'This book, the product of more than 15 years of research and meditation, ranks among the best of its genre. Smith displays outstanding analytical skills, and he adds style, depth, and substance not only to studies of Argentina but to those of Latin America as a whole. The book is strikingly rich in data and detail, and exudes intellectual imagination and literary polish of the highest quality ... A book that will remain the best account of its subject for many years to come and sets the highest standards of scholarship.'David Rock, The Americas