Book Reviews : The United States and Latin America. Edited by HERBERT L. MATTHEWS. (New York: The American Assembly, Columbia University, December, 1959. Pp. 221. $2.00.)

• Published date: 01 September 1960
• Author: Jordan M. Young
• Date: 01 September 1960
• DOI: 10.1177/106591296001300336
• Subject Matter: Articles

825

The

United

States

and

Latin

America.

Edited

by

HERBERT

L.

MATTHEWS.

(New

York:

The

American

Assembly,

Columbia

University,

December,

1959.

Pp.

221.

$2.00.)

Herbert

L.

Matthews,

editor

of

the

latest

volume

of

the

American

Assembly

entitled

The

United

States

and

Latin

America,

writes

that

there

are

no

&dquo;experts

on

Latin

America,

only

degrees

of

ignorance.&dquo;

The

information

and

interpreta-

tions

found

in

the

six

essays

in

this

fact-packed

book

indicate

otherwise.

The

various

sections

are

handled

by

people

with

a

depth

and

wide

range

of

experience

in

Latin

America.

Any

attempt

to

take

twenty

different

countries

and

their

relationship

to

the

United

States

and

compress

this

into

one

slim

volume

is,

as

the

introduction

states,

&dquo;overly

ambitious.&dquo;

Working

on

the

idea,

however,

that

there

are

some

common

denominators

in

Latin

America,

the

approach

proved

a

success.

Professor

Frank

Tannenbaum,

of

Columbia

University,

sets

the

scene

with

a

deft

analysis

entitled

&dquo;Toward

an

Appreciation

of

Latin

America.&dquo;

Taking

up

such

factors

as

land

and

people,

the

isolation

of

the

provincial

town,

region-

alism,

the

Indian,

Negro,

mestizo,

racial

prejudice,

religion,

and

the

hacienda,

Professor

Tannenbaum

presents

intelligent

comments

for

the

well

informed,

and

excellent

generalizations

for

the

newcomer

to

the

Latin-American

area.

This

reviewer

felt,

however,

that

the

material

on

Spanish-speaking

and

Indian

cultural

areas

of

Latin

America

had

more

vitality

and

validity

than

the

material

that

dealt

with

Brazil.

Professor

K.

H.

Silvert,

of

Tulane

University,

in

an

excellent

chapter

on

political

change

in

Latin

America

considers

&dquo;...

the

width

of difference

and

conversely

the

narrowness

of

the

likeness

among

the

Latin-American

countries.&dquo;

He

brings

out

how

the

class

structure

is

clearly

seen

in

clothing,

speech,

occupa-

tion,

habitation,

education,

and

political

power.

Describing

the

political

party

system

in

a

penetrating

statement,

&dquo;A

better

clue

to

political

development

is

derived

from

party

programs

and

approaches,

rather

than

from

counting

the

number

of

parties

and

relating

them

systematically.&dquo;

Getting

day-to-day

accurate

information

on

events

in

Latin

America

is

practically

impossible

and

Edward

W.

Barrett,

Dean

of

the

Columbia

University

Graduate

School

of

Journalism,

and

Penn

T.

Kimball,

Columbia

University

Journalism

Professor,

explain

why.

Lack

of

interest

in

the

U.S.A.

accounts

for

this

and

they

feel

spotty

reporting

is

worse

than

no

reporting

at

all.

Latin

America

is

committed

to

industrialization

and

Reynold

Carlson,

a

specialist

on

Latin-American

economic

development,

presents

some

clear

ideas

in

a

tension-charged

area.

There

are,

he

says,

two

aggressive

elements

operating

in

the

economy

of

Latin

America.

One

is

the

private

sector

where

powerful

industrial

and

commercial

groups

are

emphasizing

the

advantages

of

a

nation-

alistic

policy.

They

would

reserve

the

exploitation

of

domestic

resources

for

nationals

and

would

generally

discourage

foreign

businessmen

and

foreign

in-

vestors.

The

second

is

the

government,

pushed

by

many

who

feel

that

only