Latin American History Through Its Art and Literature

Latin American History through its Art and Literature uses 2,000 years of Latin American history as the organizing theme, and then explores that history through the words of the writer, the brush of the painter, the pen of the cartoonist, and the lens of the photographer. Child includes the Latin (Spanish/Portuguese), the African, and the indigenous cultural heritages, and shows how these strands have combined to produce a unique Latin American culture with numerous national and regional variants. The book stresses an interdisciplinary approach to Latin America and also focuses on the way the region has related to the United States. Numerous visuals are included to illustrate these concepts.

Jack Child is professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies at American University. He was born of American parents in Argentina and lived in South America for eighteen years, coming to the United States to attend Yale University. After graduation from Yale, he served twenty years in the U.S. Army as a Latin American Specialist, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. His courses at American University include a general education offering, "Latin America: History, Art, Literature," and this book was originally written as a text for that course.