Colección: INTERAMER
Número: 59
Año: 1999
Autor: José Luis Romero
Título: Latin America: Its Cities and Ideas

PRESENTATION

In the history of the Americas, culture has been, and continues to be, a fundamental component of development given its unlimited capacity to enrich its communities and generate greater understanding among them. The OAS has been consistent in its commitment to develop and consolidate culture in the region through a diverse series of actions which clearly demonstrate the value assigned to it by the member states given its relation to development and regional integration.

This commitment has been reaffirmed, once again, with the recent approval of a new Inter-American Program of Culture within the framework of the Strategic Plan of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI), whose purpose is to support the efforts of the member states of the OAS, and encourage cooperation among them in the following areas: cultural diversity; dissemination and protection of cultural patrimony; training of human resources and the encouragement of creativity; and the promotion of cultural tourism. Dissemination of information and illustrative examples of the non-tangible patrimony of our countries fosters a more profound comprehension of identity and thus constitutes one of the core strategic actions contained in the Inter-American Program of Culture. This book, Latin America: Its Cities and Ideas,  represents a valuable part of that patrimony of the Americas which is formed by ideas.

José Luis Romero needs no introduction in the contemporary academic world. All of his works have become seminal texts, as in the case of Latin America: Its Cities and Ideas, which constitutes an accurate and dynamic fresco of our history, and serves as a permanent point of reference for humanists and social scientists. Romero, lingering over each determining event in our history, not only shows us how different situations are significant in the analysis of a single moment, but also how they illuminate a present that is projected toward the future of our America.

The continental reach of the Organization of American States offers a unique vehicle for the dissemination of the great values of the Americas.  For the Office of Cultural Affairs, it is indeed an extraordinary privilege to present this premier work for the first time in English.

Sara Meneses