Reference Reviews

Doug’s Student Reference Room

Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, 2nd edition, edited by Jay Kinsbruner and Erick Langer. 6 vols. Detroit: Gale CENGAGE Learning, 2008. ISBN 13: 978-0-6843-1270-5; ISBN 10: 0-6843-1270-0. $695.

The first edition of this award-winning set, published more than ten years ago, sees steady use at the high school library where this reviewer works. Spanish teachers consult the work for cultural and social content to infuse into their language classes; history teachers refer to the rich historical content to extend their lessons on Latin American countries; the Chicano Studies teacher borrows the entire set for weeks at a time to use as a resource for units in his course. Students researching topics of their choice related to famous people, music, art, religion and politics regularly find and use this set. As fine as the first edition was, the second edition is even better. More than 5,800 articles—an addition of nearly 600-- were produced for this edition by scores of scholars and other experts in Latin American history and culture. These include 366 new biographies out of a total of more than 3300—the most prominent type of entry in the set. Besides critical updates of political, business, social and cultural developments, several new features stand out. Eight new “mega essays,” all produced by noted authors in their field, provide in-depth examinations of topics such as democracy, economic development, migration, globalization, race and ethnicity, hemispheric affairs, nationhood and imagination and Hispanics in the United States. Six stunning color photo essays—one in each volume—explore environment and development; art and architecture; tradition and modernity; daily life, class, race and society; and colonialism, nationhood and ethnicity. A 21 page chronology begins with the first evidence of man in the region and ends with activities by Hugo Chavez in this calendar year. An extensive outline of topics by theme and a new table of biographical subjects by profession offer additional ways to access content. In-depth profiles of each Latin American country include historical, political, social and cultural perspectives, in addition to a map and a table of key national statistics. This set, also available as an eBook, is recommended as a priority purchase for high school, public and academic libraries.
—Doug Achterman