Provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary view of Latin American history and culture from prehistoric times to the present and covers cultural issues and includes numerous biographical profiles of important figures in politics, letters and the arts.

This new edition adds nearly 600 entirely new topics, replaces some 150 obsolete entries, and also provides substantial revisions to hundreds more. Every one of the 5,700+ entries has been reviewed for currency of content and bibliography. An entirely new illustration program features over 100 full-color photographs in addition to hundreds in black-and-white.

National statistics have been conveniently tabulated for every one of Latin America's 37 countries. New content addresses research on prehistoric environments and cultures, U.S. Haitian interventions, the consequences of NAFTA and increased Mexican immigration, the troubled aftermaths of Pinochet's Chile and Fujimori's Peru, truth and reconciliation commissions, and the still-contested legacy of the Mexico City massacre of 1968.

New leaders like Brazil's Lula da Silva and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez are profiled along with hundreds of other rising figures in politics, letters, and the arts. Newly commissioned master essays synthesize current knowledge on such major regional themes as Democracy in the Americas, Hemispheric Affairs, and the Hispanic Impact on the U.S. Includes full index and table of biographical subjects by profession.