Peru and the United States: The Condor and the Eagle

Abstract

In the present era of historical writing on Latin America, it is a rare work that overlooks at least a nod to the importance of theories and paradigms in the quest to explain and understand the object under study. Larry Clayton’s new book, Peru and the United States, a history of relations between the two countries over the last two centuries, is no exception. In the first chapter he duly lays out the main theoretical frameworks or concepts that he proposes to apply and test: symmetries, dependency, ambiguities, and attitudes toward liberty and equality (p. 10).Although these are hardly theories in any strict definition of the term, the author makes periodic stabs at carrying out his stated task. While this produces some interesting and occasionally insightful discussions, such as his analysis of how differing Peruvian and North American attitudes toward liberty and equality shaped the two countries’ relationship, the effort pales in comparison with Clayton’s real forte: the ability to spin a rich narrative, full of pithy stores, many on some of the lesser known corners and by-ways of Peruvian-American relations. These include the story of Slim Fawcett’s pioneering exploits in early Peruvian commercial air travel and the fascinating discussion of the impact of North American Protestant missionaries and teachers on the country and some of its leading figures such as Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre.In addition to being an excellent analytical narrative, another of the book’s strengths lies in its approach. It is no mere recitation of the diplomatic and foreign relations between the governments of Peru and the United States, isolated and set apart, like so many previous strictly diplomatic histories, from the main political, economic, social and cultural currents of these countries. On the contrary, what makes Peru and the United States truly valuable and unique is the fact that the narrative of the relationship is so skillfully embedded in the broader historical milieu of these two countries. In other words, this is the analysis of a relationship in its broadest historical dimension.This is not to say that the book is free of flaws or biases. While Clayton, whose best previous work is an elegantly written history of Grace & Company in Peru, possesses an obvious gift for the narrative, he has a tendency to lapse occasionally into excessive quotation. He also tends to overly praise and draw on the works of some historians, such as Frederick Pike, who share his generally conservative outlook on Peru. Moreover, although the author strives to be evenhanded in his treatment of such highly controversial subjects as the impact of foreign business and capital in Peru, it is clear that he harbors no love for even the modified ideas of dependency theory which he resolutely tries to bury in the ash can of Andean history. While the dependency school can be fairly criticized for distorting the history of some Latin American countries, surely in Peru’s long history from guano to Standard Oil and Cerro, there is ample evidence not to “throw out the baby with the bath water.”With these caveats, however, students of Peruvian history will be well rewarded in reading this gracefully written, often engrossing and generally balanced and judicious narrative, carefully anchored in the larger historical framework, of the sometimes stormy, sometimes balmy, but always interesting relations between Peru and the United States.