Rafael Carrera (1814-1865) ruled Guatemala from about 1839 until his death. Among Central America's many political strongmen, he is unrivaled in the length of his domination and the depth of his ...popularity. This "life and times" biography explains the political, social, economic, and cultural circumstances that preceded and then facilitated Carrera's ascendancy and shows how Carrera in turn fomented changes that persisted long after his death and far beyond the borders of Guatemala.
Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; ...mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Mary Ashley Townsend was a novelist, newspaper columnist, and poet laureate of New Orleans who made several trips to Mexico with her daughter Cora during the last two decades of the 19th century. She collected her impressions of many aspects of life in that country-flora, fauna, architecture, people at work and play, fashion, society, food-and wrote about them during a time when few women engaged in solo travel, much less the pursuit of travel writing. Her collected work was still in progress when she died in a train accident in 1901, and was never published.Renowned Latin Americanist Ralph Lee Woodward Jr. discovered Townsend's manuscript, along with many of the author's personal papers, in the Special Collections division of Tulane University's Howard-Tilton Library. In addition to annotating the text, he has written a critical introduction to the work that provides excellent background information about the author and places the work in its historical and cultural context. Townsend's writing provides an unusual feminine perspective on Mexico as she describes the country during the middle years of the Porfirio Diaz dictatorship, a pivotal time in Mexican history. Though Townsend does not delve heavily into politics her observations of people's lives provide a valuable source for social historians of the period. Here and There in Mexico will make new contribution to the field of Latin American studies and to the travel literature genre, both as a primary source for historians and as a well-written account of a southern woman's impressions of Mexico during a crucial period in that country's development.
 Mary Ashley Townsend was a novelist, newspaper columnist, and poet laureate of New Orleans who made several trips to Mexico with her daughter Cora during the last two decades of the 19th ...century. She collected her impressions of many aspects of life in that country—flora, fauna, architecture, people at work and play, fashion, society, food—and wrote about them during a time when few women engaged in solo travel, much less the pursuit of travel writing. Her collected work was still in progress when she died in a train accident in 1901, and was never published. Renowned Latin Americanist Ralph Lee Woodward Jr. discovered Townsend’s manuscript, along with many of the author’s personal papers, in the Special Collections division of Tulane University’s Howard-Tilton Library. In addition to annotating the text, he has written a critical introduction to the work that provides excellent background information about the author and places the work in its historical and cultural context. Townsend’s writing provides an unusual feminine perspective on Mexico as she describes the country during the middle years of the Porfirio Diaz dictatorship, a pivotal time in Mexican history. Though Townsend does not delve heavily into politics her observations of people’s lives provide a valuable source for social historians of the period. Here and There in Mexico will make new contribution to the field of Latin American studies and to the travel literature genre, both as a primary source for historians and as a well-written account of a southern woman’s impressions of Mexico during a crucial period in that country’s development.      
Rafael Carrera (1814-1865) ruled Guatemala from about 1839 until his death. Among Central America's many political strongmen, he is unrivaled in the length of his domination and the depth of his ...popularity. This 'life and times' biography explains the political, social, economic, and cultural circumstances that preceded and then facilitated Carrera's ascendancy and shows how Carrera in turn fomented changes that persisted long after his death and far beyond the borders of Guatemala.
The author comments on themes for the conference, "Crisis and Recovery in the Americas." Examples range from crises from the 17th century in Latin America to Hurricane Katrina. Adapted from the ...source document.
Recent emphasis on the social and cultural history of colonial Latin America has lessened the former growth of economic and institutional history in the region. Yet there is still need for further ...research on economic elites and their institutions. Merchant guilds were an important element in the economic and judicial development of the Spanish world from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century. Beginning in Catalonia, they later appeared in Castile, and later yet in Spain's overseas dominions, providing import‐export merchants with a tribunal for commercial litigation and an institution for the protection and promotion of their commerce. Revitalization of the institution in the eighteenth century extended commercial monopolies to more merchant communities, but also established stronger state control over them. The institution declined and largely disappeared during the nineteenth century. Principal studies of the various consulados in Spain and the Indies are referenced in the endnotes.
