| Review | Journal of Social History, 40.1

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| Review | Journal of Social History, 40.1 | The History Cooperative

REVIEWS

Democracy in Latin America, 1760–1900: Volume I, Civic Selfhood and Public Life in Mexico and Peru. By Carlos A. Forment (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2003. xxix plus 454 pp.).

This impressive work of both research and theory deserves to be read widely by scholars of political culture in various disciplines. Like the best historical sociology, Forment's book combines a synthesis of historiography on nineteenth-century Latin America with a provocative interpretation. But Forment does not rely solely on the existing secondary literature; his compilation of a database of voluntary associations and analysis of the discourse of their members are significant original contributions. Strikingly, while most social historians of the period (including this reviewer) have focused on political society through the use of documents generated and archived by nation-states (even when reading these against the grain for glimpses into popular actions and mentalities), Forment has uncovered a rich associational life in civil society. Based on this evidence, he argues that scholars have overlooked how Latin Americans constructed and nurtured democracy outside of and often in opposition to political institutions.

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