“Engagingly written.”—Latin American Research Review
 
"An important contribution to Colombian historical writing. Rausch’s works have helped orient and stimulate a school of historical writing in Colombia."—James D. Henderson, author of Modernization in Colombia: The Laureano Gómez Years, 1889—1965

"With this fourth and final volume, Rausch completes her authoritative cycle of studies charting the history of Colombia’s Llanos Orientales. Her work can take its rightful place alongside that of Orlando Fals Borda’s innovative four-volume exploration of the Colombian Atlantic coast, Historia Doble de la Costa."—W. John Green, author of Gaitanismo, Left Liberalism, and Popular Mobilization in Colombia


Prior to the 1980s, Colombia’s Llanos Orientales was a vast plain of tropical grassland east of the Andes. Populated mainly by indigenous people, the area was considered "primitive" until exploitable petroleum deposits were discovered. The finding transformed the Llanos into the fastest growing region in the country.


In this volume, Jane Rausch surveys sixty years of history in the Llanos, between 1946 and 2010, combining perspective gained by her first-hand experiences with archival research. She examines the Colombian government’s Llanos policies and the political, economic, and social changes they have brought about. Rausch’s large-scale historical survey of the region ultimately reveals that as a South American frontier, the Llanos is politically and economically critical to both Colombia’s present and its future.


Jane M. Rausch, professor emerita of history at the University of Massachusetts--Amherst, is the author of five books, including Colombia: Territorial Rule and the Llanos Frontier and From Frontier Town to Metropolis: A History of Villavicencio, Colombia, since 1842.

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Recommended.
--CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries

The book is well-documented and carefully researched. It clearly presents the transformation process of territorial rule in the llanos, and how different actors shaped the region.
--Journal of Latin American Geography

Rausch’s study [is] relevant to readers interested not only in Colombia’s recent regional and national history but also the comparative history of frontiers and borderlands.
--American Historical Review

Rausch was the first to give a systematic look at the history of the region, and this volume completes the circle that began with her analysis of the region from the 1500s. . . . [and] makes contributions via novel sources that provide new information.
--Hispanic American Historical Review