Latin Americas Struggle for Independence by Chasteen - Essay Example

? 25 January, Chasteen’s Americanos: Latin America’s Struggle for Independence Introduction: In Americanos: Latin America’s Struggle for Independence, (Chasteen) has offered a comprehensive and condensed history that covers the various wars of independence of Latin America. In his book, Chasteen has moved quite cinematically, through the chapters. Scene by scene, the reader is introduced to the key players, events, trends, beliefs and their underlying concepts that are all knit together into a single rigid narrative. Events and key players in the events of the turbulent years of wars of independence have been depicted by Chasteen in a vivid manner. The forces that inculcated a desire in the Americans to gain independence, the causes of conflicts among troops, and the consent of leaders have all been well captured in the book. “Chasteen's book joins a long list of highly regarded and influential English-language surveys of the independence period” (Blanchard). Summary: The book explains how the Portugese and Spanish colonies struggled to gain independence in America. In the start of 19th century, Napoleon conquered Portugal and Spain. This event in Europe brought about many consequences throughout the world. The event sparked a whole range of revolutions everywhere in the Portugese and Spanish empires in the New World. The world history underwent an altogether turn. The independence wars ultimately led to the development of 19 independent republics in America. Some of the most well known leaders of the times like Father Hidalgo, Father Morelos, and Bernardo O'Higgins have been identified along with some not so well known women like Manuela Saenz, Juana Azurduy, and Leona Vicario that had played important roles in the overall independence movement. It has been discussed in the book that by the time the wars neared end, the Latin American independence leaders acknowledged the classical liberal principles. In particular, the popular principles of self-determination and sovereignty were embraced. The global reach of values of the Western politics expanded permanently as a result of it. In the years that preceded the independence, the whole colonial society was categorized on the basis of caste. There were europeos, mestizos, americanos, pardos, Indians and blacks. Among them, the europeos were considered as the “most pure” group. The term, “Americano” got redefined after huge struggle so as to include non-europeo people. To define America's rainbow of castes as the Americano people recognized the truth on the ground, but it also created a new truth, an airy but potent abstraction. That abstraction was the Sovereign People, who deserved nothing less than a government of, by, and for the people. (Chasteen 2). The redefinition of americanos went against Spansih colonialists. Many new nations also got influenced in Latin America because of that, and adopted a republican form that was equipped with all trappings of the liberal rule. That is why today, a vast majority of the oldest functioning republics of the world are from Latin America, and are still caught in disturbed political legacy since their birth. Critical analysis: Chasteen has adequately synthesized all major events and identified all key individuals that had played an important role in the wars of independence between 1805-1830. The chief battles and events have been described quite straightforwardly. Figures have been accompanied with biographical information that make it a colorful and balanced portrayal of history. Chasteen has fundamentally made use of secondary sources. Therefore, the book basically offers a makeup of existing scholarship and can not be regarded as an “addition” to the existing body of literature. However, Americanos is undoubtedly, a valuable addition to the existing scholarship of the history of Latin America. The book mostly presents the state of the art awareness in a clear manner. There are no groundbreaking advances or realization of new theories. The biographical essays mentioned in the end speak of the depth of Chasteen’s analysis of literature. Because of his complete reliance on the secondary sources of information, his assertions apropos the self-identification of the Latin America as well as the role of liberal institutions in the formulation of a distinct Latin American society are considerably weakened. Accordingly, their persuasiveness slightly fades away. However, concerns about the validity of those assertions are considerably obviated by the depth of study done by Chasteen and his apparent expertise in the subject of history, yet these factors do not completely justify his arguments. Americanos is well structured, though the order in which the events have been put forth in the book is a bit controversial because the topic is extended broadly across centuries. The subjectivity arising from his apparent sympathy with the revolutionary protagonists is nullified by the objectivity of the way he analyzes the events. The overall use of language is simple and concepts are easily understandable as compared to many books on History, that are conventionally written in an excessively complicated manner. That is why, it is also quite suitable for inclusion in the curriculum in schools for the subject of History. Conclusion: In Americanos: Latin America’s Struggle for Independence, John Chasteen has made an in-depth analysis of the movement of independence that happened all across the Latin America and has also identified all trends which had emerged from the movement. The book has secured its place among some of the extremely knowledgeable kick off volumes to the Pivotal Moments in the series of World History. It fundamentally aims at describing the chief paradigm shifts which significantly influenced the history of the world. There were numerous causes of the growth and spread of the independence movements in Latin America ranging from Napoleon’s rise and the modifying result of European focus to populations which had started to turn into middle class. Some like Mexico took decades to come about while others like Brazil got independence in a very short duration. A concise sketch of Latin America can be drawn from the Bolivar’s rise and his Andean Federation’s collapse as well as the great effort in Mexico. Overall, the knowledge is very well complied up in the form of a book, so it is worth reading. It is, obviously, a very suitable choice for those who want to gain a deep understanding of the independence wars in Latin America. Works cited: Blanchard, Peter. “Introducing the "Dramatis Personae" of Latin America's Independence”. Jan. 2009. Web. 25 Jan. 2011. . Chasteen, John, C. Americanos: Latin America’s Struggle for Independence. Oxford University Press, 2008. Print. Read More