Professor Leslie Bethell is Emeritus Professor of Latin American History in the University of London and an Emeritus Fellow of St Antony's College, Oxford. He was Director of the University of London Institute of Latin American Studies from 1987 to 1992 and the University of Oxford Centre for Brazilian Studies from 1997 to 2007. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centro de Pesquisa e Documentacao de Historia Contemporanea do Brasil at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

"There can be no doubt that this is the best collaborative history of the region currently available, or likely to be available for a long time to come." - Book Review Digest

"This most recent volume in The Cambridge History of Latin America follows the high standards of earlier volumes...Each chapter provides a lucid synthesis of historical writing to date, and most offer a bold and sometimes provocative interpretation of their subjects...Each country is dealt with up to the present, which is unusual and welcome. The volume is handsomely printed, with an outstanding bibliography. A must for all academic libraries." - Choice

"The eighth volume of The Cambridge History of Latin America maintains the high standard of its predecessors, a tribute to the series editor, Leslie Bethell....The authors are all recognized authorities in their fields....The chapters provide insight into the political, economic, and social developments of the period....for upper-level and graduate courses, the book should be a required text; the annotated bibliographies for each chapter are invaluable for staff and students alike, and the volume--indeed, the entire series--is essential for any library with a Latin American collection." - Peter Blanchard, History

"This impressive series ... Leslie Bethell must be wholeheartedly complimented on a prodigious effort ... There can be no doubt that this is, the best collaborative history of the region currently available, or likely to be available for a long time to come." - Times Literary Supplement

"All of the volumes are magnificent achievements, conforming to the highest standards in editing skill and publishing excellence. The present volume is no exception ... sophisticated essays." - Canadian Journal of History

"Another installment in the already acclaimed series ... an excellent corpus of essays ... digest a large and disparate literature, much originally in Spanish, to manageable and readable forms ... essential and rewarding reading." - The Times Higher Education Supplement

"... inspired by a remarkably ambitious vision ... a remarkably successful venture ... has established a well deserved reputation for both reliability and excellence. lt has clearly benefitted from having remained under the same editor throughout: there is a consistent rigour underlying all its diverse essays ... geared to the serious scholar ... reference, books of the highest order ... The present (volume) maintain(s) the high standard set by those that preceded it." - Journal of Latin American Studies

"Leslie Bethell and his team of distinguished contributors have achieved the aim stated in the general preface... the production of a high-level synthesis of existing knowledge. All of the 13 chapters provide lucid and scholarly accounts... This volume will surely become the first port of call for students... This splendid work of reference will provide invaluable for many years to come." - Bulletin of Latin American Research

"... the most comprehensive and authoritative one-volume history of Spanish SouthAmerica in print...generally high level of scholarship, analysis and writing... the marriage of disciplines is both clear and fruitful... [as] an expression of the state of the field... the news is good for so recent a history and so uneven a historiography. This volume demonstrates that it is possible to write convincing contemporary histories of Spanish South America." - American Historical Review

"This monumental compendium, as well as the other impressive volumes in the series, makes a lasting contribution to hemispheric historiography. Each of the nine essays...makes an invaluable contribution...truly impressive... This collection emerges as a tribute to the maturity of the Latin American studies profession... Few studies merit as strong a recommendation as this one." - Hispanic American Historical Review