during the first part of the twentieth century. Green writes against those scholars that understand Gaitanismo as a mere result of the corruption or personalistic manipulation of unsophisticated, disoriented (i.e., premodern), and passive masses unable to create more radical political paths. Instead, he argues that Gaitanismo was an autonomous popular movement that consistently—and radically—challenged both Colombia’s oligarchy and its two-party political system. By using previously unexamined letters written by Gaitán and his followers, as well as interviews and Gaitanista press, Green traces the historical and political conditions that gave rise to Gaitanismo as a left-liberal mobilization.
Green contends that political analyses of the period have concentrated on the different relations and agreements between liberal and conservative elite about what ideas and political parties should...
