Description
Book SynopsisRobert Niebuhr explores the importance of the turbulent populist politics of the period after 1899 and the significance of the Chaco War as the most influential revolution in modern Bolivian history.
Trade Review“The Chaco War deserves more attention than it has received. Robert Niebuhr ties in the conflict not just to international relations but to the internal political evolution of the participants, an aspect that has been even more ignored, if that is possible. The lessons he brings out have a bearing on the political development of Bolivia and Paraguay as well as on all the heirs of the Spanish Empire in the Western Hemisphere.”—Bruce Farcau, author of
The Chaco War: Bolivia and Paraguay, 1932–1935“Undergraduate and graduate students alike will employ this accessible study to discover how Chaco War veterans, Indigenous peasants, students, miners, and perhaps most notably Bolivian women— the ‘Generation of the Chaco’—pushed for greater political influence and a better life. To understand how collective activism undermined elite control, extended state hegemony, and transformed Bolivia in the revolution of 1952, read this impressive book.”—René Harder Horst, author of
A History of Indigenous Latin America, Aymara to ZapatistasTable of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Note on Translations and Sources
Introduction: Bolivia’s Path to Modernity
1. The 1920s and the Road to the Chaco
2. The Chaco War and the Building of a Stronger State
3. The Transformation of the Home Front
4. From Peasant to Patriot
5. The Internationalization of a Nationalist Revolution
Conclusion: 1952 as the Triumph of 1899
Notes
Bibliography
Index
