A Concise History of Bolivia

In its first Spanish edition, Herbert Klein's A Concise History of Bolivia won immediate acceptance within Bolivia as the new standard history of this important nation. Surveying Bolivia's economic, social, cultural and political evolution from the arrival of early man in the Andes to the present, this current version brings the history of this society up to the present day, covering the fundamental changes that have occurred since the National Revolution of 1952 and the return of democracy in 1982. These changes have included the introduction of universal education and the rise of the mestizos and Indian populations to political power for the first time in national history. This second edition brings this story through the first administration of the first self-proclaimed Indian president in national history and the major changes that the government of Evo Morales has introduced in Bolivian society, politics and economics.

1. Geography and pre-Columbian civilization; 2. The creation of a colonial society; 3. Late colonial society: crisis and growth; 4. Revolution and the creation of a nation-state, 1809–1841; 5. The crisis of the state, 1841–1880; 6. The ages of silver and tin, 1880–1932; 7. Disintegration of the established order, 1932–1952; 8. From the national revolution to the cold war, 1952–1982; 9. Creating a multiethnic democracy, 1982–2002; 10. The emergence of a mestizo and indigenous elite, 2002–2010; Bibliographical essay; Political chronology.

This new edition brings the history of Bolivian society up to the present, covering the fundamental changes that have occurred since the National Revolution of 1952, the return of democracy in 1982, the installation of the first self-proclaimed Indian president and the major changes from the government of Evo Morales.

Herbert S. Klein is the author of 22 books and 163 articles in several languages on Latin America and comparative themes in social and economic history. Among these books are The Atlantic Slave Trade, 2nd edition (2010) and four studies of slavery, the most recent of which are Slavery and the Economy of São Paulo, 1750–1850 (co-author, 2003), African Slavery in Latin America and the Caribbean (co-author, 2008) and Slavery in Brazil (co-author, 2009), as well as four books on Bolivian history. He has also published books on such diverse themes as The American Finances of the Spanish Empire, 1680–1809 (1998), A Population History of the United States (2004) and Hispanics in the United States Since 1980 (co-author, 2010).