The purpose of this book is to offer a “general synthesis” and “an accessible introduction” to the cultural history of Spanish America in the nineteenth century, in itself an ambitious and challenging goal (pp. 13, 21); yet Christopher Conway succeeds and gives us with concision and clarity a very convincing overview of the subject. In accord with the declared objective of the volume, the author has avoided dwelling on the specific debates that have animated the field in the last few years (which may be appropriate for journal articles or monographs but not for general works like this one) and, concurrently, has also spared readers the jargon common in more specialized projects.
The period under study here is a rather shorter nineteenth century that goes from roughly 1830 (after the end of the wars of independence) to 1910 (the beginning of the Mexican Revolution). The book is comprised of an...
