The volume under review is part of a series recently described by one Ecuadorian critic as la obra de la década. Fifteen volumes are planned, of which about half (in no special chronological order) have appeared. Each contains chapters, some previously published, by recognized specialists; helpful summaries; colored maps and charts or figures; and pertinent excerpts from documents or key secondary sources that are scattered through, but clearly distinguished from, the text. The plan and format are ideal for the student or general reader, but in view of the uneven quality of the existing literature on Ecuadorian history the series is potentially useful for scholars, too.
The mere fact that a single slim volume is devoted to the independence period immediately suggests that the general editor is attempting to break with the traditional historiography that lavished excessive attention on political changes that, probably in Ecuador even more than in most of Latin America, had scant effect on socioeconomic structures or cultural patterns. Following two chapters on the larger American scene, Carlos Landázuri presents a lucid overview of Ecuadorian independence as a political-military process; Nick Mills traces economic and social trends, 1780 to 1845; Carlos Paladines analyzes the “movimiento ilustrado ecuatoriano” from the late colonial era to the presidency of Rocafuerte; Jorge Núñez S. treats Ecuador in Gran Colombia; and Manuel Chiriboga closes the volume with his excellent essay on “las fuerzas del poder.” All offer a good balance between useful facts and an interpretation that is informed by recent trends in scholarship but not overly burdened with explicit theory. To one degree or another, all authors underscore the lack of solidarity among social groups and of articulation among regions that limited the scope and consequences of the Ecuadorian independence movement. Perhaps because of my own specialization the most obvious weakness seems to lie in the treatment of the politics of Gran Colombia, which showed remarkable unawareness of works published in Bogotá.
