Deconstructing Legitimacy

Reviews / Votes

"This is an impeccably researched and articulately written inquiry into the collapse of royal authority in Lima at the time of independence. Not only does the book yield a bounty of fresh insights and interpretations into these tumultuous events, but it also identifies actions by the rebels that set an important precedent in Peruvian politics and reverberated in the political culture for years to come."

-Peter Klaren, George Washington University "Examining the bitter trade disputes that divided Peru and shaped its conflicts with Spain, Patricia Marks casts new light on Spanish America's bumpy transition from colony to republic. In delightfully clear prose, she contributes to our understanding of the Wars of Independence and the trans-Atlantic struggles about 'free trade' and representation. This is a landmark book that offers many surprising and welcome discoveries."

-Charles F. Walker, University of California, Davis "Now and then one encounters a book based on such extensive research that it immediately accords its author substantial authority. This is such a book."

-Timothy E. Anna Colonial Latin American Historical Review "This book, based on decades of meticulous research, is a major contribution to the burgeoning literature on the late colonial period, a period whose intellectual vitality is now being recognized after many decades of neglect."

-G. B. Paquette The Americas "In a thoughtful and perceptive study, independent historian Marks . . . reveals that, rather than acting independently, the military officers who executed the coup also represented a significant group of wholesale merchants in Lima. Based primarily on extensive research in archival materials in Spain and Peru, this clearly written and argued work is the most important English-language study of Peruvian independence to appear in nearly 30 years."

-M. A. Burkholder Choice "In broad terms the arguments and conclusions presented in this stimulating book build upon and extend, rather than contradict, those of previous commentators on Peru's transition to independence, but they do so with an unprecedented level of detail and incisive analysis, making a major contribution to the historiography of late colonial Peru. This book deserves to be read by all students of the Bourbon reforms and Spanish American independence."

-John Fisher American Historical Review