In Review

Cafe Con Leche: Race, Class, and National Image in Venezuela by Winthrop R. Wright, University of Texas Press, 1990, 167 pp., $25 (cloth). Venezuelan society is popularly called cafe con leche, a nod to the mixed-race origin of most of its people. Embedded in this expression is the as- sumption that miscegenation has led to racial democracy. In his immensely readable book, Wright argues that al- though Venezuelans do not suffer overt discrimination, social and political mobility depends on “whitening” and the denial of black heritage. Dangerous Memories: Invasion and Resistance Since 1492 by Chicago Religious Task Force on Central Ame- rica, 1991, 272 pp., $19.50 (paper). This resource guide for teaching the quincentenary gives prominence to the perspective of the disenfranchised. In their review of history, the authors di- vide each page into three parts-a his- torical summary in the inner column, a smorgasbord of excerpts from such authors as Eduardo Galeano, C.L.R. James and OmarCabezas in the middle, and short poems and quotations along the outer edge. While meant to debunk the notion of linear history, this layout becomes occasionally cumbersome. The guide concludes with a number of interactive activities and discussion topics. The African Exchange: Toward a Biological History of Black People by Kenneth F. Kipple (ed.), Duke Univer- sity Press, 1988,280 pp., $37.50 (cloth). Just as the arrival of Columbus to the New World wrought epidemiologi- cal peril and ecological change, Afri- can slaves sent to toil on the plantations of the Americas brought with them Africa’s disease and nutritional envi- ronments. In this collection of essays, the African exchange is mapped out. Authors tackle topics as various as the lead poisoning of Caribbean slaves, the spread of smallpox via the slave trade to Brazil, and the high infant and child mortality rates of U.S. slaves. Faces of Latin America by Duncan Green, Latin America Bureau, 1991, 212 pp., $16 (cloth). Rejecting the notion of history as a survey of significant events and people, this excellent primer on Latin America examines the region from the perspec- tive of common people. Among the areas Green examines are land distribu- tion, the environment, women, and ur- banization. Photographs and informa- tive charts complement the text. America Negra biannual journal ed- ited by Nina S. de Friedemann, Jaime Arocha Rodrfguez and Jaime Bernal Villegas, Pontificia Universidad Jave- riana, Bogoti, Colombia, $25/year. Under the motto “A la Zaga de la Amirica Oculta,” this new anthropo- logical journal is the first to take seri- ously the study of the African peoples of Latin America. Volume 1, Number 1 contains eight articles on such coun- tries as Cuba, Guadeloupe and Colom- bia, plus chronicles, documents, pho- tos and a calendar of events. Blacks and Whites in Sho Paulo, Bra- zil, 1888-1988 by George Reid Andrews, University of Wisconsin Press, 1991, 369 pp., $17 (paper). Starting with the premise that racial inequality is endemic in Brazil, Andrews examines shifting patterns of race relations since emancipation. Us- ing the case study of Sdo Paulo, he finds that the state-driven racial hierar- chy of the early twentieth century gave way to silent, less tangible barriers formed by racial solidarity among the white elite that endure today. Curi- ously, Andrews does not address the knotty issue of racial identity in Brazil, where many mulattos shirk at identifi- cation with dark blacks. As a result, complex social relations are reduced to a conflict between blacks and whites.