“The historical evidence unearthed means the work constitutes important reading . . . not just for social and political theorists but also for historians of Latin America. . . . At times the author even begins to sound like Tocqueville."

Jonathan Eastwood and John Stone | Theoretical Sociology

“This impressive work of both research and theory deserves to be read widely by scholars of political culture in various disciplines. Like the best historical sociology, Forment’s book combines a synthesis of historiography on nineteenth-century Latin America with a provocative interpretation. . . . [The book] can serve as a bridge between South and North for all scholars interested in the historical development of democracy."

Sarah C. Chambers | Journal of Social History

“A richly documented and immensely learned study of associational life in Mexico and Peru from 1760 to 1900. It compellingly shows that evidently vibrant civil societies did not always produce strong or stable democratic states. . . . [Forment’s] book challenges readers to reconsider most of what they think they already know about Latin America.”

Omar G. Encarnación | Comparative Politics

“[This book] combines serious theoretical discussions in the opening and closing chapters with an incredible amount of data spread and analyzed throughout the central chapters. . . . [It] will undoubtedly become a central text in the discussion on democracy, not only in the area stuidied, but as a general topic.”

Mario Sznajder | International Sociology Review of Books

“In a style, for the most part, lively and engaging, Forment offers readers an exhaustively researched view of democracy from below, and shows how Mexico and, to a lesser extent, Peru have a rich democratic heritage to feed into current debates about governance.”

Patience A. Schell | Bulletin of Spanish Studies

“Forment calls on a significant array of archival and periodical documentation to demonstrate the wide spectrum of social, economic, and political organizations by which Latin Americans engaged in participatory democracy, even in the absence of electoral democracy. . . . A refreshing view of identity- and nation-building that is rich in political sociology and theory.”

Mark Szuchman | Journal of Latin American Anthropology

“Forment provides scholars and students of Latin America’s Middle Period with a challenging study of the nature and extent of democracy in what has generally been considered an authoritarian political landscape. . . . Forment’s creative and evidentially expansive approach employs scale and subject to rebut the commonly held historiographical wisdom that the postindependence world of politics and public life consisted of unstable government, authoritarian rule, and an exclusionary, personalist, and clientelistic politics.  In scale, he digs down to the community and local level, relying on newspapers, essays, books, pamphlets, and other forms of published writing.  In subject, he breaks public life down into civic, economic, and political components. . . . In making such a broad, innovative interpretation, boldness is required. Using an abundance of primary sources, Forment reveals a world of increasingly vibrant civic, associational life, and multistrata agency in nineteenth-century Mexico and Peru up to 1880.”

Stuart F. Voss | American Historical Review