States and Social Evolution

Coffee and the Rise of National Governments in Central America

By: Robert G. Williams

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Paperback | 14 October 1994

At a Glance

Paperback
397 Pages

Edition Type
New edition

Dimensions(cm)
24.13 x 15.88 x 3.18

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The national governments of Central America were constructed between 1840 and 1900, a time when coffee was transformed from a botanical curiosity to the region's most important export. In spite of their geographic proximity, the national governments that emerged were strikingly different, from Costa Rica's participatory democracy to Guatemala's military despotism. Robert Williams explores Central America's political diversity by following the story of coffee through the nation-building period. With a sensitivity to cultures and institutions before the advent of widespread coffee cultivation, he reveals the various ways that land, labor, and capital were harnessed as coffee advanced from one locale to the next, provoking cultural clashes and sometimes violent reactions as it altered landscapes, people's lives, and even governments. Through careful scrutiny of a tiny region and a single crop in a restless age, States and Social Evolution develops a theory of state formation relevant to other places and times as well.

Industry Reviews

A highly effective presentation of what we currently know about coffee, society, and politics in Central America.Lowell Gudmundson, Mount Holyoke College A work of exceptional quality.Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr., Tulane University "A highly effective presentation of what we currently know about coffee, society, and politics in Central America.Lowell Gudmundson, Mount Holyoke College" A major contribution to the historiography of modern Central America."International Labor and Working Class History" "A work of exceptional quality.Ralph Lee Woodward, Jr., Tulane University" Williams has written an ambitious comparative history."Choice"

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Preface
Acknowledgments
Note on the Illustrations
Introduction	p. 1
The Coffee Boom and the World Capitalist System	p. 15
Land and the Coffee Boom	p. 41
Labor and the Coffee Boom	p. 105
Capital, Commerce, and the Coffee Elite	p. 147
Coffee, Class, and the Creation of National States	p. 197
States and Social Evolution: Lessons from the Nineteenth Century	p. 235
Reflections on the Twentieth Century in the Light of the Nineteenth	p. 251
Statistical Appendix	p. 263
Notes	p. 295
Bibliography	p. 329
Index	p. 349
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

States and Social Evolution

Coffee and the Rise of National Governments in Central America

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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