Booknotes: Civil Wars and Reconstructions in the Americas

New Arrival:
• Civil Wars and Reconstructions in the Americas: The United States, Mexico, and Argentina, 1860–1880 by Evan C. Rothera (LSU Press, 2022).

From the description: "In the latter half of the nineteenth century, three violent national conflicts rocked the Americas: the Wars of Unification in Argentina, the War of the Reform and French Intervention in Mexico, and the Civil War in the United States. The recovery efforts that followed reshaped the Western Hemisphere."

In his new book Civil Wars and Reconstructions in the Americas, historian Evan Rothera "uses both transnational and comparative methodologies to highlight similarities and differences among the wars and reconstructions in the US, Mexico, and Argentina." Rothera argues that significant groups of informed citizens within each of these countries were well aware of the contemporary struggles within the other two, and, along with their existing or emerging national governments, possessed a shared vision of republican governance for the Americas. The author's research thus "uncovers a new history that stresses the degree to which cooperation and collaboration, rather than antagonism and discord, characterized the relationships among the three countries."

Most readers will already be familiar with the U.S. and Mexican histories of this period, making Argentina more of a 'wild card,' so to speak. Rothera deems Argentina an appropriate South American representative for his three-way analysis due to what he sees as its part in a shared hemispheric course toward republican government, order, and stability. In particular, Argentine president Domingo Sarmiento cited the reunified United States in 1865 as a Pan-American model for the modern liberal state.

In the introduction, Rothera argues that current Reconstruction Era studies lag behind the more narrowly focused Civil War historiography when it comes to exploring events of the second half of the nineteenth century in their global context. He hopes that his own work presented here will support "the fact that the Americas were the true locus of debates about modernity and republicanism and the critical arena in which these battles occurred" (pg. 13).

Civil Wars and Reconstructions in the Americas "serves as a unique assessment of a crucial period in the history of the Americas and speaks to the perpetual battle between visions of international partnership and isolation."