Latin American Musings

Latin American Musings moved to To The Roots in early 2009, as an attempt to expand content before I graduated and moved on. The blog came to an end in the summer of 2009 and has only now been resurrected (which may be why you’re here!).

Below is a list of my most popular/iconic/earth-shattering posts from that time. Included, in order, are: my “Today in the Americas” posts, which centered around teaching ya history; long features on history; book and music reviews. I’m leaving a lot of posts out so the only way to get them will by stumbling upon them somehow or asking me.

This page won’t be updated again. This is the end of this era. I’ve grown up. While these posts still resonate, and I haven’t changed a single sentence, it’s time to write new things and not feel chained to the past. See To the Roots now for my newest content.

This was my bread-and-butter. I collected about a year’s worth of historical happenings and just queued them up by dates. It’s surprising how much was lost as I only posted from January to July of 2009. Regardless, it’s thousands of words that awaken moments most people don’t know about and continue to be read to this day.

7.26.09: Today in the Americas, Castillo Armas Assassinated

7.25.09: Today in the Americas, Enrique Amorim

7.25.09: Today in the Americas, the murder of Pancho Villa

7.20.09: Today in the Americas, Sandinista!

7.15.09: Today in the Americas, the US Importation of Steel

7.15.09: Today in the Americas, the death of Roberto Bolaño

6.27.09: Today in the Americas, the Suspension of Uruguayan Democracy

6.27.09: Today in the Americas, the Wobblies

6.26.09: Today in the Americas, the Assassination of Francisco Pizarro

6.26.09: Today in the Americas, the Pine Ridge Standoff

6.24.09: Today in the Americas, John Cabot Claims Canada for England

6.24.09: Today in the Americas, Rufino Tamayo

6.19.09: Today in the Americas, the Execution of Maximilian I

6.14.09: Today in the Americas, the US Withdraw from the ABMT

6.13.09: Today in the Americas, the Tangled Webs of Leopoldo Lugones

6.11.09: Today in the Americas, Harper’s Apology

6.10.09: Today in the Americas, the First Barbary War

6.02.09: Today in the Americas, the Snyder Act

5.25.09: Today in the Americas, Peru’s Labor Struggles

5.20.09: Today in the Americas, Radio Marti

5.15.09: Today in the Americas, Brazil Abolishes Slavery

4.21.09: Today in the Americas, Tiradentes and the Inconfidência Mineira

4.20.09: Today in the Americas, Saint Rose of Lima

4.20.09: Today in the Americas, Régis Debray

4.10.09: Today in the Americas, the death of Emiliano Zapata

4.04.09: Today in the Americas, The Communist Party of Panama

3.27.09: Today in the Americas, Stanley Rother

3.26.09: Today in the Americas, Tirofijo and the Perils of the Past

3.25.09: Today in the Americas, Andes Pact

3.11.09: Today in the Americas, El Salvador’s Election Past

3.10.09: Today in the Americas, Oswaldo Guayasamin

3.08.09: Today in the Americas, Cortés and Tenochtitlan

3.07.09: Today in the Americas, Veracruz and San Juan del Sur

3.01.09: Today in the Americas, Uruguayan Democracy

2.28.09: Today in the Americas, the US invasion of Honduras

2.25.09: Today in the Americas, Jose Francisco de San Martin

2.24.09: Today in the Americas, Antonio Prohías

2.23.09: Today in the Americas, The Battles of Buena Vista

2.22.09: Today in the Americas, Darwin in Chile

2.15.09: Today in the Americas, María Elena Moyano

2.09.09: Today in the Americas, Haiti’s invasion of the Dominican Republic

2.08.09: Today in the Americas, Sebastião Salgado

2.07.09: Today in the Americas, the death of Dom Hélder Câmara

2.07.09: Today in the Americas, Ricardo Palma

2.06.09: Today in the Americas, Camilo Cienfuegos

2.04.09: Today in the Americas, Jewish Repression in Coro, Venezuela

2.03.09: Today in the Americas, New York City Student Boycott

1.28.09: Today in the Americas, A Vignette for Jose Marti

1.27.09: Today in the Americas, the death of Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán

Features were like my long reads, which were fairly common throughout the first iteration of To The Roots. These are mainly riffs off of current events, with some history poured on for context. While dated, some of these discussions are still ongoing and may involve areas that you haven’t considered before.

