The revolutionary movement, as a search for—and momentarily finding of—our own selves, transformed Mexico. To be oneself is always to become that other person who is one’s real self, that hidden promise or possibility. In one sense, then, the Revolution …
In May, our friend Irving Howe died, one of the great figures among the so-called “New York Intellectuals.” He belonged to a generation that first made itself known in the pages of the Partisan Review, one of the great magazines …
I: From Criticism to Terrorism Around 1960 a series of civic upheavals began that made the West tremble. Contrary to the predictions of Marxism, the crisis was not an economic one, nor was its central protagonist the proletariat. It was …
Mistaken ideas about the historical reality of Latin America have been appearing for almost two centuries. There is not even an exact name to designate this reality: should it be “Latin America,” “Hispanic America,” “Iberoamerica,” “Indoamerica”? Each of these names …
After the initial surprise this sort of news causes, I felt a resigned melancholy at the death of Jean-Paul Sartre. I was living in Paris during those years after World War II when his glory and influence were at their …
Liberals used to think that “civil society” would flourish thanks to the development of free enterprise, and the function of the state would correspondingly be reduced until it was merely supervising humanity’s spontaneous evolution. Marxists more optimistically thought the century …
The record of the Mexican Student Movement of 1968 tells a story of buoyant collective fervor that soon takes on darker overtones; the wave of hope and generous idealism generated by these youngsters breaks against the wall of sheer power, …
Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay—now Chile. One can no longer breathe on our continent. Latin America has become a pyramid of ruined ideas and victims’ bones. At the top, a tribunal of uniformed and bemedaled pygmies legislates, excommunicates, and executes nonbelievers. All …
The idea of revolution was the great invention of the West in its second phase. Societies of the past did not have real revolutions; they had changes of mandate and dynasty. Apart from these changes, they experienced profound transformations: births, …
