Tales of Two Cities: Race and Economic Culture in Early Republican North and South America. ByCamilla Townsend. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000. xxii+ 320 pp. Maps …

Abstract:

Camilla Townsends Tales of Two Cities explores the economic attitudes and social stratification of two" comparable towns"(p. 2) of the Americas in the early nineteenth century (1830s): Baltimore in the United States, and Guayaquil on the coast of Ecuador. She argues that the levels of economic success and political inclusion attained by each city depended largely on how its elite viewed the lower orders (p. 235). Tales of Two Cities is intended as a contribution to the comparative history of North America and Latin America (p. 9), and as a study of the cultural values responsible for economic growth or stagnation (pp. 6-8). Townsend adheres to the Weberian principle that" culture matters," but her emphasis is on the role of elite visions of the populace rather than the influence of religion. How were Guayaquil and Baltimore" comparable towns" in the 1830s? Guayaquil and Baltimore were both port cities, one on the …

Año de publicación:

2001

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