Now in its third edition, this leading reader has been updated to make it even more relevant to the study of contemporary Latin America. This edition includes an entirely new chapter, 'The New Left Turn,' and the globalization chapter has been thoroughly revised to reflect the rapid pace of change over the past five years. The book continues to offer a rich variety of materials that can be tailored to the needs of individual instructors. The reader's unique and successful chapter organization provides a thematic complement to narrative accounts of modern Latin American history. By focusing each chapter on a single concept or interpretive 'problem'-such as nationalism, women's rights, or social revolution-the text engages students in the analysis of historical sources and, at the same time, introduces them to the twists and turns of historiography. In addition, the book includes several 'reading images' sections that call on students to evaluate visual materials. With its innovative combination of primary and secondary sources and editorial analysis, this text is designed specifically to stimulate critical thinking in a wide range of courses on Latin American history since independence.