National Identity
One of the themes Chasteen explores is what it means to be, say, Chilean or Venezuelan. Unlike many previous authors who wrote about Latin America, Chasteen and some of his contemporaries explore the notion that Latin American national identities are not imposed upon them by outsiders but conceived and embraced by the people who live there.
The "Nativist" movement, which was an essential cultural and political trend that allowed several former colonies of Spain and Portugal to break away from the European colonial powers, relied on the notion that there was a distinction between people born in a particular country (such as, for example, Argentina or Venezuela) and people born in Europe. By creating a distinction between "Americans" and "Europeans", it was possible for early Latin American leaders to split their new nations away from European rule without significantly changing the fundamental structure or order of their society.
Chasteen emphasizes the development of unique Latin American artistic and literary voices, as well as various kinds of dance, music, and art that are uniquely Latin American as opposed to imitations of what is considered "good" in Europe. The examples he uses range from folk singers to novelists to television personalities such as Carmen Miranda. He draws heavily from popular culture to create a convincing argument that popular culture can and does shape national cultural identity.
Liberalism
Liberalism, in this book, means the body of knowledge and political theory that is based on the Humanist notion of the rights of man. It is an egalitarian notion best suited to nations that already possess significant economic and industrial infrastructure, and it works best in populations that are highly educated with significant population concentrated in urban centers.
Through repeated examples and frequent references to primary sources, Chasteen shows that building a nation from scratch according to liberal principles did not work well anywhere in Latin America, which unlike the early United States was characterized by an extremely hierarchical society. The liberal ideals of universal political participation (such as through voting), abolition of slavery, and civil rights and legal equality threatened the fundamental economic structure of plantation farming and also required a population that is predominately literate and capable of large-scale participation.
Diversity
Chasteen repeatedly compares and contrasts different regions of Latin America by comparing nations in terms of population, economic influence, demographics, and other trends that affected their development. The economics of a major industrial power such as Brazil are radically different from that of the smaller, less wealthy Uruguay. Even the dominant language (Portuguese in Brazil, Spanish in Argentina, and occasionally Náhuatl in rural parts of Mexico) varies from one region to the next.
Chasteen pays attention to how the geography of some of the key nations affects their economic and political development. He touches upon the nation of Panama, which came into existence partially due to extensive lobbying and manipulation by both European and US commercial and political interests. Major industrial developments, such as the Panama canal, had a permanent impact on the regional economy.
Independence
There is more than one kind of independence discussed in this book. Although independence is primarily a political and ideological concept during the initial days of post-colonial independence, Chasteen gradually builds a case in which he invites the reader to consider independence in an economic context as well. Global conflicts and trade disruptions such as World War I and II had an effect on Latin American industrial development, and so did the Great Depression. In general, anything that damaged European or North American industrial capacity stimulated the development of similar industries in Latin America. It was the Great Depression that helped the economies of Brazil and Argentina shift away from a very neo-colonial emphasis on raw materials production toward large scale production of automobiles and other sophisticated consumer goods.
The degree to which Latin American nations were able to build independent economies affected whether they were later in a position to resist economic pressure and interference from wealthier countries. Nations such as Brazil and Argentina, which developed industrial economies that were diverse and more economically independent from the larger and more established economies of the United States and Europe were less tied to the economic destinies of the larger and more powerful nations. At the other extreme, countries derogatorily known as "banana republics" that did not advance industrially or develop an economic base that was independent from investment by foreign fruit or guano importers ended up being dominated economically and politically by foreign business interests and investors. This made those nations very vulnerable to the whims of international trade, reduced the economic security of workers, and guaranteed ongoing socioeconomic class stratification to the long-term detriment of the citizens producing and harvesting the crops.
