Historical Dictionary of Argentina

Argentina celebrated a century of independence from Spain in 1910, and the republic was the tenth most important trading nation in the global economy. Although it had the promise of growth and industrial development at the time, crises, mismanagement, and unrealized potential associated with authoritarianism, populism, and military coups (culminating in thousands of “disappearances” over a period of unparalleled state terror) prevented that from happening. By 2001, Argentina announced that it would not service its foreign debt, triggering the largest default in world financial history. Since then, the country has sought to recapture the potential and promise of the past, and its place in the world while escaping from what appeared to be an interminable cycle of expansion, crises, conflict, and institutional collapse.

Historical Dictionary of Argentina contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, an extensive bibliography, and more than 800 cross-referenced entries on the country’s important personalities and aspects of its politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Argentina.

BERNARDO A. DUGGAN is a businessman and independent researcher. His principal research interests are in the fields of twentieth century international history with emphasis on the post-1945 period and Argentine history.



COLIN M. LEWIS is Professor Emeritus of Latin American Economic History at the London School of Economics & Political Science. Lewis has published on the political economy of Latin America development, mainly about industrialization, foreign investment and state formation, and on various aspects of Argentine economic and social history.