Latin America's Democratic Crusade

“Wells tells an important story well. His narrative is rich in historical detail and anecdote, drawing on a lifetime of research and reading. . . . An important and scholarly addition to the literature on twentieth-century Latin American politics.”—Times Literary Supplement

“A major contribution to the existing literature. Wells reveals the true extent of the transnational nature of Latin American politics during these crucial decades.”—International Affairs

“One of the most ambitious and important books on Latin American international history to come out in years . . . transnational history at its best. Allen Wells . . . recovers the gripping history of how dictators and democrats across the Americas influenced each other and learned from each other, worked with and against each other, to shape Latin America’s political fortunes. . . . A magnum opus.”—Diplomatic History

“A masterpiece of historical description and analysis, filled with vivid characters and contextualized in transnational ways that invite American foreign policymakers to re-examine and practice the democratic principles we preach in Latin America.”—William B. Taylor, author of Fugitive Freedom: The Improbable Lives of Two Impostors in Late Colonial Mexico

“Meticulously researched, Latin America’s Democratic Crusade provides a comprehensive reinterpretation of twentieth-century Latin American politics. It is a must read for anyone interested in understanding the complex processes of political and social change in contemporary Latin America.”—Miguel Tinker Salas, author of The Enduring Legacy: Oil, Culture, and Society in Venezuela

“With engaging prose and fine-grained archival research, Wells compels us to rethink how Latin Americans—from poets and booksellers to revolutionaries and reformers—experienced and understood the Cold War. By framing the era as one marked by struggles between democracy and dictators rather than between capitalism and communism, Wells analyzes the Cold War in Latin America in new and original ways.”—David Carey Jr., author of I Ask for Justice: Maya Women, Dictators, and Crime in Guatemala, 1898–1944