Until recently students and scholars in the United States have failed to pay attention to the principle pastime of the great mass of intellectually active Latin Americans: philosophical speculation and political theorizing.
Hispanic American “revolutions” and “barrack-room revolts” hit the headlines, for “good copy” originates solely from the sensational and the unusual. Literati read and study poetry, novels, and short stories, but the essayist, save for isolated cases, remains unnoticed.
Thanks to Fidel Castro things are rapidly changing. As we all become aware of the cardinal importance of the psychological and ideological aspects of Inter-American relations, universities will surely enter strongly into the study of the pensadores, polemistas, and filósofos of the Hispanic American countries.
La América Latina de hoy is a real step in this direction. Students and faculty members have here a carefully prepared and well-presented anthology of present-day Spanish American writers on the various aspects of cultural and political life, national and international, in their countries.
Seventeen selections by José Figueres, Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Luis Muñoz Marín, Rómulo Betancourt, Germán Arciniegas, José Vasconcelos, Alfredo Pareja Diezcanseco, and others are included.
Each essay or selection is introduced by a well-written presentation of the details of the author’s life and activities. There are a short biographical appendix, a good vocabulary, and copious footnotes to help the nonSpanish speaker over the difficult hurdles of special terminologies.
Even for the Latin Americanist who wishes to give himself a slightly broader idea of the whole Latin American scene, in addition to his own particular specialty, the selections on the Indian problem, international cooperation, university organization, economic development, the basic attitudes of the intellectual towards the United States, and other topics, can be a valuable and useful source of information and helpful companion.
