Like most collections of articles or excerpts these two compilations are mixed bags. Contemporary Cultures and Societies of Latin America will fill many gaps on university reading lists. This is a generous collection of twenty-eight articles grouped into four general categories: “The Delineation of Cultural Entities in Latin America,” “Land, Agriculture and Economics,” “Social Organization,” and “Views of the World.” The volume concludes with a selected bibliography, arranged by country, supplementing the references made at the end of each article. Heath and Adams are to be complimented not only for the range and quality of the articles presented, but also for their introductory contributions at the beginning of each section. One reads them with the wish that these had been longer, since they provide an illuminating focus for the material that follows which should prove of interest, particularly for non-anthropologists. The appearance here of articles such as those by Oscar Nuñez del Prado, Mario Vázquez, William Mangin, Gino Germani, and Thales de Azeveo will bring to students’ attention valuable analyses which were published in obscure places or which were originally published in Spanish or Portuguese. Two pieces (by Anthony Leeds and Daniel Goldrich) were prepared especially for this volume and have not appeared elsewhere.
T. Lynn Smith’s book is a rather curious collection of nineteen articles by fifteen different authors or committees, ranging in time of original publication from 1847 to 1964 and representing Brazil (7), Bolivia (3), Colombia (2), Mexico (2), Chile, Cuba, and Venezuela (1 each), and two general articles. Despite the pretensions of the title Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and the Central American countries are not represented.
The principal uniting feature is that with the exception of the editor all the contributors are Latin Americans. Through them we are given a selective view of what some Latins, past and present, thought about agrarian problems. The opinions and materials set forth, however, are neither new nor unique at the present time and this is especially true of the editor’s lengthy Introduction. Here Smith champions the “family farm” and reviews problems of taxation, expropriation, confiscation, levels of living, minifundia, and social stratification. The book may prove useful in providing occasional readings for seminar work, and Smith’s translations of some of the older Brazilian materials may be of use to novice historians. The long but spotty bibliography also reflects the omissions noted above.
