Sunday, September 26, 2010

The Dominican Republic: Nation in Transition

Wiarda, Howard J., The Dominican Republic: Nation in Transition, New York: Praeger, 1969. [Hard Cover]

Review by Manuel Ortega in Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs.

Informe de la Comisión de Investigación de los Estados Unidos en Santo Domingo en 1871

Rodríguez Demorizi, Emilio, (prefacio y notas) Informe de la Comisión de Investigación de los Estados Unidos en Santo Domingo, 1871, Ciudad Trujillo, Editora Montalvo, Santo Domingo, 1960, 650 pp.

Wade, B. F. Report of the Commission of Inquiry to Santo Domingo with the Introductory Message of the President, Special Reports made to the Commission/#...#. Ed. A. D. White and S. G. (Samuel Gridley) Howe. Washington, D.C.: Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1871.


US President Grant appointed:
a Commission of Inquiry to visit Santo Domingo early in 1871 ... composed of five men, among them Senator Benjamin F. Wade, Cornell University president Andrew D. White, and philanthropist minister Samuel G. Howe, together with former U.S. envoy to Colombia A. A. Burton and the renown abolitionist Frederick Douglass as secretaries. It arrived in Santo Domingo on January 16, 1871, along with a cadre of scientists led by geologist William M. Gabb. They were charged with ascertaining popular support for annexation and assessing the physical, moral and intellectual conditions of the people and the quality of the land and its resources. As with previous U.S. government agents, part of the commissions' task was to assess the racial composition of the country and the power of the white elite, both of which were central to any viable colonization or annexation scheme. After spending two months in the country, and several weeks in Haiti, the commissioners concluded that "the interests of our country and of San Domingo alike invite the annexation of that republic," as President Grant informed Congress.


For a background, see Efforts to Annex Santo Domingo to the United States, 1866-1871, by Harold T. Pinkett in The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 26, No. 1 (Jan., 1941), pp. 12-45; Published by: Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, Inc..

See also Frederick Douglass and the Annexation of Santo Domingo.

Instituciones

Ots y Capdequí, José María, Instituciones, Barcelona: Salvat Editores, 1959.

Volumen que integra la Historia de América y de los pueblos americanos, dirigida por Antonio Ballesteros y Beretta.


Extracto de MAESTROS DEL AMERICANISMO; ANTONIO BALLESTEROS BERETTA (1880-1949), por Manuel Ballesteros Gaibrois:
Poco antes de la guerra civil, don Santiago Salvat hace a don Antonio [Ballesteros y Beretta] una propuesta de gran alcance: ¿por qué no iniciar una gran Historia de América, de cuya dirección se encargada don Antonio? No sé contestar a la pregunta que hago a mis recuerdos (la misma que plantea qué fue antes, si el huevo o la gallina) de si la idea surgió de don Antonio y la propuesta editorial de don Santiago, o a la inversa, o si fue coincidencia. Lo cierto es que se acuerda una monumental historia americana —que se titularía Historia de América y de los Pueblos Americanos— en veinticinco volúmenes y que don Antonio se encarga de la «movilización », «enganche» y «recluta» de los colaboradores. Piensa, naturalmente, en los americanos, como Bravo Ugarte, Basadre, Pivel Devoto, Efraim Cardozo, Pedro Calmón, Sigfrido Radaelli, Barón Castro, Carlos Pereyra, etc., pero acude a su elenco de personas formadas por él, o de cuya valía tenía conocimiento por haber sido alumnos suyos del doctorado. Así se confecciona la lista de obras y de autores. Recuerdo que comentaba don Santiago Salvat> años después, refiriéndose a la impuntualidad de los autores en la entrega de sus obras: «Si todos hubieran de cumplir lo que entonces firmamos, la Editorial tendría apuros de tesoreria.»
Esta profecía, basada en la experiencia, resultó más dolorosa de lo que podía suponerse, ya que la obra ha quedado incompleta, precisamente porque los autores no sólo se retrasaban, sino que nunca entregaron los originales, mucho después de muerto don Antonio. Quedaron sin publicar los trabajos solicitados a Pérez
Bustamante, Jaime Delgado, Ezquerra Abadía, Barón Castro y los colombianos. Los originales de Radaelli y de Demetrio Ramos llegaron cuando ya la Editorial habia decidido suspender la publicación. La única Historia general de América, intentada con gran aliento por una editorial española, bajo la dirección de don Antonio, se frustró de esta manera. Repasemos el cuadro de colaboradores efectivos.
Entre ellos, como dije, aquellos primeros y más antiguos, que habían pasado por su cátedra del Doctorado. En primer lugar, Luis Pericot, al que convenció para que aplicara sus conocimientos etnológicos en un libro —siempre fundamental, con dos ediciones— que tituló América Indígena. Luego Amando Melón y Ruiz de Gordejuela sobre las primeras colonizaciones y navegaciones; Julián María Rubio sobre el Río de la Plata; Cayetano Alcázar, Antonio Ybot León. También los de últimas hornadas, como Francisco Esteve —Chile—, Manuel Ballesteros —Perú— y su último ayudante, Antonio Pardo Riquelme, que escribió sobre el Canadá.

