Una vida agónica: Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre: Testimonio de parte

This study of Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre places the life and ideas of the founder of the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA) in the context of the numerous individuals, intellectual movements, organizations, and events that contributed to the development of one of Peru’s and Latin America’s most important political figures. The author argues for the continued relevance of Haya de la Torre’s ideas today, in particular the idea of continental unity, which he links to various efforts to create common markets in Latin American. The book’s openly laudatory tone derives from the fact that the author participated in APRA and was a friend of Haya de la Torre’s for over 30 years. Yet Chang-Rodríguez also strives to balance his scholarly inclinations and his political sympathies. For example, he acknowledges that the student ceremony in Mexico in 1924 considered by apristas as the movement’s foundational moment was merely an...