This bibliography of published materials is a useful reference tool for the Central American Federation, the general history of Central America, and the early general problems of independence in Latin America. It may be especially useful for the latter, broader topic because its selection of materials is broadly, not narrowly, political. The work is accurately subtitled as a “general catalog of books, pamphlets, periodicals, reviews . . . 1821-1830.” It devotes an average of thirty pages to each year covered. The organization is chronological by year only, and alphabetical by author, publishing authority or official document title. The item index is excellent and items are numbered consecutively (1 to 582) throughout the book. Rare items are located by place.
In the 1820’s Central America slid from its colonial ledge into the void of independence. This book sifts the debris from the slide. It includes brief annotations on Vicente Filísola’s Apuntes (Puebla, 1824), and Génaro García’s 1911 edition thereof, summaries which vary from anonymous broadsides to occasional papers of church-and-state, and calendars of the acts of the several legislative and constitutional assemblies which convened in Guatemala during the 1820’s.
The orderliness of this work greatly enhances its value. For instance, it carefully catalogs annual personnel changes in the governments as well as reproducing in full or in summary their principal decrees.
