The ReVista book review section features reviews of recent books about Latin America, the Caribbean and the Latinx community in all disciplines.
Recent Reviews
Savoring the Maya Past
A Review of Her Cup for Sweet Cacao: Food in Ancient Maya Society Savoring the Maya PastEvery now and then, a book review request lands at just the right time to contemplate, even savor the work. I read and mused over Her Cup for Sweet Cacao as part of my journey from...
Review of Sonorous Worlds: Musical Enchantment in Venezuela
A Review of Sonorous Worlds: Musical Enchantment in Venezuela Sonorous Worlds is anthropologist Yana Stainova’s memoir (not her term) of her experiences while researching music among marginalized communities in Venezuela. To be clear, by “music” she means European,...
Modernity in Black and White
A Review of Modernity in Black and WhiteFor years, one of my favorite pieces in the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) was the iconic Abaporu (1928), by Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral: a canvas saturated with the colors of Brazil’s flag (green,...
La Güera Rodríguez
A Review of La Güera Rodríguez By now, history has added a layer to the many ironies that Brandeis historian Silvia Arrom highlights in her spirited book about a controversial historical figure. The recent irony is in the protagonist’s nickname. La Güera Rodríguez:...
Authoritarian Police in Democracy
A Review of Authoritarian Police in Democracy This deeply researched book suggests to its reader a truly tragic paradox: the possibility that under certain conditions, democratic institutions and processes may undermine rather than strengthen the rule of law. Building...
The Brazilian Military’s Role in Public Security
A Review of Dano Colateral The Brazilian Military’s Role in Public Security On Sunday April 7, 2019, a 46-year-old private security guard and musician by the name of Evaldo Rosa dos Santos was driving his wife Luciana, seven-year-old son Davi Bruno, his wife’s...
Surviving Mexico
A Review of Surviving Mexico: Resistance and Resilience among Journalists in the Twenty-First Century Mexico is by far the most dangerous country for journalists to work in the Americas, and routinely hovers near the top of the world’s most dangerous, competing with...
Becoming Free, Becoming Black
A Review of Becoming Free, Becoming Black: Race, Freedom, and Law in Cuba, Virginia, and LouisianaThe year was 1690. In the city of Havana, Cuba, a 20-year old enslaved woman named Juana asked the man who held her in slavery, one Juan Junco González, to grant her...
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