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Loading... The Independence of Spanish Americaby Jaime E. Rodríguez
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References to this work on external resources. Wikipedia in English (12)This book provides a new interpretation of the process of Spanish American independence (1808-26); one which emphasises political processes and cultural continuities, instead of the break with Spain. It is the first book to examine the representative government and popular elections introduced by the Spanish Constitution of 1812. Rodríguez argues that independence did not constitute an anti-colonial movement, as many scholars assert, but rather formed part of the broader Spanish political revolution. In America, a struggle over who would govern accompanied this revolution. Despite significant participation by the masses, the struggle for independence resulted in the triumph of the criollos, the New World bourgeoisie. The liberal tradition of constitutional, representative government that emerged during this period, together with the achievement of nationhood, constitutes the most significant heritage of Spanish American independence. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)980.02History and Geography South America History of South America History of South America Period of struggles for independence, 1806-1830LC ClassificationRatingAverage: No ratings.Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
Unfortunately, the author has a tendency to dive a bit too deep into details without backing it up with general explanation. He narrates the political events that occurred between 1808 and 1820 country by country. In most of them, these events included civil war. This makes the story quite complex, and it becomes hard to keep track of the quarreling parties and what exactly their quarrels were in each case. I skipped some parts of the book just because I couldn't keep track of all the persons that the author introduced into the narrative.
It would have been good if the author had first presented some kind of a general framework for the various political positions that existed in America at this time and then referred back to that framework when discussing the events that occurred in various countries. The last chapter does provide a nice general summary of the events leading to independence and their historical significance, but it's far too short. It's too bad that the author did not switch to this gear of explanation earlier.