Carlos Pellegrini was one of the outstanding members of the so-called Generation of ’80 in Argentina. For over thirty years, from 1872 until his death in 1906, he played a prominent role in criollo politics, holding the offices of provincial deputy in Buenos Aires, national senator, cabinet minister, vice-president, president, and finally (as leader of a reform faction within the elite) national deputy. That Pellegrini possessed an active mind is shown both by his observations on the contemporary scene and by his analyses of Argentina’s economic and social problems. He founded or helped to found the Argentine National Bank and a club of industrialists which later became the Unión Industrial Argentina. At the end of his career he organized an opposition faction that eventually sponsored the electoral reform laws of 1911-1912, paving the way for the victory of the Radical Party in 1916. Pellegrini had the rare ability to stand outside his group and to compare it to other ruling elites, while at the same time taking part in its social and economic activities. A biography of this extraordinary figure thus could be the story of an important period in Argentine history and an examination of the men who guided the country’s destinies for almost fifty years.
The book under review unfortunately does not realize the possibilities inherent in its subject. Newton concentrates primarily upon political events, interspersing his narrative with excerpts from Pellegrini’s writings which provide only glimpses of the thinker or economist. The work presents Pellegrini’s life and times but does not balance one against the other or use the central character as a means through which to examine the period as a whole. Pellegrini becomes just another politician lost in a maze of anecdotal material and cumbersome detail. For example, we learn the fate of his commanding officer in the Paraguayan War (p. 23), and the author dedicates thirty pages to the Revolution of 1890 (pp. 104-134), but there is little or no mention of Pellegrini’s efforts to protect national industry or to foster its development.
Written for popular consumption as one of a series on leading Argentines, the book’s scholarly pretentions further frustrate the reader. Numerous quotations are either partly or wholly undocumented. The eleven-item bibliography does not even include works mentioned in the text (e.g. Álvaro Yunque, Vida de Alem, pp. 119, 176); and the author’s final note that he has extracted much material from libraries and private archives only raises questions as to the exact location of this material.
This biography is of limited value for the expert, who will find most of it a restatement of common knowledge. One would be better advised to consult Pellegrini’s collected works for a fuller idea of Carlos Pellegrini the statesman, politician, economist, and intellectual.
