The four-year centennial marking the First World War (1914–18), which has inspired numerous historical reassessments of its impact on the United States and Europe, has also exposed an embarrassing lacuna: a dearth of information concerning the significance of Latin America in what was essentially a global upheaval. In a bid to fill this gap, Stefan Rinke has written a wonderful book that documents Latin America's involvement and response to the war. Rinke provides insights into how this horrific conflict affected Latin America and other so-called peripheral regions (p. 3). He shows how as a result of the war the region achieved new status as a player on the world stage, and he also suggests that in the light of these findings Latin American historians may want to reexamine their traditional periodization marking the twentieth century's arrival in their respective countries.
Rinke's goal is not to offer individualized accounts of the...
