The United States in Latin America: A Historical Dictionary

(Hardback)

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Covering the period from the 17th century, when trade between the United States and Latin America began, to the present, this historical dictionary provides information on the people, organizations, institutions, and events associated with the United States presence in Latin America, including sea captains and merchants, explorers, filibusters and adventures, military officers, missionaries, government officials, businessmen, anthropologists and scientists, diplomats, and writers. Entries on organizations include business firms, missions, colleges, and naval and military bases. The volume includes some 1200 entries, arranged alphabetically. Additional features include a short chronology and an appendix listing chiefs of United States diplomatic missions. Access to the material is provided by an appendix listing of subjects by occupation and a full subject index. Sources of additional information are given both at the end of entries and in a bibliographical essay.

Reviews

The book is an easy-to-use, authoritative work.-ARBA
This is the fourth in a series of reference works on the role of the U.S. and its citizens in various parts of the world. Earlier volumes have described The United States in the Middle East (1986), The United States in Africa (1988), and The United States in Asia (1990). Shavit has marshalled a vast amount of material to describe people, organizations, institutions, and key events associated with the U.S. presence in Latin America. Arranged alphabetically, entries range from a few sentences to more than half a page. Many include a reference to entries in the Dictionary of American Biography, the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, or other major reference works, and all include lists of additional readings. The primary emphasis is on the biographical, with more than 1,000 entries describing the Latin American connections of 217 U.S. diplomats, 73 missionaries, 55 lawyers, 43 naval officers, and smaller numbers of a variety of occupations and professions from actors to zoologists. In addition to biographical coverage, American companies with interests in Latin America are profiled. All of the major players are here, from W. R. Grace and Company to United Fruit Company. While there are sketches for 47 archaeologists, 40 anthropologists, and 13 geographers, only one historian of Latin America is listed. There is a wealth of information for the curious. We learn that John Mein, U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala in 1968, was the first American ambassador to be assassinated at his post, and that Richard P. Momsen was the only American admitted to the Brazilian bar. Among the more colorful characters portrayed is "Alfalfa" Bill Murray, who was variously a newspaper reporter in Texas, amember of the U.S. Congress, a colonizer of Bolivia, and governor of Oklahoma. . . . Among the most valuable features of the book is a detailed list of American diplomatic missions in Latin America from 1823 to 1990. The bibliography is extensive and current, and there is a list of all the individuals covered arranged by occupation. . . . It provides biographical coverage for virtually every American who ever trod the soil of Latin America and lived to tell about it.-Reference Books Bulletin
The book is an easy-to-use, authoritative work.ARBA
"The book is an easy-to-use, authoritative work."-ARBA
"This is the fourth in a series of reference works on the role of the U.S. and its citizens in various parts of the world. Earlier volumes have described The United States in the Middle East (1986), The United States in Africa (1988), and The United States in Asia (1990). Shavit has marshalled a vast amount of material to describe people, organizations, institutions, and key events associated with the U.S. presence in Latin America. Arranged alphabetically, entries range from a few sentences to more than half a page. Many include a reference to entries in the Dictionary of American Biography, the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, or other major reference works, and all include lists of additional readings. The primary emphasis is on the biographical, with more than 1,000 entries describing the Latin American connections of 217 U.S. diplomats, 73 missionaries, 55 lawyers, 43 naval officers, and smaller numbers of a variety of occupations and professions from actors to zoologists. In addition to biographical coverage, American companies with interests in Latin America are profiled. All of the major players are here, from W. R. Grace and Company to United Fruit Company. While there are sketches for 47 archaeologists, 40 anthropologists, and 13 geographers, only one historian of Latin America is listed. There is a wealth of information for the curious. We learn that John Mein, U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala in 1968, was the first American ambassador to be assassinated at his post, and that Richard P. Momsen was the only American admitted to the Brazilian bar. Among the more colorful characters portrayed is "Alfalfa" Bill Murray, who was variously a newspaper reporter in Texas, amember of the U.S. Congress, a colonizer of Bolivia, and governor of Oklahoma. . . . Among the most valuable features of the book is a detailed list of American diplomatic missions in Latin America from 1823 to 1990. The bibliography is extensive and current, and there is a list of all the individuals covered arranged by occupation. . . . It provides biographical coverage for virtually every American who ever trod the soil of Latin America and lived to tell about it."-Reference Books Bulletin

Author Bio

DAVID SHAVIT is Associate Professor in the Department of Library and Information Studies at Northern Illinois University. He is the author of The United States in the Middle East: A Historical Dictionary (Greenwood Press, 1988), The United States in Africa: A Historical Dictionary (Greenwood, 1989), and The United States in Asia: A Historical Dictionary (Greenwood, 1990).