“Massive in scope, ambitious in its conceptual reach, and encyclopedic in detail, Shaping the Political Arena is destined to stand as a landmark in the literature for years to come.” —Studies in Comparative International Development “This massive, ambitious, and wide-ranging book advances our understanding of modern Latin American politics by identifying the historical moment when forces emerged and relations were crystallized in ways that shaped subsequent political life.” —The Review of Politics “To paraphrase the book’s title, this masterful work deserves to shape the intellectual arena for social scientists and historians for years to come.” —Political Science Quarterly “This is a monumental work, a tour de force. It is one of the most important books in the field of Latin American politics in several years.” —American Political Science Review “… Colliers’ mammoth tome remains among the most significant contributions to the field of comparative political science … [It] is an indispensable point of reference both for students of comparative politics in twentieth-century Latin America and for comparativists interested in state-society relations in late industrializing societies throughout the world. Shaping the Political Arena is destined to remain among the classic works of Latin Americanist scholarship that contribute to disciplinary debates that reach far beyond the region itself.” —Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies “This book is a disciplined, paired comparison of the eight Latin American countries with the longest history of urban commercial and industrial development—Brazil and Chile, Mexico and Venezuela, Uruguay and Colombia, Argentina and Peru. . . . Overall, a path-breaking volume.” —Foreign Affairs