Ten years ago I had the pleasure of reviewing the original Spanish version of this work (Entre la legitimidad y la violencia: Colombia 1875 – 1994 [Bogotá: Ed. Norma, 1995]) in this journal (vol. 76, no. 4, November 1996, p. 808); and the same strengths are evident now in English translation. Palacios has produced a history of unusually broad coverage, setting forth all the main developments (and some lesser ones) in the cultural and intellectual and social and economic, as well as merely political, life of Colombia over roughly a century and a quarter. These developments are vividly brought to life with a mass of telling detail not just on the usual partisan struggles but on housing patterns, religious observance, popular music, clothing colors, and much else that could only occur to an author like Marco Palacios, who has not just researched his country’s history but lived it and...
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