Contemporary Cultures and Societies of Latin America

Heath, Dwight B., Ed. Contemporary Cultures and Societies of Latin America; a reader in the social anthropology of Middle and South America (2nd. Edition), New York: Random House, 1965. [Hard Cover]

Dwight B. Heath is Professor of Anthropology at Brown University. A graduate of Yale and Harvard, Professor Dwight Heath is recognised as the world's leading anthropological authority on alcohol issues, and has acted as consultant on alcohol, drugs and addiction issues to varied agencies such as the World Health Organisation, the National Academy of Sciences, the International Center for Alcohol Policies, the Peace Corps, etc.


Review by Rodolfo Stavenhagen, American Anthropologist.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

La Batalla de Guatemala

Toriello, Guillermo, La batalla de Guatemala, Guillermo Toriello: México, 1955.

El Dr. Guillermo Toriello Garrido (Guatemala, 1911- Cuba, 1997) fue Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores en los gobiernos de Juan José Arévalo y Jacobo Arbenz. Presidiendo la delegación de Guatemala a la ciudad norteamericana de San Francisco (1945), fue uno de los firmantes de la Carta de las Naciones Unidas. Como Canciller, presidió la Delegación de Guatemala a la X Conferencia Interamericana efectuada en Caracas, Venezuela (1954). Fue el único de los 20 cancilleres presentes que votó en contra de la Resolución 93 que puso fin al principio de No Intervención. Tras el golpe de estado de la CIA al gobierno de Arbenz (1954), el Dr. Toriello vivió años de exilio en México y Europa.


Fundación Guillermo Toriello

Beyond Dependency: The Developing World Speaks Out

Erb, Guy F. & Valeriana Kallab, Eds., Beyond Dependency: The Developing World Speaks Out, Overseas Development Council, Sept, 1975.

Technology and Culture book review

Integration of Science and Technology with Development

Thomas, D. Babatunde & Miguel S. Wionczek, Eds., Integration of Science and Technology with Development / Caribbean and Latin American Problems in the Context of the United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development, Pergamon Press: New York, 1979.

Proceedings of a symposium held in Miami, Apr. 6-8, 1978, sponsored by Florida International University, the Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies, and the Institute of Development Studies, University of Guyana.


The papers in this volume are organized under, and discuss the following areas:

1. The building of a minimum local capability to produce scientific knowledge and technological know-how is the preconditions for the successful application of science and technology to the solution of difficult intricate problems of underdevelopment;

2. the task of establishing a local science and technology capability in the development countries must start with strengthening S&T infrastructure, and improving or redesigning the mechanisms of technology transfer from the advanced countries;

3. there is a need to know more about concrete technological experiences and difficulties of individual LDC [Less Developed Countries] and, in particular of small LDCs, and

4. the time was ripe to take stock of the achievements and failures of numerous science and technology policy agencies established in Latin America and the Caribbean in the 1960s and the early 1970s.

Republican Hispanic America: A History

Chapman, Charles Edward, Republican Hispanic America: A History, New York: The Macmillan Company, 1949. [Hardcover, excellent condition]

Charles Edward Chapman obituary in the Hispanic American Historical Review

Guide to the Charles Edward Chapman Papers: Additions, 1910-1941

A History of Latin America

Pendle, George, A History of Latin America, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1963.

Cited by Robert N. Burr as one of two general histories of Latin America [Supplement to the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 388, Political Intelligence for America's Future, March, 1970, footnote # 13, pg. 137]

Latin America and the Enlightenment

Whitaker, Arthur P., ed., Latin America and the Enlightenment, Second Edition, Ithaca, NY.:Great Seal Books, 1961.

CONTAINS ESSAYS BY ARTHUR P. WHITAKER, ROLAND D. HUSSEY, HARRY BERNSTEIN, JOHN TATE LANNING, ALEXANDER MARCHANT, and CHARLES C. GRIFFIN; INTRODUCTION BY FEDERICO DE ONIS.


Hispanic American Historical Review

From the editor's PREFATORY NOTE:
Originally published in 1942, this little book has
long been out of print. Despite the fact that its
publication apparently stimulated, and in any case
was followed by, a great increase in the volume of
historical writing on various aspects of its central
theme, it still remains the only compact account
of the subject. Also, although the subsequent flood
of publication on the subject has added many new
details and brought about some change of inter-
pretation and emphasis, most of the main con-
clusions of the original essays are as valid today
as when they were first stated two decades ago.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Algo Asi Como Biografía [Poemas]

Mariona, Ernesto, Algo Así Como Biografía Lima, Perú, abril de 1971.

