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The Battle for Latin America's Soul
Yale University Press
January 2008
On Sale: January 3, 2008
400 pages ISBN: 0300116160 EAN: 9780300116168 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Latin America has often been condemned to failure. Neither
poor enough to evoke Africa’s moral crusade, nor as
explosively booming as India and China, it has largely been
overlooked by the West. Yet this vast continent, home to
half a billion people, the world’s largest reserves of
arable land, and 8.5 percent of global oil, is busily
transforming its political and economic landscape. This book argues that rather than failing the test, Latin
America’s efforts to build fairer and more prosperous
societies make it one of the world’s most vigorous
laboratories for capitalist democracy. In many
countries—including Brazil, Chile and Mexico—democratic
leaders are laying the foundations for faster economic
growth and more inclusive politics, as well as tackling
deep-rooted problems of poverty, inequality, and social
injustice. They face a new challenge from Hugo Chávez’s
oil-fuelled populism, and much is at stake. Failure will
increase the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants to the
United States and Europe, jeopardize stability in a region
rich in oil and other strategic commodities, and threaten
some of the world's most majestic natural environments. Drawing on Michael Reid’s many years of reporting from
inside Latin America’s cities, presidential palaces, and
shantytowns, the book provides a vivid, immediate, and
informed account of a dynamic continent and its struggle to
compete in a globalized world.
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