The New Latin American Left: Cracks in the Empire.

• Author: Pham, Monica
• Position: FURTHER READING - Book review

THE NEW LATIN AMERICAN LEFT: CRACKS IN THE EMPIRE

Jeffery R. Webber and Barry Carr

(Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.), 393 pages.

Latin America is the birthplace of izquierda permitida or the "permitted left." The Latin American political landscape has often been a hotbed of radical thought and fiery left-wing activity. These radical views challenge the idea of neoliberalism as well as capitalism and posit that socialism is rising in popularity in this part of the world.

In The New Latin American Left, Jeffery Webber and Barry Carr have weaved together a series of essays attempting to address three fundamental questions: "What will revolution look like in the 21st century? ... What forms do class struggles take in today's context ... and lastly how do indigenous people's and the role of genders struggles relate to the leftist politics?"

The editors introduce a series of theoretical issues, then present case studies to illustrate their claims. However, primary concern of the majority of the essays is in explaining the class struggle, "the logic of...