"Interpreting Spanish Colonialism" offers a compelling examination of how historians in Spain and the Americas have come to understand and write about the Spanish colonial past and its meanings for national presents. Working from a transnational perspective, the book brings together scholars of Spain, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. The eight essays situate historians writings within the context of their day, suggesting how history hasperhaps more often than notresponded to present-day needs, agendas, and expectations.

This collection retraces the link between historiography and nation-building in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It also explores how and why Spain and its colonies came to be depicted as backward and marginal to other European and U.S. modern regimes. Finally, it questions the contours of contemporary discussions of colonial and postcolonial histories that have remained largely silent about the legacies of centuries of Spanish rule.

Contributors:

Jeremy Adelman is the Walter S. Carpenter III Professor of Spanish Civilization and Culture and chair of the history department, Princeton University.
Astrid Cubano-Iguina is professor of history at the University of Puerto Rico, Ro Piedras.
Jos del Valle is associate professor of Hispanic linguistics, Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Antonio Feros is associate professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Javier Morillo-Alicea has taught history and anthropology at Carleton College, Northfield, MN, and Macalester College, St. Paul.
Dale Tomich is professor of sociology and history at Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY.
SamuelTruett is assistant professor of history at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.