The caudillo of Spanish America was both regional chieftain and, in the turbulent years of the early nineteenth century, national leader. His power base rested on ownership of land and control of armed bands. He was the rival of constitutional rulers and the precursor of modern dictators. In this book, Lynch explores the changing perception of the caudillo--bandit chief, guerrilla leader, republican hero--and examines his multi-faceted role as regional strongman, war leader, landowner, distributor of patronage, and the "necessary gendarme" who maintained social order. Lynch traces the origins...
The caudillo of Spanish America was both regional chieftain and, in the turbulent years of the early nineteenth century, national leader. His power ba...
Jane Austen's most ambitious novel, Mansfield Park, has always generated debate. Austen herself noted that debate when she conducted a reader survey, recording her acquaintances' mixed reviews in a booklet she entitled "Opinions of Mansfield Park." Is this novel's dutiful heroine, Fanny Price, admirable? Or is she (as Austen's own mother asserted) "insipid"? Is Fanny actually the heroine, or does that title belong more properly to her rival, Mary Crawford? Does Fanny's uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, act as her benefactor, or as a domestic tyrant? In her notes and introduction to...
Jane Austen's most ambitious novel, Mansfield Park, has always generated debate. Austen herself noted that debate when she conducted a read...
One of the most common--and wounding--misconceptions about literary scholars today is that they simply don't love books. While those actually working in literary studies can easily refute this claim, such a response risks obscuring a more fundamental question: why should they? That question led Deidre Shauna Lynch into the historical and cultural investigation of Loving Literature. How did it come to be that professional literary scholars are expected not just to study, but to love literature, and to inculcate that love in generations of students? What Lynch discovers is...
One of the most common--and wounding--misconceptions about literary scholars today is that they simply don't love books. While those actually working ...
