Beyond the Eagle's Shadow: New Histories of Latin America's Cold War

by Virginia Garrard-Burnett (Editor), Mark Atwood Lawrence (Editor), Julio E. Moreno (Editor)

Overview

The dominant tradition in writing about U.S.–Latin American relations during the Cold War views the United States as all-powerful. That perspective, represented in the metaphor “talons of the eagle,” continues to influence much scholarly work down to the present day. The goal of this collection of essays is not to write the United States out of the picture but to explore the ways Latin American governments, groups, companies, organizations, and individuals promoted their own interests and perspectives.

The book also challenges the tendency among scholars to see the Cold War as a simple clash of “left” and “right.” In various ways, several essays disassemble those categories and explore the complexities of the Cold War as it was experienced beneath the level of great-power relations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826353696
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	12/15/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	962,166
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Virginia Garrard-Burnett is professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin. Her most recent book is Terror in the Land of the Holy Spirit: Guatemala under General Efraín Ríos Montt, 1982–1983.

Mark Atwood Lawrence is associate professor of history and distinguished scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin. His most recent book is The Vietnam War: A Concise International History.

Julio Moreno, associate professor of history at the University of San Francisco, is the author of Yankee Don’t Go Home!: Mexican Nationalism, American Business Culture, and the Shaping of Modern Mexico, 1920–1950.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Introduction Virginia Garrard-Burnett Mark Atwood Lawrence Julio E. Moreno 1

Chapter 1 Coca-Cola, U.S. Diplomacy, and the Cold War in America's Backyard Julio E. Moreno 21

Chapter 2 Military Factionalism and the Consolidation of Power in 1960s Guatemala Giovanni Batz 51

Chapter 3 Season of Storms: The United States and the Caribbean Contest for a New Political Order, 1958-1961 Aragorn Storm Miller 76

Chapter 4 Counterrevolution in the Caribbean: The CIA and Cuban Commandos in the 1960s Jonathan C. Brown 103

Chapter 5 Don Lázaro Rises Again: Heated Rhetoric, Cold Warfare, and the 1961 Latin American Peace Conference Renata Keller 129

Chapter 6 From Ploughshares to Politics: Transformations in Rural Brazil during the Cold War and Its Aftermath Seth Garfield 150

Chapter 7 The Indian Wing: Nicaraguan Indians, Native American Activists, and U.S. Foreign Policy, 1979-1990 James Jenkins 175

Chapter 8 Doctors Within Borders: Cuban Medical Diplomacy to Sandinista Nicaragua, 1979-1990 K. Cheasty Anderson 200

Chapter 9 The Other Dirty War: Cleaning Up Buenos Aires during the Last Dictatorship, 1976-1983 Jennifer T. Hoyt 226

Chapter 10 "Restoring All Things in Christ": Social Catholicism, Urban Workers, and the Cold War in Guatemala Bonar L. Hernández 251

Chapter 11 The Evolution of "Narcoterrorism": From the Cold War to the War on Drugs Michelle Denise Reeves 281

Afterword The Paradox of Latin American Cold War Studies Alan McPherson 307

Contributors 321

Index 325

Editorial Reviews

"Together the case studies paint a portrait of complexity that defies easy summary, though a thoughtful introduction and provocative afterword by Alan McPherson help to orient the reader."—Dexter Boniface, Latin American Research Review

From the Publisher