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Article: Brilliance and bulk in Latin American studies. (books on Latin American studies)
- Article from:
- Current
- Article date:
- March 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Heldref Publications. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The most telling statement ever made about Latin American studies is often attributed to the late McGeorge Bundy: "Second-rate subjects attract second-rate minds." For all its unkindness, the assertion remains as true today as it was more than thirty years ago, when President John F. Kennedy's Washington was scrambling to meet the challenge of Fidel Castro's Cuba. Even in those relatively exciting times, when Latin America was on the front page of every newspaper, there was little serious literature on the subject. Almost all the books published on Latin America during the 1950s were travelogues; if Kennedy had wished to inform himself on the real state of affairs in Cuba ...