Book Reviews : Social Change in Latin America Today: Its Implications for United States Policy. Edited by LYMAN BRYSON. (New York: Harper and Bros. for the Council on Foreign Relations, 1960. Pp. xiv, 353. $5.00.)

• Date: 01 September 1961
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296101400316
• Published date: 01 September 1961
• Author: Russell H. Fitzgibbon
• Subject Matter: Articles

774

Social

Change

in

Latin

America

Today:

Its

Implications

for

United

States

Policy.

Edited

by

LYMAN

BRYSON.

(New

York:

Harper

and

Bros.

for

the

Council

on

Foreign

Relations,

1960.

Pp.

xiv,

353.

$5.00.)

This

collaborative

venture

in

surveying

and

pursuing

a

new

road

into

Latin

America

is

undertaken

by

six

specialists

in

the

field,

in

addition

to

Dr.

Bryson

who

contributed

the

introduction.

The

six

are

Messrs.

John

P.

Gillin

(&dquo;Some

Signposts

for

Policy&dquo;),

Richard

M.

Adams

(Guatemala),

Allan

R.

Holmberg

(Peru),

Oscar

Lewis

(Mexico),

Richard

W.

Patch

(Bolivia),

and

Charles

Wagley

(Brazil).

These

persons,

plus

other Latin

Americanists

either

on

a

regular

or

an

occasional

basis,

constituted

a

discussion

group

organized

some

time

ago

by

the

Council

on

Foreign

Relations

to

explore

problems

of

social

change

in

the

other

America.

These

essays

constitute

a

stimulating

and

pioneer

contribution

to

the

literature

on

the

area.

Dean

Gillin’s

excellent

analysis

serves

as

a

stage

setting

for

the

later

country

essays

by

the

other

contributors.

The

other

five

are

not

necessarily

parallel

in

organization,

treatment,

or

quality

but

all

of

them

have

material

of

real

importance.

Whether

on

the

small

stage

of

Vicos,

a

sierra

community

in

Peru,

or

the

large

one

of

Brazil

as

a

whole,

the

authors

agree

in

regarding

the

current

scene

as

one

of

rapidity

and

depth

of

change

sufficient

to

justify

the

term

revolution.

The

word

means

many

things

to

many

people

(and

some,

including

the

reviewer,

might

be

inclined

to

hesitate

to

apply

it

to

contempo~

rary

Brazil),

but

certainly

all

could

agree

that

the

tides

of

change

are

running

swiftly

in

all

those

and

many

other

areas

of

Latin

America-almost

all

over

the

world,

for

that

matter.

The

more

we

can

understand

the

characteristics

and

directions

of

this

basic

social

change

the

better

prepared

we

shall

be

to

understand

much

that

is

more

orthodoxly

political,

economic,

or

intellectual.

It

is

in

this

respect

that

the

authors

give

us

an

uncommonly

good

introduction

to

the

kaleidoscope

in

certain

countries.

It

is

a

pity

that

treatments

of

more

countries

could

not

have been

included.

University

of

California,

Los

Angeles

RUSSELL

H.

FITZGIBBON

Latin

America:

A

Bibliographical

Guide

to

Economy,

History,

Law,

Politics,

and

Society.

By

S.

A.

BAYITCH.

(Coral

Gables,

Florida:

University

of

Miami

Press,

1961.

Pp.

xv,

335.

$12.50.)

This

bibliographical

guide,

No. 6

in

the

Miami

University

Inter-American

Legal

Studies

series,

is,

as

the

number

of

pages

would

suggest,

an

extremely

comprehensive

publication.

At

the

same

time,

as

the

subtitle

indication

of

coverage

suggests,

it

covers

only

a

portion

of

the

content

&dquo;water

front.&dquo;

Pro-

fessor

Bayitch

is

to

be

congratulated

on

a

meticulously

careful

piece

of

editorial

work.

An

undertaking

of

the

magnitude

of

this

one

would

obviously

have

to

be

a

labor

of

love

in

considerable

degree.

Hundreds

of

periodicals

and

other

publications

have

been

surveyed.