In Review

El desafio neoliberal: el fin del tercer- mundismo en Amirica Latina edited by Barry B. Levine, Grupo Editorial Norma (Distributed by Carvajal Inter- national, Coral Gables, FL), 1992, 518 pp., $19.95 (paper). As its title suggests, this is a collec- tion of essays promoting free-market neoliberal economic policies for Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite the smugness and tendentious posturing of some of the essays, it is a useful source of neoliberal ideas and assumptions. It contains some good country studies, and is especially worth reading for a marvelous introductory essay by Mario Vargas Llosa which reflects upon the multiple-andrevealing-Latin Ameri- can usage of the words pendejo, cojonudo and liberal. Reflections On Economic Develop- ment: Toward a New Latin Ameri- can Consensus by Enrique V. Iglesias, Inter-American Development Bank (Distributed by Johns Hopkins Univer- sity Press), 1992, 158pp. $15.95 (pa- per). This is a thoughtful and extremely useful review of the thinking behind the programs and policies of the Inter- American Development Bank. Written by the Bank’s current president, it con- tains an interesting discussion of the historical evolution of Latin American theories of development, with aparticu- lar focus on the early work of Radil Prebisch at the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA). While it comes to market-oriented conclusions many NACLA readers may find objectionable, it is closely argued, and free of the economic jargon and utilitarian assumptions so often found in similar books. Latin America in the Time of Chol- era: Electoral Politics, Market Eco- nomics, and Permanent Crisis by James Petras and Morris Morley, Routledge,1992, 208 pp., $14.95 (pa- per). With rousing polemical flair, Petras and Morley refute the claim that Latin America has undergone a “redemocrati- zation.” On the contrary, they argue, many of the same basic authoritarian institutions dominate. Petras, professor of sociology at the State University of New York at Bing- hamton, and Morley, senior lecturer in politics at Macquarie University in Australia, suggest that while the United States has strengthened its ideological and military grip on the region, the weak U.S. domestic economy has pre- vented the United States from dominat- ing economically and providing aid to its client regimes. Instead, the authors claim, the United States is economi- cally pillaging Latin America through devastating free-market policies in or- der to finance its own recovery. The authors may be overly sanguine about the prospects of socialism and revolutionary change in the region, and their argument’s compelling force and linearity is sometimes gained at the expense of presenting information and perspectives which don’t fit their neat theories. Nonetheless, this book makes a decisive case for the relevance of Marxist analysis to contemporary Latin America. Venezuela: Tarnished Democracy by Daniel C. Hellinger, Westview Press, 1991, 236 pp., $34 (cloth). Hellinger gives us an extremely read- able account of the origins of Venezuela’s current political crisis. He is particularly lucid in his discussion of Venezuela’spartidocracia-the perva- sive influence of the major political parties on virtually all aspects of public, and sometimes private, life. One cannot understand the history of modem Venezuela without a clear grasp of the importance of oil, and Hellinger keeps petroleum-and its booms and busts-pretty much center stage throughout. While the historical account ends with the widespread riot- ing of February, 1989, the reader-now with a firm grasp of the oil-based con- tradictions of Venezuelan political economy-is well-positioned to under- stand last year’s two coup attempts, and to anticipate the results of this year’s national elections. Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in Nicara- gua by Roger Lancaster, University of California Press, 1993, 340 pp., $25 (cloth). This brilliant ethnography is an im- portant contribution to the study of the Nicaraguan revolution, and may be- come the definitive analysis of the country’s complex extra-economic so- cial relations. Lancaster maps out the distinct yet overlapping terrains of class, gender, sexual orientation and race in a Managua working-class bar- rio. He subtly analyses the complex interplay among machismo, the dy- namics of skin color, and the nature of homosexuality. With striking empathy and sensitiv- ity, Lancaster allows his informants to speak in their own voices while also conveying his own part in the dialogue. In doing so, he scrutinizes his own role and persona in the same incisive way he investigates the “subjects” of his re- search. This approach, together with the poetic quality of his writing, creates the experience of”being there” as the reader comes to better understand a complex social reality. No reader will be left without a deeper understanding of the Sandinista’ s electoral defeat or remain untouched by the generous spirit and simple humanity of protagonists in a difficult struggle where life continues to be hard. Magic Eyes: Scenes from an Andean Girlhood by Wendy Ewald, Bay Press, 1992, 180 pp., $18.95 (paper). The reader of Magic Eyes visits the story-filled, magic-suffused world which inspires such writers as Gabriel Garcia Mdrquez. Magic Eyes is the story of Alicia Visquez and her family, as transcribed and edited by Wendy Ewald. Ewald wisely stands back and lets the cadences and rhythms of Vasquez’ voice set the tone. Thus we listen to Visquez as she tells about the people, folk beliefs and events that shaped her life as she grew from child to woman: the evil eye that has been passed down to her through her family; the sagacity of Don Juan, the village healer, who resolves conflict and promotes tolerance; the abuse that she and the other women in her family suffer at the hands of the men in their lives; and the thrill and danger of stak- ing out land in the new squatter settle- ments. The text is broken up by interludes of black-and-white photographs, taken by Ewald and schoolchildren she taught in a Colombian village. These images quietly reflect the themes of Vdsquez’ tale.