Grandin makes a persuasive case that las Casas’s humanistic vision became the basis of international law in the Americas and beyond, and eventually informed the governing principles of President Woodrow Wilson’s League of Nations and of the United Nations ... Since Trump’s first Presidential campaign, historians have reached for comparisons to the rise of European fascism in the nineteen-thirties. Grandin’s framing of history allows us to see Trump differently—as a successor to the conquistadors, who amassed wealth and glory through the subordination of racial others, and to a line of U.S. Presidents, who trampled the sovereignty of other peoples and nations whenever doing so benefitted perceived national interests.
If The End of the Myth helped make sense of the first Trump Administration, América, America sheds light on the expansionist ambitions Trump has voiced during his second term ... Changing the minds of Bukele’s supporters—and of the many Latinos in the U.S. who voted for Trump last year—might depend on convincing them of the better world that could be delivered by social democracy, as Grandin tries to do in America, América. But it might also require acknowledging the appeal that barbarism holds even to those who would seem to be its victims.
Grandin is such a terrific writer and perceptive historian that I was swept along by his enthralling narrative. Yet his insistence on the indomitable spirit of Latin American humanism is so broad that it sometimes verges on the sentimental ... In terms of domestic politics, though, it’s been an altogether different story. Grandin knows this, however reluctant he is to allow it to complicate his inspiring thesis. He contends that responsibility for the continent’s travails lies elsewhere ... But all of the 'to be sure' caveats can’t quite cover reality’s rough edges. Grandin has written so brilliantly about the perils of mythological thinking that it’s jarring to see him wrestle with his own.
Panoramic, gorgeously crafted ... Grandin lacquers his book with gritty detail—battles and beheadings, earthquakes and religious strife—yet beneath his textured narrative he metes out a compelling argument: America, in open conflict with América ... A vital reimagining of history and cultures, a vigorous study of the past and an uneasy glance toward a future in which no country emerges unscathed.
Incredibly timely ... Over 768 pages, Grandin gives us the sweep of history: the bloodshed of colonization, the movements for independence, manifest destiny in the U.S. and caudillo rule in Latin America, a pair of world wars, the Cold War, and the growing polarization of the 21st century ... This is a big and unwieldy book—and it could have made for arid reading. But Grandin has a knack for enlivening theory with anecdotes that are both enlightening and appalling ... what makes América, America instructive is Grandin’s focus on the way that Latin American thinkers have advocated for important social rights from the very foundation of their republics ... One particularly illuminating chapter traces the way that liberation theology, Marxist economic theory, and Latin American literature came together in the 1960s to articulate 'the intangible ways patriarchs, dictators, landlords, and foreign capital maintained their rule' ... For now, Grandin has no more answers than anyone else. America, América focuses more on big-picture ideology than on the nitty-gritty mechanics of resistance ... There is a lot of material left to explore when it comes to overcoming the latest setbacks in the American continents’ slow progress toward freedom.
Excellent ... Grandin...is one of the best historians today at writing for both scholars and the general public. This is an extraordinarily ambitious book.
An expansive continental history ... By the end of the book, Grandin has essentially identified the Latin American tradition with social-democratic reforms and Washington with efforts to smash them. That shoe fits often enough, and the book makes a convincing case to appreciate the Latin American intellectual and diplomatic traditions it highlights ... The book’s story is too tidy to make room for challenging questions ... Working in an oversimplified frame, Grandin comes to a conclusion plagued by exaggerations.
As America, América pursues its course across the centuries with verve, superb pacing, and impressive delicacy of touch, it sometimes pauses to consider varying notions of 'progress.' In the United States, progress came to be equated with 'territorial enlargement'—the constant, violent conquest of new lands and the inexorable outward movement of settlement upon them. Hegel, in far-off Germany, justified it as 'the march of God in the world.' Grandin has the endearing quirk of placing some of the most telling context for his narrative in footnotes. One such note gives a quick account of works by several historians that show how the US frontier served as inspiration for the Nazis in their quest for 'Lebensraum,' or 'living space' ... builds a strong case in support of Martí’s idea of Latin America as a potential counterbalance to unbridled US military and economic might ... Across Latin America today, Grandin tallies, more than 480 million people, out of a total population of 625 million, currently 'live under some kind of social-democratic government.' While our leaders decry the region, eye it for potential future conquest, eliminate the Spanish language from government websites, and ship whomever they like off to Salvadoran gulags without due process or hope of return, the rest of us can look at that clear majority and hope one day to be part of it.
