Books for review

With the exception of basic textbooks and noncritical editions of creative works, we will consider every book relevant to the study of Latin America for inclusion in a review essay. Publishers and authors are encouraged to send review copies to the book review editor at the following address:

Professor Kevin A. Young
612 Herter Hall
161 Presidents Drive
Amherst, MA 01003-9312
email: larr-books@umass.edu

About book review essays

Latin American Research Review has a long tradition of commissioning thematic book review essays that discuss a selected group of recently published books. The intent of these reviews is threefold: (1) to familiarize readers with the subject matter, approach, arguments, and conclusions found in a group of books whose common focus is a historical period; a country or region within Latin America; or a practice, development, or issue of interest to specialists and others; (2) to locate these books within current scholarship, critical methodologies, and approaches; and (3) to probe the relation of these new books to previous work on the subject, especially canonical texts. Unlike individual book reviews, the cluster reviews found in LARR seek to address the state of the field or discipline and not solely the works at issue. Review essays may be written in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

Potential reviewers

We welcome proposals from established scholars, either teaching at universities or working at research institutes throughout the world. Proposals should be brief. Please identify the books you wish to review, why you would make a good reviewer, and a summary of your credentials. Review essays should discuss six to eight books (or more), including at least one published in the region and another from outside the reviewer’s discipline.  LARR is one of the few places for interdisciplinary dialogue, which review essays should foment.  Please send proposals in a concise e-mail to Professor Kevin A. Young, book review editor, before submitting a review essay (unsolicited essays are not accepted).

Book review essay style guide

An essay reviewing six books should be a maximum of 5,500 words, with each additional title adding 500 words to the total.

For general style guidelines please refer to “Language and text” in Instructions for authors. Please contact the editorial office with any questions about manuscript preparation.

Provide a title describing the general topic of your essay and place your name and affiliation below. Offer complete bibliographic information for the books under review at the start of the article, including the title, authors/editors, place of publication and publisher’s name, date of publication, number of pages, price, and ISBN. The books should be arranged in alphabetical order according to the last name of the first author or editor.

Example book list:

1. Who Speaks for Nature? Indigenous Movements, Public Opinion, and the Petro-State in Ecuador. By Todd A. Eisenstadt and Karleen Jones West. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019, Pp. x + 288. $19.53 hardcover. ISBN: 9780190908959.
2. Latin America’s Pink Tide: Breakthroughs and Shortcomings. Edited by Steve Ellner. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2019. Pp. vi + 364. $39.00 paperback. ISBN: 9781538125632.
3. The Myth of Economic Development. By Celso Furtado. Translated by Jordan B. Jones. Newark: Polity Press, 2020. Pp. xxx + 90. $19.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781509540143.
4. After the Pink Tide: Corporate State Formation and New Egalitarianisms in Latin America. Edited by Marina Gold and Alessandro Zagato. Oxford: Berghahn, 2020. Pp. 218. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781789208764.
5. Resource Radicals: From Petro-nationalism to Post-extractivism in Ecuador. By Thea Riofrancos. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2020. Pp. xi + 264. $26.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781478008484.
6. Los ciclos políticos y económicos de América Latina y el boom de materias primas. Edited by Francisco Sánchez and Mercedes García Montero. Madrid: Tecnos, 2019. Pp. 376. $24.75 paperback. ISBN: 9788430975495.
7. Las fronteras del neoextractivismo en América Latina: Conflictos socioambientales, giro ecoterritorial y nuevas dependencias. By Maristella Svampa. Beilefeld: Beilefeld University Press, an imprint of Transcript Verlag, 2019. Pp. 142. Open access e-book. ISBN: 9783839445266. DOI: 10.14361/9783839445266-003.

Notes and references

Use parenthetical references when citing the books under review. The titles of individual essays in a collective volume can be given, if necessary, in parentheses directly after the first mention of the author’s name.

Use footnotes (not parenthetical references) when referring to works other than those under review. Book review essays do not include a reference list, so place full bibliographic information in the first note citation, using the citation style given in The Chicago Manual of Style, 17th ed. Thereafter, use short references including author, short title, and page reference if needed. Include DOIs for online resources where available.

Example notes:

1. Fernando Coronil, "The Future in Question: History and Utopia in Latin America (1989–2010)," in Business as Usual: The Roots of the Golbal Financial Meltdown, ed. Craig Calhoun and Georgi Derluguian (New York: New York University Press, 2011), 231–264.
2. Coronil, "The Future in Question," 263.
3. Lauren E. Gulbas, "Embodying Racism: Race, Rhinoplasy, and Self-Esteem in Venezuela," Qualitative Health Research 23, no. 3 (2012): 326–335, doi.org/10.1177/1049732312468335.
4. Gulbas, "Embodying Racism," 326.
5. Eduard Gudynas, Extractivismos: Ecología, economía, y política de un modo de entender el desarrollo y la naturaleza (Cochabamba: Centro de Documentación e Información Bolivia, 2015).
6. Gudynas, Extractivismos.

Documentary film review information

Latin American Research Review commissions critical review essays covering between three and five documentary films related to Latin America. Unlike individual film reviews, the essays in LARR seek to address the state of the field or the broader theme connecting the documentary films, and not solely the works at issue. Review essays may be written in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

Potential reviewers and essay proposals

We invite proposals for documentary film review essays. Proposals should be brief. Please identify the documentary films you wish to review, why you would make a good reviewer, and a summary of your credentials. Please send this information in a concise e-mail to Professor Antonio Gómez, documentary film review editor.

Call to directors, producers, and distributors

We invite documentary film directors, producers, and distributors to submit documentary films for our review essay section. LARR accepts films in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Films in other languages will be considered if they have subtitles in any of the three languages covered by LARR. Documentary films received will be considered for inclusion in a review essay, with the final selection determined by the interests of reviewers and the relevance of each title to the cluster for which it is considered. Filmmakers may send review copies to:

Professor Antonio Gómez
304B Newcomb Hall
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA 70118
United States
email: agomez@tulane.edu

Documentary film review essay style guide

Provide a title describing the general topic of your essay and place your name and affiliation below. Offer complete information for the documentary films under review at the start of the article. List the title, director, producer, country, date of release, length, distributor (if available), screening format (e.g., DVD), and webpage (if available). The films should be arranged in alphabetical order according to their title.

Example film list:

1. Chacal: Proibido fazer poesia / Chacal: Forbidden to Write Poetry. Dir. Rodrigo Lopes de Barros. Prod. Guilherme Trielli Ribeiro and Rodrigo Lopes de Barros. Perf. Ricardo Chacal. Brazil, 2015, 25′. Blu-ray. Film is available by contacting the filmmaker directly at veraguth@gmail.com.
2. El trotskismo bárbaro / Barbaric Trotskyism. Dir. Marcel Gonnet Wainmayer. Prod. Cinema do Polvo. Argentina, Peru, Brazil, 2015, 104′. Blu-ray. Film is available by contacting the filmmaker directly at marcelgonnet@gmail.com.
3. Piedra libre / Women Dance Memories. Dir. Alejandra Vassallo and Pía Sicardi. Argentina, 2015, 72′. Blu-ray. Film is available at http://piedralibrepelicula.com.ar.
4. Which Way Home. Dir. Rebecca Cammisa. Prod. Mr. Mudd Production in association with Documentress Films. USA, 2009, 90′. Film is available at WhichWayHome.net, Netflix, and Amazon.

For additional information about citing documentary films, see these guidelines from the Media Resources Center, UC Berkeley Library. For other matters of style, documentary film essays follow the format of book review essays.