This authoritative book offers a comprehensive assessment of contemporary Venezuela. Analyzing the multifaceted phenomenon of Hugo Chavez, leading scholars move beyond his flamboyant style to focus on the concerns of popular social and political movements. The book challenges the misleading notions that for several decades glorified Venezuelan "exceptionalism" and minimized the role of important actors. After setting the historical and socio-economic contexts, the contributors explore racial issues, social and labor movements, electoral politics, economic and oil policy, and United States support for the Venezuelan opposition. Underscoring the complexity of Chavez and his popularity, the book highlights the need to avoid simplistic assessments of the past and present and offers a clear-eyed understanding of Venezuelan reality today. Contributions by: Christopher I. Clement, Steve Ellner, Maria Pilar Garcia Guadilla, Daniel Hellinger, Jesus Maria Herrera Salas, Edgardo Lander, Dick Parker, Miguel Tinker Salas, and Cristobal Valencia Ramirez"

This authoritative book offers a comprehensive assessment of contemporary Venezuela. Analyzing the multifaceted phenomenon of Hugo Chavez, leading scholars move beyond his flamboyant style to focus on the concerns of popular social and political movements. The book challenges the misleading notions that for several decades glorified Venezuelan "exceptionalism" and minimized the role of important actors. After setting the historical and socio-economic contexts, the contributors explore racial issues, social and labor movements, electoral politics, economic and oil policy, and United States support for the Venezuelan opposition. Underscoring the complexity of Chavez and his popularity, the book highlights the need to avoid simplistic assessments of the past and present and offers a clear-eyed understanding of Venezuelan reality today. Contributions by: Christopher I. Clement, Steve Ellner, Maria Pilar Garcia Guadilla, Daniel Hellinger, Jesus Maria Herrera Salas, Edgardo Lander, Dick Parker, Miguel Tinker Salas, and Cristobal Valencia Ramirez"

Among the top ten oil exporters in the world and a founding member of OPEC, Venezuela currently supplies 11 percent of U.S. crude oil imports. But when the country elected the fiery populist politician Hugo Chavez in 1998, tensions rose with this key trading partner and relations have been strained ever since. In this concise, accessible introduction, Miguel Tinker-Salas-a native of Venezuela who has written extensively about the country-takes a broadly chronological approach to the history of Venezuela, but keeps oil and its effects on the country's politics, economy, culture, and international relations a central focus. After an introductory section that discusses the legacy of Spanish colonialism, Tinker-Salas explores the "The Era of the Gusher," a period which began with the discovery of oil in the early 1910s, encompassed the mid-century development and nationalization of the industry, and ended with a change of government in 1989 in response to widespread protests. Tinker-Salas also provides a detailed discussion of Hugo Chavez-his rise to power, his domestic, political and economic policies, and his high-profile forays into international relations. Arranged in helpful question-and-answer format that allows readers to search topics of particular interest, the book covers such questions as: Who is Simon Bolivar and why is he called the George Washington of Latin America? How did the discovery of oil change Venezuela's relationship to the U.S.? What forces were behind the coups of 1992? Does Chavez really want to be president for life? How does Venezuela interact with China, Russia, and Iran? And much more. Convenient, engaging, and written by a leading expert on the country, Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know offers a lively look at an increasingly important player on the world stage.

Among the top ten oil exporters in the world and a founding member of OPEC, Venezuela currently supplies 11 percent of U.S. crude oil imports. But when the country elected the fiery populist politician Hugo Chavez in 1998, tensions rose with this key trading partner and relations have been strained ever since. In this concise, accessible introduction, Miguel Tinker-Salas-a native of Venezuela who has written extensively about the country-takes a broadly chronological approach to the history of Venezuela, but keeps oil and its effects on the country's politics, economy, culture, and international relations a central focus. After an introductory section that discusses the legacy of Spanish colonialism, Tinker-Salas explores the "The Era of the Gusher," a period which began with the discovery of oil in the early 1910s, encompassed the mid-century development and nationalization of the industry, and ended with a change of government in 1989 in response to widespread protests. Tinker-Salas also provides a detailed discussion of Hugo Chavez-his rise to power, his domestic, political and economic policies, and his high-profile forays into international relations. Arranged in helpful question-and-answer format that allows readers to search topics of particular interest, the book covers such questions as: Who is Simon Bolivar and why is he called the George Washington of Latin America? How did the discovery of oil change Venezuela's relationship to the U.S.? What forces were behind the coups of 1992? Does Chavez really want to be president for life? How does Venezuela interact with China, Russia, and Iran? And much more. Convenient, engaging, and written by a leading expert on the country, Venezuela: What Everyone Needs to Know offers a lively look at an increasingly important player on the world stage.

Oil has played a major role in Venezuela's economy since the first gusher was discovered along Lake Maracaibo in 1922. As Miguel Tinker Salas demonstrates, oil has also transformed the country's social, cultural, and political landscapes. In "The Enduring Legacy," Tinker Salas traces the history of the oil industry's rise in Venezuela from the beginning of the twentieth century, paying particular attention to the experiences and perceptions of industry employees, both foreign and Venezuelan. He reveals how class ambitions and corporate interests combined to reshape many Venezuelans' ideas of citizenship. Middle-class Venezuelans embraced the oil industry from the start, anticipating that it would transform the country by introducing modern technology, sparking economic development, and breaking the landed elites' stranglehold. Eventually Venezuelan employees of the industry found that their benefits, including relatively high salaries, fueled loyalty to the oil companies. That loyalty sometimes trumped allegiance to the nation-state.

North American and British petroleum companies, seeking to maintain their stakes in Venezuela, promoted the idea that their interests were synonymous with national development. They set up oil camps--residential communities to house their workers--that brought Venezuelan employees together with workers from the United States and Britain, and eventually with Chinese, West Indian, and Mexican migrants as well. Through the camps, the companies offered not just housing but also schooling, leisure activities, and acculturation into a structured, corporate way of life. Tinker Salas contends that these practices shaped the heart and soul of generations of Venezuelans whom the industry provided with access to a middle-class lifestyle. His interest in how oil suffused the consciousness of Venezuela is personal: Tinker Salas was born and raised in one of its oil camps.