In this original study, Jorge A. Nallim chronicles the decline of liberalism in Argentina during the volatile period between two military coups--the 1930 overthrow of
Hipolito Yrigoyen and the deposing of Juan Peron in 1955. While historians have primarily focused on liberalism in economic or political contexts, Nallim instead documents a wide range of locations where liberalism was claimed and ultimately marginalized in the pursuit of individual agendas.

Nallim shows how concepts of liberalism were espoused by various groups who "invented traditions" to legitimatize their methods of...