This edited volume emerged out of a series of international seminars that brought together an eclectic group of scholars writing on the transnational dimensions of Latin American militancy in the 1960s through the 1980s. Each of the seven essays seeks to unravel the complexities of ideological factionalism and the role of socialist diplomacy in the context of the rise and collapse of Latin America's revolutionary Left.
Its organizing rationale, as the editors note in their Introduction, is on the “specificities of the Revolutionary Left,” rather than the “broader, heterogeneous New Left” (8). Hence, there is little by way of cultural or social history per se. The strength of the collection is that it introduces original research on relatively unexplored topics such as the intermediary role of Czechoslovakia and the relevance of European solidarity networks.
Other essays include a richly detailed exploration of the 1966 Tricontinental Conference of African, Asian, And Latin American Peoples that draws on Cuban archives, and a narrative analysis of Guatemala's Ejército Guerrillero de los Pobres (EGP), written by a former militant. The collection's weaknesses lie in the fact that the chapters, on the whole, are densely written and will appeal mostly to specialized readers. Furthermore, outside of a solid historiographical Introduction by editors Tanya Harmer and Alberto Martín Álvarez, there is little engagement by individual contributors with recent literature. A stimulating afterword by US historian Van Gosse, rounds out the volume.
