A Human Rights Catalyst

Abstract

In 2004, the historian Kenneth Cmiel surveyed the then-infant field of human rights history for the American Historical Review.1 Cmiel described the pioneering work of historians, political scientists, legal scholars, and journalists. He explained that much of the field focused on historicizing human rights language or uncovering the activism of key actors and organizations. Cmiel highlighted a number of turning points—in the 1940s, the 1970s, and the 1990s—in the twentieth-century history of human rights. His largest point was simple, though: much work remained to be done. Vanessa Walker was at the beginning of her graduate training in 2004. Her superb new book, Principles in Power: Latin America and the Politics of U.S. Human Rights Diplomacy, exemplifies the evolution of human rights history. Cmiel dedicated only a few paragraphs to the 1970s in his essay, Latin America, Chile, and Argentina received scant mention, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter did not make an appearance. Cmiel was not at fault; his essay reflected the state of the field. But now, fifteen years on, Walker, and others, have greatly expanded our understanding of human rights in all of these areas.2