First published in Chile in 1969 as Interpretación del desarrollo social centroamericano, this classic is now available in English. The first attempt at an integrated analysis of modern Central America's socioeconomic structure, Torres Rivas's work traces the social development of Central America from independence (1871) up to the 1960s.

Using a dependency framework, but not limited by it, Torres Rivas describes the various divisions of Central American society and their evolution within the liberal development model that has been so much a part of the past century of Central American economic history. The book is compelling in its explanation of the relationship between foreign and native elements in the social development of the region. Torres Rivas describes and analyzes the resulting long-term problems this development has posed for Central America. With a new chapter added for the English edition, History and Society in Central America remains vital for readers interested in the region.

The end of the Cold War removed hemispheric security from the top of the agenda of U.S.–Latin American relations. Democracy, trade and investment, drugs, and migration rose in importance. Pressures to eliminate the anachronistic U.S. embargo on Cuba increased. The new agenda also includes Latin America’s growing ties to the countries of the European Union and other regions.

This book contains fifteen essays by distinguished U.S., Latin American, and European scholars on each of these issues, framed by overviews of the changing historical context from the nineteenth century to the end of the Cold War. Authors include such notables as Harvard scholars John Coatsworth, Jorge Domínguez, and Marcelo Suárez-Orozco; European academics such as editors James Dunkerley and Victor Bulmer-Thomas; and Latin American intellectuals such as Eduardo Gamarra and Rodolfo Cerdas-Cruz.