Book excerpt: Latin America in the Modern World is the first text to situate the history of Latin American into a wider, global narrative, and it does so without de-emphasizing the distinctive experiences of each of the Latin American countries. Focusing on five themes - state formation; the construction ofnational identity through popular culture and religion; economics and commodities; race, class, and gender; and the environment, and written by leading scholars, Latin America in the Modern World provides students today with an entry point into understanding this vital region. The authors emphasizethe distictive experiences of each of the Latin American countries. Instead of suggesting that all Latin American nations have an interchangeable heritage, the authors seek to clearly identify themes, topics, people and intellectual currents that help to knit the history of modern Latin America intoa coherent category of study. The book would not serve students well if it focused primarily on the history of the three largest countries (Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina) to the neglect of others like the Central American and Andean nations. As a consequence, case studies from almost all of the countries are included at somepoint in the narrative when their history seems to illuminate a theme or idea particularly effectively. In this fashion, students will come to appreciate the great diversity of history and culture within the Latin American region, while simultaneously understanding how it fits into the streams andcurrents of world history and events more broadly.