This anthology is one of a series published by the Pan American Union designed to include the best of the literary expression and philosophical, political, and social thought of America. An excellent introductory résumé by Leopoldo Zea prefaces the volume, a collection of writings representative of the thought of those who sought solutions to diverse problems facing Ibero-America from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century.
The first selection is by the Mexican Jesuit, Francisco Xavier Alegre, who represents a Christian humanism which was in basic agreement with Enlightenment ideas. Concerned with the principle of Spain’s authority over her colonies, he concluded that, although sovereign authority came from God, it was manifested through the consent of the empire’s component parts; he thus justified the colonial desire for equality within the empire.
The independence period is represented by Miguel Hidalgo, José María Morelos, Simón Bolívar, and Simón Rodríguez. The two Mexicans were preoccupied with social change as well as political independence; the Venezuelans feared that disruption of the empire would result in chaos and a new slavery and favored union of the new states under a supreme government.
The next and longest section, under the heading of Liberalism, reflects concern with the inheritance from Spain, here represented by the thought of Fray Servando Teresa de Mier, José Cecilio del Valle, Juan Bautista Alberdi, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, José María Luis Mora, Juan Montalvo, José Victorino Lastarria, Andrés Bello, and Francisco Bilbao. The point of these writings, which laid bare Ibero-American political, material, technical, and educational backwardness—all attributable to Spain—was to change and transform the inheritance, to bring progress.
To achieve the desired transformation, Positivism was embraced through out the area by thinkers like Gabino Barreda, Miguel Lemos, Raimundo Teixeira Mendes, and Alcides Arguedas. Not all, however, were optimistic; Arguedas saw no possibility of incorporating large numbers of Indians in the progress of the nation.
Positivism gave birth to a reaction against the crass materialism it represented; José Enrique Rodó was the prophet of a new Latin America that could be strong and powerful like the United States without ceasing to be Latin American. Writings of José Martí and Manuel González Prada complete the last section of the book; the emphasis is on the concept of what José Vasconcelos called the “cosmic race,” considered by that generation of thinkers to be basic to the solution of Latin America’s problems.
The compilation of a completely satisfactory anthology is a difficult, if not impossible, task; hard decisions must be made as to whose work and how much of it to include. In this case no one could quarrel with the eminence of the writers selected or even their representativeness. But this reviewer questions whether both Hidalgo and Morelos were essential or both Bolívar and Rodríguez and the last two in such length. Also all significant strains of thought do not seem to be included in depicting Latin Americans’ search for truths, realities, solutions. The liberal-centralist position is ably expressed through Mier and Bolívar, but not that of the liberal-federalists or monarchists who also expressed what seemed at the time valid solutions to the problem of government. Liberalism in general is well-covered, but not the opposing conservative body of thought, equally sure of the validity of its ideas to assure the states’ progress and prosperity. These questionings aside, this is a useful volume, bringing together the thought of Latin Americans deeply interested in the condition and problems of their states and peoples and their groping for solutions.
