A renowned Peruvian historian, Alberto Flores Galindo (1949-1990) wrote fundamental books on Andean utopianism, José Carlos Mariátegui, subaltern Lima, and more. He participated in fiery debates on the left about Marxism, democracy, and socialism.
Written by two specialists in Peruvian history, this book addresses many of his major topics and contributions, including Peru's rupture with Spanish colonialism, his role as a Marxist public intellectual, his relationship with the Cuban Revolution, the Shining Path and human rights, and his passion for literature. The book introduces English readers to the life and work of one of Latin America's major Marxist thinkers.
Carlos Aguirre is Professor of History at the University of Oregon. He is the author or editor of numerous books on the history of slavery, prisons, intellectuals, and print culture, including the co-edited Las cartas del Boom (Alfaguara 2023).
Charles Walker is Professor of History at the University of California, Davis. His publications include The Tupac Amaru Rebellion (Harvard University Press 2016) and the graphic history Witness to the Age of Revolution (Oxford University Press 2020). He is finishing a book on the Shining Path.
Acknowledgements
Introduction Carlos Aguirre and Charles Walker
1 Between the Andean Utopia and the Socialist Utopia Carlos Aguirre and Charles Walker
1 Rethinking Mariátegui and Peruvian Marxism
2 Andean Utopia as History and Memory
3 Intellectual and Methodological Dialogues
4 The Andean Utopia under Debate
2 ‘More Than One Alternative’: Alberto Flores Galindo and Peru’s War of Independence Charles Walker
1 Searching for New Paths
2 Túpac Amaru
3 Aristocracy, the Plebe, and Historians
4 Searching and Searching
5 More Than One Alternative
3 Leftwing Political Culture and Print Culture in Contemporary Peru: The Making of a Public Intellectual Carlos Aguirre
1 The Making of an Intellectual: Flores Galindo and the Generation of 1968
2 The Printed Word as an Intellectual Weapon
3 Conclusion: The Public Intellectual and Print Culture
4 ‘Theres Is No Happy Island’: Flores Galindo, Cuba, and the Socialist Utopia Carlos Aguirre
1 Latin American Intellectuals Respond to Reagan
2 The 1986 Casa De Las Américas Prize
3 Return Visit to Cuba
4 (Re)Thinking the Revolution
5 Friendship and Solidarity
6 Conclusion
5 ‘Historians Cannot Overlook the Present’: Alberto Flores Galindo on the Shining Path, Violence, and the 1980’s Crisis Charles Walker
1 The Art of Doing Research and Writing Essays
2 The Boiling Point
3 The Silent War
4 Debates, Controversies, and Polemics
5 Time of Plagues
6 Human Rights
7 Conclusions
6 A Requited Passion: Flores Galindo and Literature Carlos Aguirre
1 A Passion for Reading
2 Literature and the Historical Craft
3 The Forging of a Style
4 The Impossible Library
5 Signs of a Bygone Era
Bibliography Index
This book is especially relevant for those interested in radical social history, Marxism, subaltern studies, alternatives to capitalism as well as the Cuban Revolution, the Shining Path, and the Latin American left.