The Other Mirror: Grand Theory Through the Lens of Latin America. Edited by Miguel Angel Centeno and Fernando López-Alves. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. 372p. $59.50 cloth, $15.95 paper.

Extract

Standing the assumptions and causal propositions of established theories on their head, with an eye to refining them or pointing us to other theories, is a fruitful path to quickening the intellectual pulse, to reinvigorating a field of study, and to contributing to knowledge. The Other Mirror makes an eloquent and persuasive case for midrange theorizing as a tool for revitalizing area studies in general and Latin American studies in particular. If area studies are to recover from their marginality in the general disciplines, area specialists must once again engage the theory-building enterprise central to the disciplines that house them. By concentrating on midrange analysis, area studies have real contributions to make to general theory.