Women's Roles in Latin America and the Caribbean

Women's Roles in Latin America and the Caribbean. By Kathryn A. Sloan. Santa Bar- bara, Calif.: ABC Clio/Greenwood, 2011. Pp. xxxii, 228. Foreword. Introduc- tion. Chronology. Bibliography. Index. $59.95 cloth.

Kathryn Sloan's work is an admirable overview of the field of women's history in Latin America. Her task is challenging: how does one write the histories of women from such a large region with such varying historical trajectories? Sloan acknowledges the diffi- culty, but correctly states that despite the very real differences, Latin American women nevertheless share a "common history of subordination, initiative and agency" (p. xi.). Sloan is interested in tracing these commonalities through the extant secondary litera- ture. This volume is not primary research, but offers teachers of Latin American women's history an excellent resource for the classroom.

Sloan's introduction describes the major primary sources available to historians of Latin American women. In addition to the written sources left behind by well-to-do literate women, such as letters, diaries, travel accounts, and vidas (religious autobiographies penned by nuns during the colonial era), Sloan touches on...