{"product_id":"the-poverty-of-progress-latin-america-in-the-nineteenth-century","title":"The poverty of progress: Latin America in the nineteenth century","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the Preface by Bradford Burns:If this essay succeeds  it will open an interpretive window providing a different perspective of Latin Americas recent past. At first glance  the view might seem to be of the conventional landscape of modernization  but I hope a steady gaze will reveal it to be far vaster and more complex. For one thing  rather than enumerating the benefits accruing to Latin America as modernization became a dominant feature of the social  economic  and political life of the region  this essay regards the imposition of modernization as the catalyst of a devastating cultural struggle and as a barrier to Latin Americas development. Clearly if a window to the past is opened by this essay  then so too is a new door to controversy. After most of the nations of Latin America gained political independence  their leaders rapidly accelerated trends more leisurely under way since the closing decades of the eighteenth century: the importation of technology and ideas with their accompanying values from Western Europe north of the Pyrenees and the full entrance into the worlds capitalistic marketplace. Such trends shaped those new nations more profoundly than their advocates probably had realized possible. Their promoters moved forward steadfastly within the legacy of some basic institutions bequeathed by centuries of Iberian rule. That combination of hoary institutions with newer  non-Iberian technology  values  and ideas forged contemporary Latin America with its enigma of overwhelming poverty amid potential plenty. This essay emphasizes that the victory of the European oriented ruling elites over the Latin American folk with their community values resulted only after a long and violent struggle  which characterized most of the nineteenth century. Whatever advantages might have resulted from the success of the elites  the victory also fastened two dominant and interrelated characteristics on contemporary Latin America: a deepening dependency and the declining quality of life for the majority.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44964516593717,"sku":"ByrdShop_0520041607","price":94.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780520041608.jpg?v=1770464253","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-poverty-of-progress-latin-america-in-the-nineteenth-century","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}