Peru: A Short History

Although it is only the fourth largest country of Latin America (after Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico), Peru’s half-million square miles are equivalent to the combined area of France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Superimposed upon the heartland of the United States, Peru would cover about all of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri. Noted for the splendors of its geography, its extensive mineral endowments, and the richness of its culture and history, Peru, how­ever, provides only a meager subsis­tence to most of its sixteen million in­habitants. David P. Werlich, drawing on over five thousand sources, both published and unpublished, synthesizes for the general reader and student recent schol­arship on the political, economic, so­cial, and cultural evolution of this im­portant Latin American nation. Without neglecting the country’s early history, Werlich stresses modern Peru the period since 1914 and furnishes the first unified, in-depth accounting of the momentous post-1968 revolution under Gen. Juan Velasco Alvarado. Werlich’s history is a lucid introduc­tion to the entire scope of Peruvian his­tory, and will be especially welcomed by the general reader and student in­terested in the contemporary era. The extensive and comprehensive biblio­graphic essay found in the back of the book is an invaluable aid to further study.