WAS THERE AN AGE OF REVOLUTION IN LATIN AMERICA? New Literature on Latin American Independence Silke Hensel University of Cologne, Germany LATIN AMERICA BETWEEN COLONY AND NATION: SELECTED ES- SAYS. By John Lynch. (New York: Palgrave, 2001. Pp. 256. $68.00 cloth.) STATE AND SOCIETY IN SPANISH AMERICA DURING THE AGE OF REVOLUTION. Edited by Victor M. Uribe-Uran. (Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources Books, 2001. Pp. 261. $60.00 cloth, $21.95 paper.) THE WARS OF INDEPENDENCE IN SPANISH AMERICA. Edited by Christon I. Archer. (Jaguar Books on Latin America, no. 20. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources Books, 2000. Pp. 325. $55.00 cloth, $18.95 paper.) INDEPENDENCE AND REVOLUTION IN SPANISH AMERICA: PER- SPECTIVES AND PROBLEMS. Edited by Anthony McFarlane and Eduardo Posada Carbo. (London: Institute for Latin American Stud- ies, University of London, 1999, Pp. 192. $19.95 paper.) The study of independence remains one of the main topics in Latin American history, but perspectives on the era have changed consider- ably during the past decades.1 While for a long time the movements for independence from Spain were interpreted, especially in the national historiographies, as the founding years of each nation-state and treated as an epoch in its own right, today the “middle period” or the “Age of Revolution” are discussed as adequate time frames to study the break- down of colonial rule and the beginning of the new nation-states. Two of the books under review here subscribe to this larger perspective. One questions the inclusion of Latin America into the list of regions experi- encing revolution, while the other focuses on the movements for 1. For an assessment of scholarship on Latin American independence from the 1980s to the 1990s, see Victor M. Uribe, “The Enigma of Latin American Independence: Analyses and Trends in the Last Ten Years,” Latin American Research Review 32, no. 1 (1997): 236–55. Latin American Research Review, Vol. 38, No. 3, October 2003 © 2003 by the University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819 238 Latin American Research Review independence and especially the wars between insurgents and royal- ists implying a concentration during the years from 1808 to 1825. The Wars of Independence in Spanish America, edited by Christon I. Archer, concentrates on the process of fighting and adopts, at least in parts, a microhistoric view to provide a better understanding of the insurgents and the royalists. The volume brings together thirteen chap- ters published earlier elsewhere and is organized into four sections: the origins of insurrection; the insurgency and counterinsurgency in New Spain; caudillismo, war, and insurgency in South America; and finally, the defeat of Spain in the Americas. In sections two and three on war- fare in New Spain and South America, some central documents are in- cluded. Each chapter starts with a useful short preamble by Archer, who skillfully situates the respective contribution in the historical and scholarly context. Archer also provides an introduction to the volume dealing with the reasons for independence. The author uses a wide variety of examples to illustrate life at the end of the colonial period and during the war. This style is a strength of the chapter but at the same time also its weakness. The colorful and vivid pictures sometimes seem too detailed for an overview. While Archer concentrates on New Spain, Brian Hamnett addresses the insurrection and the royalist reac- tion to it in New Granada. Regional differences in economics and social structure resulted in conflicts that were added to the struggle between the colony and Spain. The part on New Spain brings together a microstudy by Virginia Guedea that focuses on a poor worker who was drawn into the fights between insurgents and counterinsurgents by coincidence, and not be- cause he adhered to one side or the other. The protagonist was forced to become a messenger for the insurgents by force, and when the royal troops caught him, he was threatened with capital punishment. Guedea uses his case to show how all people were affected by the ongoing war without really taking sides themselves. The second essay by Peter Guardino shows a different situation in the area that later became the state of Guerrero. The region was one of the major arenas of social and political conflict during the wars of independence. Guardino argues that popular participation in the warfare on the insurgent side occurred because local elites and peasants shared concrete interests as well as basic notions of politics, justice, and legitimacy. A cross-class alliance formed, integrating such diverse groups as Indian peasants, mulatto sharecroppers, provincial muleteers, hacendados, and priests. Thus, Guardino’s study defies the notion that members of the lower classes only participated in the war of independence as cannon