Colonial Latin America: A Documentary History

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Summary: A short note supplementing the 2/19/99 review
Review: My earlier review stated that "Colonial Spanish America" needed an index. Now that I've seen a hardcover edition, it appears that it DOES have a pretty decent index, but the paperback I own does not--most likely an isolated defective copy.

Rating:
Summary: An innovative teaching tool with broader appeal as well.
Review: This book is a fine addition to the impressive Scholarly Resources series on Latin America. It is an unusually stimulating & effective collection of sources & readings on Spanish American history. A major innovation is that it acknowledges the value of non-literary sources, & includes a number of visual & artistic primary documents with full explication. The range & quality of documentary materials is quite good, though inclusion of (undeniably insightful) secondary sources may confuse some students. There are two flaws, one general & the other specific to this work. 1) It is poorly supplied with reference aids; index, good maps & unified bibliography are missed. 2) What about Portugese America, namely Brazil? Since its most appropriate use is in Latin American history courses, even a terrific book on SPANISH America reinforces U.S. neglect of the major country in LATIN America, & leaves professors scrambling to fill the gap. (Apart from this the book deserves a 5-star rating.) Since Bradford Burns's "Documentary History of Brazil" is not readily available, the best complement is Robert Conrad's "Children of God's Fire: A Documentary History of Slavery in Brazil," also a superb collection, but the lack of symmetry will be apparent. Nevertheless, I look forward to assigning Mills & Taylor when I teach on Colonial Latin America. It deserves wide exposure.

Rating:
Summary: excellent collection of documents
Review: This is an excellent collection of documents, but then I am biased since I've been a student of Ken Mills... The editorial introductions situate each document historically and culturally. Very useful for beginning students, undergraduate or graduate.