International Law, Republican Experiments, and Political Economy in the Americas

The most ambitious book under review, Greg Grandin's America, América, is a beautifully written narrative about the international relations of the Western Hemisphere.Grandin's plot centers on the development of "American international law," a body of norms and international law that exalts the sovereignty and well-being of nation-states.Grandin sees it begin to emerge with Bartolomé de las Casas (1474-1566), the Spanish Dominican priest who denounced the destruction of Indigenous peoples, and the professors and jurists at and around the University of Salamanca who developed theologies and legal theories to protect the rights of the original inhabitants of the Americas.Grandin's tale culminates with the hemispheric solidarity of World War II, when New Dealers, "who treated Latin America tenderly," argued that "the best way to advance democracy" was to combat "the fascist defenders of the oligarchy," and to increase "raising of wages and provision of welfare" (512).