fodder, with- out pursuing their own goals. These two fine pieces on the diverse rea- sons for popular participation in the war are complemented by two documents: one on the program of counterinsurgency authored by Félix REVIEW ESSAYS 239 Calleja, then commander of the Army of the Center from 1811, and the other a military dispatch dated 1818 from viceroy Juan Ruíz de Apodaca. The third part of the volume features four documents and one ar- ticle on the wars of independence in South America, concentrating on Venezuela. The first is an account by George Flinter, a veteran of the British army who had fought in the Napoleonic Wars and afterwards came to Caracas as a translator and business agent. Flinter aligned with the royalist side and denied any atrocities committed by the Spanish army while he damned the patriots. The second one consists of a letter by José de Cevallos, interim captain general of Caracas, in which he proposed measures to improve the situation of the castas, but whose call went unanswered. Following are views on Simón Bolívar by two of his supporters, General Daniel Florencio O’Leary and General H.L.V. Ducoudray Holstein. Stephen K. Stoan’s essay describes the fate of General Pablo Morillo and his expeditionary forces in the provinces of New Granada and why the royalists lost the war. Finally, another piece taken from the memories of General O’Leary gives his view on the Guayaquil Conference and on Bolívar’s relations with Peru. The book’s last three essays explore the defeat of Spain in the Ameri- cas. Timothy Anna focuses on the last two years of royal government in Peru and pays attention to the chaos resulting from the dilemma Peru- vians felt between the options of the old empire, with all its grievances, or independence, with the threat of social destruction, militarism and possible foreign domination. The last two chapters address the Span- ish army in the Americas. Rebecca Earle’s essay concentrates on the problem of disease the soldiers faced in the often unhealthy climate and describes how military doctors tried to cure them. Finally, Marga- ret L. Woodward analyses the Spanish troops in America and the atti- tudes of officers and soldiers who often viewed overseas service as a form of involuntary servitude. The volume ends with a chapter sug- gesting further reading. In sum, it is to be highly commended for its pedagogical value, especially the section on New Spain, which pro- vides a much-needed perspective on the lower classes and their involve- ment in the movement. Christon Archer did a fine job editing and publishing the materials included. The essays selected in the volume Latin America between Colony and Nation by John Lynch were written over the last three decades and most of them have been published previously. The first originates from the still important volume Latin American Revolutions, 1808–1826,2 two con- tributions appeared for the first time in 1983, four in the early 1990s, and two are published for the first time in this volume. In his introduc- 2. John Lynch, Latin American Revolutions, 1808-1826: Old and New World Origins (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965). A second version was published in 1994. 240 Latin American Research Review tory essay Lynch gives a personal account on how he became a Latin Americanist in the 1950s when Latin American history was almost ne- glected in Great Britain (as well as in other European countries) and criticizes the perception still held by some, that Latin America is less important than European history. The author describes why he chose the topics he did for studying and also his approach to history. Lynch warns his readers that the quest for theory and conceptualization might not help to clarify history but distort it instead. He also rejects newer, postmodern historiographical trends, because he thinks that historical truth has to be discovered without giving room to inventions or con- structions, but in so doing he may be misrepresenting these concepts.3 Traditional convictions inform Lynch’s writing on Latin American. The book contains eight essays covering the time periods from conquest to the nineteenth century. Most relevant for this review are five essays that deal with the colonial roots of independence and the course of the movements. Lynch describes the colonial state and the colonial consen- sus established between the crown and its American subjects from 1650 to 1750. During this period the administration had to consider local interests by giving creole elites influence on their matters. The Bourbon reforms disturbed this arrangement. In its effort to install an absolutist regime, the crown no longer accepted local influence and directly com- peted with American economic and political interests. This important reason for discontent in the colonies is taken up again in the essay on the colonial roots for the Independence movements.