8.17.09: ‘Socialist Education? Venezuela’s Education Reform in Context

7.12.09: Bad Things Come in Three’s (or Four’s)

7.05.09: A ‘Moment’

7.04.09: The Coup That Keeps On Giving

7.03.09: How Important is Good Governance (2009) in Latin America

6.30.09: “Upholding the Constitution”

6.29.09: No Twitter Revolution in Honduras

6.24.09: Obama need not apologize, he need not do it again

6.14.09: Central American remittances in the new economy

6.12.09: The Storms of Impunity in Brazil

6.09.09: The Storms of Impunity in Guatemala

4.29.09: Swine Flu: It’s Not Race, It’s Capital

4.19.09: Obama’s Open Veins…

4.19.09: The Dirty Side of Ecotourism

3.16.09: ‘For good or for bad, the country needs a change’

3.16.09: ‘Indignation leads a journalist to take sides; to side with reality, and with changing that reality’

2.26.09: ‘Not Just Some Fractured Fairytale’

2.16.09: A Different Approach to the Referendum in Venezuela

2.14.09: A Conversation Over Dinner

2.03.09: Bolivia – the Next Fordlandia?

2.01.09: A Two-Way Street with Cars Going in Both Directions: Thoughts on the Bolivian Constitution

History is an odd term because this blog was built around history. This more has to do with my longer writings, listed below. You’ll find a long review of the recent histories of Paraguay, Nicaragua, and Haiti. I also had ambitions for a review of Latin America and the Soviet Union that didn’t survive beyond an overview.

4.24.09: Latin America-Soviet Relations (I): General Overview
(Part 1: Series examining the relationship between Latin America and the Soviet Union)

4.05.09: Haiti’s Long Decade

2.21.09: A Review of Nicaragua’s Twentieth Century

2.17.09: A Review of Stroessner

 

Book Reviews

8.14.09: The Real Bolaño: “The Skating Rink”

6.09.09: ‘The carrion birds of repression are still not satisfied:’ The Rise and Response to Guatemalan ‘Counterinsurgency State’: 1960-1996
(Examination of the historiography surrounding of Guatemala during its 36 year civil war, mainly looking at the machinations of the government and the rise of what Suzanne Jonas termed “the counterinsurgency state.”)

7.01.09: Marc Bloch’s “The Historian’s Craft” (V)
6.25.09: Marc Bloch’s “The Historian’s Craft” (IV)
6.08.09: Marc Bloch’s “The Historian’s Craft” (III)
6.04.09: Marc Bloch’s “The Historian’s Craft” (II)
6.02.09: Marc Bloch’s “The Historian’s Craft” (I)
(Seven part series examining Marc Bloch’s classic historiography)

5.23.09: ‘This Community Has Suffered Right?:’ The Origins of La Mantanza and Historical Memory in El Salvador
(Examination of the historiography surrounding the origins and aftermath of the 1932 massacre of indigenous peasants in 1932 El Salvador)

5.15.09: “Bananas” by Peter Chapman

11.12.08: “2666” by Roberto Bolaño

11.12.08: My Children! My Africa! by Athol Fugard

5.28.08: A People’s History of the World by Chris Harmon

5.07.08: “Nazi Literature in the Americas” by Roberto Bolaño

12.13.07: Is America’s Empire “Imperialistic” or “Hegemonic?”
(Review of Charles Maier’s “Among Empires” and Victoria de Grazia’s “Irresistible Empire.”)

Film Reviews

5.15.09: Sin Nombre

Music Reviews

6.28.09: Island Hopper, Joe Strummer’s “Earthquake Weather”

6.22.09: New Wolves, Rancid’s “Let the Dominoes Fall”

3.05.09: To Subjugate or Serve?: Propagandhi’s ‘Supporting Caste’