Caribbean and Latin American
1845
conflicts over access to land divided a relatively
wealthy and nominally white Unitarian elite from a
largely indigenous and impoverished Federalist majority. There, both parties were constructed horizontally.
In the Llanos, the absence of conflict over land and
ethnicity allowed the construction of durable patronclient relations between Federalist leaders and their
followers. In these chapters, de la Fuente uses quantitative methods to tease out the connections between
social origin and political behavior, but he also uses
judicial records to flesh out the intersection of patronclient relations, class, and political conflicts.
In his most innovative chapter, de la Fuente uses a
massive folklore collection compiled in 1921 to probe
the cultural dimensions of political conflict and loyalty.
The song lyrics and stores allow the author to discuss
how the actions of leaders and the tales told about
them met the cultural expectations of their followers.
In another chapter, de la Fuente analyzes how UnitarPontifical Catholic University of Chile
ian anticlericalism provided the Federalists with reliARIEL DE LA FUENTE. Children of Facundo: Caudillo gious motivations for political action and how ethnicity
also shaped party conflict in the region.
and Gaucho Insurgency during the Argentine StateThe book moves on to discuss the final death throes
Formation Process (La Rioja, 1853-1870). Durham,
N.C.: Duke University Press. 2000. Pp. xiii, 249. Cloth of Federalism in La Rioja as leaders and followers
reacted to the growing power of the national state.
$54.95, paper $18.95.
State impositions sparked successive Federalist rebelAriel de la Fuente provides a multifaceted account of lions, each of which failed and left the rural inhabitants
the relationship between provincial leaders, their fol- worse off. During this process, Federalism acquired
lowers, and political identity in the Argentine province new meanings even as it was essentially on its deathof La Rioja during the often violent process of nine- bed. In the end, political violence decimated both the
teenth-century state formation. His book follows a Federalist leadership and its social base. Old allewell-established trend in which scholars of various giances became politically untenable even as they
Latin American societies have turned to regional remained a vibrant part of the region's culture.
This book is a very interesting account of the
studies to probe the most important questions about
the period. The author argues that the rural poor relationship between Argentina's rural poor and the
became involved in polities and rebellions for varied political struggles of the nineteenth century. The aureasons. Some motivations were frankly material. thor uses a variety of techniques and approaches to
Leaders provided their followers with protection, pay probe a very small region in a limited period. The
during rebellions, economie aid in times of need, and result is often rich and thought provoking, and the
protection from enemies. Yet these material incentives book's sometimes unusual methodologies and sources
were embedded in a wider set of cultural expectations will no doubt generate both discussion and imitation.
that gave them meaning. Racial and religious conflicts However, some aspects of the book are less than
also shaped rural inhabitants' political actions. More- totally satisfying. The author, for instance, might have
over, in part of the province significant class differ- profitably expanded the temporal scope of the book. If
Quiroga was so important to shaping the political
ences separated Federalists and Unitarians.
In Argentina's half-century struggle between Feder- experiences of the region, why not include the crucial
alists and centralizing Unitarians, La Rioja was solidly period during which he dominated the province and
Federalist. The province produced two of the most Federalism took shape as political movement? Morefamous Federalist leaders, Juan Facundo Quiroga and over, the analysis of the folklore sources compiled in
Angel Vicente "El Chacho" Pefialoza. Quiroga was the 1920s seems incomplete. De la Fuente argues that
killed before the period the book concentrates on, but, they might well have reflected attitudes from the
as the title suggests, many aspects of later polities 1860s, but even if this was true, we need to account for
originally developed during Quiroga's career. Quiroga the ways in which these memories and living ballads
was the first leader to mobilize the impoverished were refracted through the experiences of the interinhabitants of the province against the Unitarians, and vening decades. Despite these criticisms, this is a fine
Pefialoza was one of his former lieutenants who led work of historical scholarship that should spark further
some of the last great Federalist rebellions against the research on the themes it explores.
PETER F. GUARDINO
emerging national state.
Indiana University,
The book presents detailed analyses of two districts
Bloomington
in the province using a variety of sources. In Famatina,
not only speaks to the ability of their agents, since all
of them were maneuvering for the same contracts.
Besides, not all the testimony cited seems to be valid.
Some was provided by people who resented their
failure to secure military contracts, or Chilean officers
who were not satisfied with the deals made. Soldiers
are well known for assessing the materiel at their
disposal as poor and insufficient; this happens in every
country.
Although the book's claims are a bit exaggerated, it
provides a wealth of detail. It is well structured, and,
provided it is read objectively, offers much information, obtained from German and Austrian archives,
that is little known or simply unknown in Chile. In
short, Sater and Herwig have written a good book that
demonstrates what it states, but that exaggerates in
several points.
CRISTIAN GAZMURI
AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW DECEMBER 2001