LATIN AMERICA: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF THE COLONIAL PERIOD covers Latin America’s pre-Colombian and colonial periods, including its civil war and struggle for independence. The textbook presents Latin American history from the "bottom up,"emphasizing the stories of indigenous peoples, African slaves, and mixed-race workers and peasants. The cultural diversity and racial mixture unique to the colonial experience are expressed in illustrations, tables, charts, and up-to-date bibliographies, as well as in the many historical documents that depict the contributions of ordinary people.