NICOLA MILLER is a Reader in Latin American Studies, University College, London, UK.STEPHEN HART is Professor of Latin American Studies, University College, London, UK.

• Introduction: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Modernity in Latin America; N.Miller PART I: VIEWS FROM THE HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES Geographies of Modernity in Latin America: Uneven and Contested Development; S.Radcliffe Modernity and Tradition: Shifting Boundaries, Shifting Contexts; P.Wade Mid-Nineteenth-Century Modernities in the Hispanic World; G.Thomson Nationalism and History in Nineteenth-Century Spanish America; R.Earle When was Latin America Modern?: A Historian's Response; A.Knight PART II: VIEWS FROM LITERARY AND CULTURAL STUDIES When was Peru Modern?: On Declarations of Modernity in Peru; W.Rowe Belatedness as Critical Project: Machado de Assis and the Author as Plagiarist; J.C.de Castro Rocha Cuban Cinema: A Long Journey Towards the Light; J.G.Espinosa Culture and Communication in Inter-American Relations: The Current State of an Asymmetric Debate; N.G.Canclini Conclusion: When was Latin America Modern?; L.Whitehead

"This collection of essays provides a very important contribution to the analysis of the discourse, practices and institutions of modernity in Latin America. Rather than agreeing on the usefulness of the analytical place of modernity, the authors - who come from various disciplines and are leading experts on different countries - disagree and debate implicitly with one another. This creates a collection that serves as a fascinating tool for learning about the ambiguous and tension-ridden connections of Latin American societies to some of the central ideas and institutions of Western modernity." - Luis Roniger, Reynolds Professor of Political Science and Latin American Studies, Wake Forest University