Recent Books
180 «¬® ̄°±² ³««³°® ́
The Second American Revolution: The
Civil War–Era Struggle Over Cuba and
the Rebirth of the American Republic
BY GREGORY P. DOWNS. University
o¤ North Carolina Press, 2019, 232 pp.Drawing on existing scholarship, Downs
argues that the era o¤ Reconstruction that
followed the U.S. Civil War amounted to
a second foundational moment in the
history o the United States, when the
government in Washington employed
military force and other measures to
radically transform labor and property
relations in the American South and
fundamentally revise the U.S. Constitu-
tion. With graceful and forceful prose,
Downs links the mid-nineteenth-century
history o the United States to that o the
broader Atlantic world—in particular, to
Cuba and Mexico in their struggles
against European powers to end slavery
and establish anti-imperialist democra-
cies. The U.S. example was powerful,
spreading revolutionary impulses and
promising, however briey, to produce a
network o “free-trading antislavery
republics” on either side o the Atlantic.
Extending his historical interpretations
to today’s politics, Downs suggests that
Americans could bene¥t from reexamin-
ing the bold measures o nineteenth-
century Republicans: the carving out o
new states, the passing o constitutional
amendments, and the introduction o
federal oversight o elections.Del centenario a los chilennials: 100 años
de transformaciones y 25 tendencias que
cambiaron Chile (From 1910 to the
Chilennials: 100 Years o
Transformations and 25 Trends That
Changed Chile)
BY PEDRO DOSQUE AND JOSÉ
TOMÁS VALENTE. Ediciones UC,
2019, 274 pp.
A recent wave o antigovernment
protests in Chile that called for more
aordable public education and health
care, greater economic mobility, and a
more inclusive democracy was spear-
headed by high school and university
students—the chilennials (millennial
Chileans) o this book’s title. But older
generations reminded these young
people that their current living standards
are far superior to those o their grand-
parents. This timely, readable study
documents Chile’s sweeping transforma-
tion over the last 100 years from a dirt
poor, semifeudal agricultural society into
a modern, educated, and urbanized
nation. These days, Chileans compare
themselves not to their Latin American
neighbors but rather to the developed
nations o the Organization for Eco-
nomic Cooperation and Development,
o which Chile is a proud member.
Dosque and Valente beseech their fellow
Chileans to “feel very proud and thank-
ful” for these achievements and for the
century o social struggles that made
them possible, even as they warn against
complacency. The authors fear that a
lack o appreciation for the nation’s
history might lead to a misdiagnosis o
its current troubles that could jeopardize
hard-won progress. This valuable, persua-
sive text should be required reading in all
Chilean high schools.