Scobie, James R. Secondary Cities of Argentina: the Social History of Corrientes, Salta, and Mendoza, 1850-1910

Document generated on 09/24/2021 7:42 a.m. Urban History Review Revue d'histoire urbaine Scobie, James R. Secondary Cities of Argentina: the Social History of Corrientes, Salta, and Mendoza, 1850-1910. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988. Pp. XVI, 276. Maps, black and white photographs, illustrations, notes and index Szuchman, Mark D. Order, Family and Community in Buenos Aires 1810-60. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988. Pp. XIII, 307. Figures and tables, illustrations, methodological appendix, notes, bibliography and index Brian M. Evans Volume 18, Number 1, June 1989 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1017833ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1017833ar See table of contents Publisher(s) Urban History Review / Revue d'histoire urbaine ISSN 0703-0428 (print) 1918-5138 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this review Evans, B. M. (1989). Review of [Scobie, James R. Secondary Cities of Argentina: the Social History of Corrientes, Salta, and Mendoza, 1850-1910. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988. Pp. XVI, 276. Maps, black and white photographs, illustrations, notes and index / Szuchman, Mark D. Order, Family and Community in Buenos Aires 1810-60. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988. Pp. XIII, 307. Figures and tables, illustrations, methodological appendix, notes, bibliography and index]. Urban History Review / Revue d'histoire urbaine, 18(1), 95–96. https://doi.org/10.7202/1017833ar All Rights Reserved © Urban History Review / Revue d'histoire urbaine, 1989 This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ Book Reviews/Comptes rendus Centuries of American Planning explore Scobie, James R. Secondary Cities of The chapter on Corrientes, the first city, is many of the episodes in city development Argentina: the Social History of subtitled "A Study in Stagnation." Here the and urban planning in the United States, but, Corrientes, Salta, and Mendoza, 1850- central theme is that for reasons internal and, precisely because they are separate essays, 1910. Stanford: Stanford University Press, primarily, external Corrientes grew only do not present a comprehensive look at the 1988. Pp. XVI, 276. Maps, black and white modestly and was never able to capitalize on development of the planning movement. photographs, illustrations, notes and advantages it sometimes appeared to Planning the Capitalist City attempts to index. possess. present an overview of the connections between the development of planning Szuchman, Mark D. Order, Family and In contrast, Salta ("The Sleeping Beauty"), thought and the realities of how planning was Community in Buenos Aires 1810-60. despite severe problems of health and carried out. Too often, however, it fails to see Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988. hygiene and a rigid social structure, was the complexity of the situation and becomes Pp. XIII, 307. Figures and tables, eventually able to develop its pre-existing mired in its ideological approach to planning. illustrations, methodological appendix, economy and to add some modest local Frederick Law Clmsted and the City Planning notes, bibliography and index. industrial development. Movement in the United States is an intellectual biography that does not Before his untimely death, Jim Scobie had, Mendoza presents a more complex and demonstrate well enough how ideas were by the volume and quality of his publications, dynamic picture. Despite the devastation of carried over into actions; it also become the best-known and most-respected the 1861 earthquake, the city revived quickly, overemphasizes one person's impact on the interpreter of Argentina to the English- and by the end of the 19th century had city planning movement. What is needed are speaking world. The scholarly community, entered a period of rapid demographic and works showing more clearly the connections therefore, should welcome with excitement economic growth. Alone of the cities studied, between ideas and actions, ones that explore this posthumous work, so ably completed Mendoza attracted a large number of in some detail the cooperation and conflict and edited by his friend and colleague southern European immigrants who between different groups and individuals Samuel L Bailey. In a sense Secondary transformed the Pampas. Yet even Mendoza active in the planning movement. Until such Cities of Argentina is a continuation of a failed, in the period under review, to develop works appear, urban planners will be unable sequenc. In 1964 Scobie published a new social structure or to transform the to benefit fully from the study of planning Argentina: a City and a Nation; a decade Cuyo region, of which it had become the history. For instance, an examination of the later Buenos Aires: "Plaza to Suburb." Then economic centre. complex relationships between planners, his focus turned from the metropolis to business groups, and labour groups in the sleepy Corrientes, colonial Salta, and Technically, Secondary Cities of Argentina is progressive period might well offer insights burgeoning Mendoza. well produced. Its maps, diagrams, graphs, useful for those seeking to redefine the and tables are clear and meaningful, and it is relationships between planners, government, Crucial to an understanding of this book is well illustrated. Even more important, the and minority groups in the present day. his belief that these secondary cities, and notes and sources, despite Dr Bailey's others like them, "linked rural economies and modesty in the matter, are organized, Mansel G. Blackford inhabitants with the outside world while informative, and succinct Department of History insulating the traditional rural environment Ohio State Unviersity from the changing character of large urban This book is readable, interesting, and centres. In this intermediate position informative to the widest readership, and it economic relationships and social structure stands as a worthy monument to Scobie's changed slowly ... continuity within the memory. secondary centres thus reinforced conservatism, accentuated the gap between Mark Szuchman's Order, Family and major cities and the rest of the country, and Community in Buenos Aires 1810-60 makes contributed to the resistance to change that an interesting comparison to Scobie's book. characterizes much of Latin America today." Both deal with aspects of urban history in 19th-century Argentina and are works of Within this framework, the three cities are mature scholarship, but there the then described, compared, and contrasted. resemblance ends. Scobie's work is And what a dramatic contrast they provide. essentially urban history conceived as 95 Urban History Review/Revue d'histoire urbaine Vol. XVIII, No. I (June 1989) Book Reviews/Comptes rendus historical geography; Szuchman's conceives material into a coherent whole. My only demonstrates how a study of the industry urban history as urban sociology, and, above reservation, albeit a personal bias, is against cannot be divorced from a study of the wider all, tries to recreate family history. As such, it his occasional use of sociological jargon, community. The rise of the automobile is a major pioneering study in a field of Latin which is never elegant and frequently industry was inseparable from the growth of American research hitherto largely ignored. incomprehensible to the non-specialist. Detroit, for, as Davis argues, the "gasoline aristocracy" that guided the industry exerted By and large Szuchman is successful, given Taken together, the works of Scobie and influence beyond the boardroom and into the the difficulties preserved by the data and the Szuchman are complementary. Both are community itself. general absence of previous works. In the major contributions to scholarship and are first chapter, entitled "Home, Neighbourhood, recommended to any Canadian who wants An important contribution of Conspicuous Power," he states his goals, first "to integrate to learn something of Argentina — a country Production is.to dispel the myth that the early traditional evidence and quantitative which, after all, is one whose historical automobile industry was a meritocracy. It evidence" and secondly "to reconcile social development is frequently contrasted with was not, Davis contends, an industry led by history with issues of political legitimacy and that of Canada, not always to the benefit of self-made men, reflecting the openness of social control." ourselves. the social structure. Entry was not necessarily restricted, but success was It is, of course, notorious that most Latin Brian M. Evans predetermined to some extent by wealth, and American societies have signally failed this Department of Geography not all aspiring manufacturers had the same second test, and one of the most interesting University of Winnipeg chance to succeed. features of Szuchman's book is the way he shows how some of Argentina's deepest According to Davis, the quest for social social malaises can be traced to the early Davis, Donald Finlay. Conspicuous prestige by early automobile entrepreneurs 19th century — plus ca change, plus c'est la Production: Automobiles and Elites in carried over into their marketing

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