Camilla Townsend lives in Hamilton, New York, and is an associate professor of history at Colgate University. She is the author of Tales of Two Cities: Race and Economic Culture in Early Republican North and South America .

INTRODUCTION
1

Part I
21

IN THE STREETS OF THE CITIES
23

CONQUEST AND COLONY
47

Part II
69

A MERRY PARTY AND SERIOUS BUSINESS The Elite of Guayaquil
71

STRAWBERRY PARTIES AND HABITS OF INDUSTRY The Elite of Baltimore
100

Part III
135

THE QUEST OF THE CONTRIBUTING CITIZENS The Middling Ranks of Baltimore
154

Part IV
181

WORKING ON DEAD MANS ROCK The Poor of Guayaquil
183

TO BECOME THE UNFORTUNATE TENANTS OF YOUR ALMS HOUSE The Poor of Baltimor 205

CONCLUSION
233

NOTES
241

BIBLIOGRAPHY
289

INDEX
313



THE QUEST OF THE PERSONAS DECENTESThe Middling Ranks of Guayaquil
137

"An impressive comparative study... Townsend unearths and imaginatively interprets a wealth of documentary evidence-from newspapers and travel accounts to court cases, account books, and government documents. The result is a finely textured social history that will appeal to historians specialising in modern U.S. and Latin American history, as well as to students in general college survey courses on these subjects."