What is the role of history in the life of new democracies? In this volume, twelve reflections--the work of journalists, writers and poets, literary critics, political scientists, historians, philosophers, economists, and linguists--explore legacies of authoritarian political regimes noted for repression and injustice, questioning how collective experiences of violence shape memory and its relevance for contemporary social and political life in Latin America. The past matters deeply, the essayists agree, but the past itself is debatable and ambiguous. Avoiding its repetition introduces...