This volume, the most recent of LIFE World Library, is an excellent work in every respect. The end-paper maps are readable and enlightening. The black and white photographs are attractive, and some of the many color pictures are surpassing in their beauty.
A work of this type cannot, of course, go into great detail; it must necessarily summarize. A careful reading has failed to disclose an unjustified generalization or a mistake in facts. Only one question of any importance arises: Is not Colombia also an “Andean Republic?” Since it is omittted, the title might more properly be Four Andean Republics.
The content includes brief sketches of the Indian background and the region’s geography, the conquest by Spain, the colonial period, the revolution, and brief histories of the four republics. The most rewarding sections are the last two, “A Cultural Quest” and “Agitation from the Center.” The latter describes current conditions and suggests possible future developments.
For one who knows little of Spanish-Indian Latin America and wishes to learn something of it in a general sense, the reviewer can suggest no book superior to this. LIFE, the author, and those who assisted him are to be congratulated.
