Cooperating with the Colossus: A Social and Political History of US Military Bases in World War II Latin America

During the Second World War, the United States built over two hundred defense installations on sovereign soil in Latin America in the name of cooperation in hemisphere defense. Predictably, it proved to be a fraught affair. Despite widespread acclaim for Pan-American unity with the Allied cause, defense construction incited local conflicts that belied the wartime rhetoric of fraternity and equality.\nCooperating with the Colossus reconstructs the history of US basing in World War II Latin America, from the elegant chambers of the American foreign ministries to the cantinas, courtrooms, plazas, and brothels surrounding US defense sites. Foregrounding the wartime experiences of Brazil, Cuba, and Panama, the book considers how Latin American leaders and diplomats used basing rights as bargaining chips to advance their nation-building agendas with US resources, while limiting overreach by the "Colossus of the North" as best they could. Yet conflicts on the ground over labor rights, discrimination, sex, and criminal jurisdiction routinely threatened the peace. Steeped in conflict, the story of wartime basing certainly departs from the celebratory triumphalism commonly associated with this period in US-Latin American relations, but this book does not wholly upend the conventional account of wartime cooperation. Rather, the history of basing distills a central tension that has infused 
regional affairs since a wave of independence movements first transformed the Americas into a society of nations: national sovereignty and international cooperation may seem like harmonious concepts in principle, but they are difficult to reconcile in practice.\nDrawing on archival research in five countries, Cooperating with the Colossus is a revealing history told at the local, national, and international levels of how World War II transformed power and politics in the Americas in enduring ways.

History

Herman, Rebecca

Americas

Oxford University Press

The Wallace Foundation’s University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) is a four-year effort to support the redesign of seven universities’ principal preparation programs—with engagement of state and district partners—according to evidence-based principles and practices. This report provides insight into the first year of UPPI implementation.

Launching a Redesign of University Principal Preparation Programs: Partners Collaborate for Change

Education & Teaching

Gates, Susan M.

Wang, Elaine Lin

Mean, Monica

Perera, Rachel

Tsai, Tiffany

Whipkey, Katie

Andrew, Megan

Schools & Teaching

RAND Corporation

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Herman, Rebecca. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Herman, Rebecca