HISTORY · DESCRIPTION AND TRAVEL
Harold Blakemore
Also known as: H. Blakemore
Harold Blakemore (1930-1991) Harold Blackmore was born in South Yorkshire in 1930 and educated at Mexborough Grammar School. At University College London he specialised in Latin American history. After teaching History and International Relations at the University of Sheffield, he returned to the University of London to the School of Oriental and African Studies. In 1965, the University established the Institute of Latin American Studies. Professor Blakemore became its Secretary, a post he retained until his retirement in 1987. A prolific author and regular editor, speaker and reviewer, Professor Blakemore was editor of "The Journal of Latin American studies" from 1969 to 1987, joint editor of "The Cambridge encyclopaedia of Latin America and the Caribbean" (1985), and contributed to "The Cambridge history of Latin America" (1986). Beyond the academic world, he was also consulted on commercial matters and was for many years a member of the Latin American Trade Advisory Group. In 1990 Professor Blakemore was invested by the Chilean government with the Bernardo O'Higgins Order of Merit for his "magnificent contribution to Anglo-Chilean understanding". After his death in 1991 his widow, donated his books and papers to the Bradford University Library in 1993. The book collection alone includes over 2000 volumes of published books and journals on the history, economics and politics of Chile and Argentina.
Most acclaimed
Latin America
Latin America: An Introduction offers a contemporary, thematic analysis of the region that is grounded in Latin America's social, political, economic, and cultural past. Based on chapters from Harry Vanden and Gary Prevost's popular text, Politics of Latin America, this book provides an accessible and interesting discussion of a broad range of topics, including democracy, revolution, indigenous populations, culture, gender, religion, politics, economy, and relations with the United States. Offering balanced regional coverage, the book discusses such recent political, social, and economic developments as the failure of the neoliberal economic policies of the 1980s and 1990s to deliver promised prosperity; the related resurgence of progressive politics in the region, as manifested in the election of numerous left and center-left governments; and the strong role of numerous social movements in setting the region's political agenda in the new century. The authors analyze the continuing power of the United States in the region, as seen in the implementation of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), bilateral trade agreements with Chile and Peru, and the continued funding of Plan Colombia. They also discuss the role of various Latin American-based initiatives, including the expansion of MERCOSUR, the Bolivarian Alternative, and The Bank of the South. Providing a historical perspective for the challenges and problems facing the region today, Latin America: An Introduction's regionally balanced, multidisciplinary approach makes it an ideal text for introduction to Latin American studies courses.
Chile
Chile enjoyed unique prestige among the Spanish American republics of the nineteenth century for its stable and increasingly liberal political tradition. How did this unusual story unfold? The tradition was forged in serious and occasionally violent conflicts between the dominant Conservative Party, which governed in an often authoritarian manner from 1830 to 1858, and the growing forces of political Liberalism. A major political realignment in 1857-8 paved the way for comprehensive liberalization. This book examines the formative period of the republic's history, and combines an analysis of the ideas and assumptions of the Chilean political class with a narrative of the political process from the consolidation of the Conservative regime in the 1830s, to the beginnings of liberalization in the early 1860s. The book is based on a comprehensive survey of the writings and speeches of politicians and the often rumbustious Chilean press of the period.