Imperial Revisionism: US Historians of Latin America and the Spanish Colonial Empire (ca. 1915–1945)

Abstract

During the period 1915–1945, United States historians contributed important revisions to the subfield of colonial Hispanic American History. Their histories argued for a reconsideration of inherited wisdom about the Spanish colonial empire, in issues of justice towards indigenous peoples, the interoceanic book trade, colonial universities, the Crown’s mercantilist policies, and the penetration of Enlightenment ideas in the Indies. This article reads these contributions in relation to the politics of US Pan-Americanism and the Good Neighbor policy, arguing that different versions of historical revisionism served to envision a new form of US engagement with Latin America.