When the Spaniards first reached Mexico, one of the things which most impressed them was the existence of cities as large and as architecturally magnificent as any they had known in Europe. The growth and development of urban life has been examined in detail elsewhere, and for present purposes it is sufficient to note that, in areas where the techniques of intensive agriculture encouraged large nucleated settlements, the basic pattern of town life was established during the first millennium B.C.

Essays in comparative history are risky ventures. Nowhere has this become more evident than in the literature on slavery. Yet comparisons continue to be made, implicitly if not explicitly. Post-abolition race relations is an area in which comparisons are equally tempting—indeed, virtually unavoidable— and equally difficult to handle. Perhaps by more careful attention to the framework of comparison we can begin to arrive at more testable hypotheses. In this paper an attempt is made to compare certain features of race relations since abolition in the United States and Brazil. The emphasis will be on differences.

Since 1964 Brazil has been governed by successive regimes dominated by the armed forces and presided over by army generals. The men in charge of Brazil's destiny are professional officers, and like their counterparts in the neighboring Spanish American states they conceive of their governance as an obligation as much as a privilege, if not more. The professional officer in Latin America today is as far removed from his nineteenth century counterpart as ballistic missile systems are from the ballista.

Soon after Philip V assumed the Spanish throne in 1700, he began selling appointments of oidor, alcalde del crimen, and fiscal for the American audiencias. By 1750 he and his successor Ferdinand VI had sold about one-fourth of all appointments; the Crown added over 1,000, 000 pesos to the treasury by resorting to this expedient. Primarily through purchasing judicial appointments, numerous creoles (Spaniards born in America) entered these prestigious tribunals.

The role of Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson in the overthrow of President Francisco I. Madero of Mexico in February 1913 is one of the best-known and classic cases of interference in the affairs of a smaller nation by the envoy of a Great Power. Many readers may wonder why another treatment of this dramatic subject is necessary after nearly sixty years.

During the last fifty years a considerable amount of material relating to the institutional structure of the Spanish colonial city in America has appeared. In most instances, however, this material directed itself to a consideration of colonial city governments shortly after the Conquest or during the zenith of the empire. Of equal interest should be a consideration of these institutions at the moment of their disintegration, that is, during the Spanish American Wars of Independence.

In late November of 1807 the Portuguese government was loaded on to a fleet of naval and merchant vessels, transported across the South Atlantic and deposited in Rio de Janeiro. On board were fourteen members of the Royal Family; the Counsellors of State; ministers; Justices of the Court of Appeals and the High Court; the upper echelons of the army and navy; the hierarchy of the church; a full quota of high society; a respectable contingent of the professional, scientific, literary, artistic and business elements; a horde of bureaucrats; and as many rank and file citizens as could secure passage. Also on board were the contents of the royal treasury; the store of diamonds derived from the crown monopoly; silver plate, jewels, books, cash and other portable assets; furnishings for a royal chapel; the royal library; a printing press; and a mass of government records.

From the introduction of the Sáenz Pena Law in 1912 until the September Revolution of 1930, Argentina had its first experience of liberal representative government under an electoral system which accorded compulsory voting rights to the country's native-born male population. In this paper it is proposed to explore certain characteristics of urban politics and patterns of mass political participation during this period, employing as an example the city of Buenos Aires. An attempt is made to describe and define the ‘machine’ character which urban politics acquired during this period at the same time as making some assessment of the relative importance of machine characteristics against those of other kinds. What is meant by the ‘machine character’ of politics are the specific techniques for the political support which is based upon the distribution to individuals of concrete rewards, such as bureaucratic offices, charity donations and petty personal privileges.

While the seventies will see a continuing debate over the merits of alternative development strategies, histories of Latin America's industrial progress over the past two or three decades can now be filed under ‘import substitution’. Bruton explains, ‘In the narrowest terms, import substitution refers simply to the take-over of an existing domestic market from the foreign producer by prohibiting his imports in one way or another’.

From the 1890s until the Second World War the armed forces of Argentina underwent an extensive modernizing and professionalizing process, as did those of other major states of South America. During this period, foreign influence was exerted on the Argentine military establishment, which actively sought assistance from Europe and the United States. Germany was the dominant external actor and the strongest foreign military influence in Argentina.

During its brief tenure of office, the Kennedy Administration introduced several changes in United States policy toward Latin America. One change had to do with recognition of governments (practically speaking, military regimes) that seized power by ousting constitutionally selected governments. The stance taken by the Kennedy Administration was that the United States would not recognize such regimes or extend assistance to them. The intent or objective of the policy was to encourage and protect democratic institutions and processes. President Kennedy regarded a democratic environment as essential for the attainment of the kind of change sought through the Alliance for Progress.

During the three years since its publication, The Mexican Revolution Federal Expenditure and Social Change Since 1910 has gained an important place on the bookshelves not only of Mexicanists but also of students of social change in general. The appearance of a revised edition in paperback which proudly announces that it won the Bolton Prize as the best book in the field of Latin American history in 1967 is further testimony to the esteem in which this work is held by James Wilkie's colleagues. It seems appropriate at this juncture to re-examine the analysis to determine whether the test of time confirms the eulogies of a few years ago.