Review by Choice Review
This fine book straddles two prominent currents in contemporary Latin American historiography. Its focus on crime and punishment in Guatemala during the first half of the 20th century draws upon a rich body of similar work on colonial Latin America in which scholars explore the gender, class, and ethnic dimensions of social deviance. Its analysis of the contribution of the justice system to the construction of the modern Guatemalan state draws on a similarly vibrant body of scholarship concerning the laborious building of the structure and idea of nation in former Spanish colonies. Two especially harsh dictatorships, those of Estrada Cabrera and Jorge Ubico, bracket the period covered in this book. Carey (Univ. of Southern Maine) deftly explores a seeming paradox: in the midst of such tyranny, how could ordinary people, Indians and non-Indians alike, repeatedly seek and sometimes receive justice in the courts of an undemocratic state? The author argues that in dispensing judgments, and sometimes justice, the state propagated an idea of itself as a ubiquitous and legitimate arbiter of daily conflict. The justice system was not simply a tool of oppression, but a vital part of the process of creating a nation of self-conscious citizens. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. P. R. Sullivan independent scholar
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
