37 - Peru, 1930–c. 1960

Summary

The best general political history of Peru, with an extensive bibliography, is D. P. Werlich, Peru: A Short History (Carbondale, Ill., 1978). The period from 1930 to 1960 is accorded chapters in other general histories: F. B. Pike, The Modern History of Peru (London, 1967); R. B. Marette, Peru (London, 1969); H. Dobyns and P. C. Doughty, Peru: A Cultural History (New York, 1976); and J. Cotler, Clases, estado y nación en el Perú (Lima, 1978). Jorge Basadre’s massive Historia de la República del Perú, 10 vols., 5 th ed. (Lima, 1961–4) peters out in 1933, and much Peruvian historical writing on the subsequent three decades is either polemical or takes the form of personal reminiscences by political figures. The 1970s and 1980s spawned a new generation of work by both foreign and Peruvian scholars; for an introductory survey see R. Miller, ‘Introduction: Some reflections on foreign research and Peruvian history’, in R. Miller (ed.), Region and Class in Modern Peruvian History (Liverpool, 1987), 7–20.

D. M. Masterson, ‘The Peruvian armed forces in transition, 1939–1963: The impact of national politics and changing professional perspectives’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1976) and ‘Soldiers, sailors and Apristas: Conspiracy and power politics in Peru, 1932–1948’, in J. F. Bratzel and D. M. Masterson (eds.), The Underside of Latin American History (East Lansing, Mich., 1977), provide an excellent detailed analysis of political events, focussing on the role of the military. Foreign policy issues, particularly the Leticia case and the war with Ecuador, are covered in Ronald Bruce St. John, ‘The end of innocence: Peruvian foreign policy and the U.S., 1919–1942’, JLAS, 8/2 (1976), 325–44.