These two excellent volumes are essential reading for persons interested in the dynamics of inter-American relations. That holds whether the reader has an interest in contemporary or in historical aspects of the subject. Both books contain a rich citation of relevant literature. Langley’s book includes an extensive and excellent bibliographical essay.
Kryzanek’s work focuses on contemporary inter-American relations. The strongest and most valuable portions of the book examine the actors involved in the making and implementation of U.S. policy toward Latin America. Those actors include the president—both his formal powers and informal skills; the Department of State; the National Security Council; the Central Intelligence Agency; the Congress and its committee structure; the Agency for International Development; the Peace Corps; the Drug Enforcement Agency; military missions, and so forth. In addition, Kryzanek analyzes the important actors other than the U.S. government that are involved, including the U.S. business lobby (e.g., the Council of the Americas, the Association of American Chambers of Commerce in Latin America, the Caribbean and Central American Action, individual corporations, and banks); the human rights lobby (e.g., the Washington Office on Latin America, Amnesty International, and various church groups); the labor lobby; the media; various “think tanks”—leftist, centrist, and rightist (e.g., Roosevelt Center for Foreign Policy Research, Institute for Policy Studies, the Brookings Institution, Council on Foreign Relations, Hoover Institution, American Enterprise Institute, and Heritage Foundation); and representatives and paid agents of Latin American governments. Other topics Kryzanek addresses are the evolution of U.S.-Latin American relations, Castroism and its impact on the United States, democracy, the Communist threat, and Latin America as the U.S. sphere of influence. With regard to the last, the author states: “There is much that the United States can still do to influence internal politics and economics in Latin America, but there is also more and more evidence that this country has reached a point where its influence has little impact, and that diminishment may even be stimulating further change” (p. 228).
Langley’s book is the first volume in a series on the United States and Latin America to be published by the University of Georgia Press. A general history, it surveys the centuries from the colonial period through the presidency of Ronald Reagan. It examines, in as much detail as space allows given the time covered, the sweep of political, economic, and sociocultural forces that have shaped—and often confounded—inter-American relations.
Langley puts forward a well-thought-out reconsideration of U.S. policy toward the countries of Latin America. He observes in the introduction that “[t]he United States is in the Americas, but America is of the Americas. The deceptively narrow but important distinction between those phrases, evaluated historically, is, I believe, critical for understanding U.S. policy toward Latin America and helps to explain why (as some Americans believe) it is often artfully conceived and enthusiastically supported yet ultimately fails to achieve its purpose” (xvii). He develops, explains, and analyzes these ideas during the course of the book. Throughout, Langley examines and analyzes the very great cultural differences that separate the United States and Latin America, differences that neither side fully recognizes. The last sentence of the book states this difference well and succinctly: “One values his labor; the other, his person” (p. 259).
