New Countries: Capitalism, Revolutions, and Nations in the Americas, 1750–1870 – John Tutino
The essays in Tutino’s collection often stray from the “capitalism” of the title to explore pure political motives behind the revolutionary change that occurred in the Americas from 1750 to 1870, though trade and economics never lag that far behind. Most interesting is how dynamic the authors in this collection portray the revolutions of the Americas to be, with shifting alliances and motivations as different groups of people fought either for hegemony or individual roles in the emerging nations. While the authors of this volume do a good job including peoples of all races and classes in their analyses, they do not pay adequate attention to the definition of the “nations” called out in the title. A more explicit exploration of nationhood and nationalism would round out this otherwise fulfilling collection.