De la nota introductoria:
Una y otra generación latinoamericana, en sus ansias de vivir intensamente en el desvenir de un tiempo y espacio que parece no ser nuestro, alza su voz, protesta, gime, se angustia, arremete, crea... El subdesarrollo conlleva también el despojo de la palabra, de ahí nuestra lid para que ella fluya cual torrente libre, cargada de poder; y que pletórica de esperanza abra cauces en la búsqueda de nuevos tiempos y nuevos espacios - ahora muy nuestros.

Caribbean Generations

Gordon, Shirley C., Caribbean Generations: a CXC history source book, Trinidad, London, New York: Longman Caribbean, Longman Group, 1983.

This is a source book to help students and teachers to prepare for the history syllabus of the new Caribbean Examinations Council. The new history syllabus is not simply a list of topics to be studied. It provides objectives for the way history should be studied, as well as indicating the content of Caribbean history for the new 'O' level examination.

Socialism and Slavery

Millette, James, Socialism and Slavery, Trinidad and Tobago, WI: Moko Enterprises, 1978.

James Millette Emeritus Professor at Oberlin College

La Vorágine [Novel]

Eustasio Rivera, José, La vorágine, Cuba: Casa de las Américas, s.f.

"En noviembre de 1924, aparece en Bogotá La vorágine, novela colombiana que de inmediato ganó una remarcable reputación, por el contenido y creatividad con que el autor José Eustasio Rivera, hace llegar al lector los acontecimientos narrados en la obra. Esta, a la cual me referiré tomando algunos aspectos fundamentales a su estructura, unidad de tiempo, contenido, carácter social y rol histórico, es a mi juicio, una expresión vigente en la creatividad literaria de hoy y que puede ser resumida como el Macondo colombiano de 1924."
La vorágine: Valor histórico y estructura conceptual
Elías Letelier

Tobago [Journal article]

Edgar Anderson, Tobago, Baltische Hefte, Vol. 7, No. 4 and Vol. 8, Nos. 1, 3, and 4

Spanish Viceroys in America

Hanke, Lewis, Spanish Viceroys in America, Houston, Texas: University of St. Thomas, 1972.

Lewis Ulysses Hanke

The Discovery and Conquest of Peru

Cohen, J.M., (translator), The discovery and conquest of Peru: a translation of books I-IV of Agustin de Zarate's History of these events, supplemented by eye-witness accounts of certain incidents by Francisco de Jerez, Miguel Estete, Juan Ruiz de Arce, Hernando Pizarro, Diego de Trujillo, and Alonso de Guzman, who took part in the conquest, and by Pedro Cieza de Leon, Garcilaso de la Vega "the Inca," and Jose de Acesta, later historians who had first hand sources of information / translated with an introduction by J.M. Cohen ; illustrated by Edward Bawden, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1968. [Paperback]

Agustín de Zárate:
Durante quince años fue contador del Consejo de Castilla y en 1543 fue nombrado contador de mercedes para el Virreinato del Perú y Tierra Firme. Llegó a América, al Virreinato del Perú, en 1544 en la expedición del primer virrey, Blasco Núñez de Vela. Estando en este puesto la Audiencia de Lima le nombró como negociador entre los encomenderos, que estaban al mando de Gonzalo Pizarro y el virrey. En plenas negociaciones fue apresado por Gonzalo Pizarro.


In 1543 Charles V sent Agustín de Zárate (b. 1514) to Perú along with Blasco Nüñez Vela, the first viceroy, to oversee finances. In 1545 Zárate returned to Spain with a collection of personal notes and other documents about the civil war. His history, divided into seven chapters, begins with the Spanish discovery of Perú and ends with the death of Gonzalo Pizarro and the restoration of royal authority by Governor Pedro de la Gasca. Aware of the dangers involved in writing about such recent and controversial matters, Zárate expressed a reluctance to publish his history during his lifetime, but a manuscript copy of it was read by Prince Phillip, the future King Philip II of Spain, who liked it so much that he ordered its publication. Zárate’s Historia was well received, and in 1577 it was reprinted in Seville. An Italian translation published in 1563 and an English translation published in 1581 are proof of its quick popularity outside of Spain.

Wai-Wai: Through the Forests North of the Amazon

Guppy, Nicholas, Wai-Wai: Through the Forests North of the Amazon, Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1961. [Paperback]

Here, graphically written and illustrated , is the perfect travel book. Wai-Wai is the first account of genuine exploration in a region which is almost unknown. For centuries, strange stories have come to us from the basin of the Amazon - of White Indians, of human beings living like otters in underwater caves, of the lost city of Kashima, and of female warriors. Nicholas Guppy penetrated the upper waters of the Rio Alto Trombetas to bring back this report. The result is all at once scientific discovery and magnificent adventure. 'Gives a fascinating account both of this still unspoiled Indian tribe and of the unique untouched rain-forests of the Guiana-Brazil border....' Dr. Julian Huxley.


Wai Wais to set up conservation area