Reviews
An outstanding addition to our knowledge of Guatemala and the history of commodities.
--American Historical Review
Perhaps its most arresting and thought-provoking finding is to remind us that, for better or worse, alcohol was one of the very few products or activities in Guatemala that continually forced the crossing of ethnic, gender, and regional boundaries.
--Journal of Latin American Studies
takes a significant step in “decaffeinating” Guatemalan history. But, perhaps more importantly, Carey’s edited volume provides a wealth of historical data around unexpected gendered contestations against the state, debates over privatizations of public goods, and resilient cultural and class-based arguments repeatedly levied in order to challenge the morality of elites.
--The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology
Engaging… articulate[s] the intimate historical, social, cultural, and political interrelationships between alcohol and Guatemala’s people and the way that Guatemalans used alcohol to facilitate ongoing gender, racial, and ethnic negotiations.
--Ethnohistory
An important collection of essays… [that] clearly shows how studying alcohol can shed new light on broader questions in Guatemalan and Latin American history, particularly regarding nation-building processes, and how these are shaped by issues of race, class, and gender.
--Hispanic American Historical Review