Rattlesnakes and ornery horses, the dreaded Texas Itch, midnight rambles in graveyards, trips to Mexico, and hard riding on the last open range: George Philip recounts all these adventures and more with wit and humour. George Phillip arrived in South Dakota from Scotland in 1899. For the next four years, he rode as a cowboy for his uncle's L-7 cattle outfit during the heyday of the last open range. But the cowboy era was a brief one, and in 1903 Philip turned in his string of horses and hung up his saddle to enter law school in Michigan. In these candid letters, Philip provides fascinating insights into the development of the West and of South Dakota. His writing details the cowboy's day-to-day work, from branding and roping to navigating across the palins by stars and buttes, as the great open ranges slowly closed up.
First published in 1985, The Military in South American Politics analyses the nature of military involvement in politics in Latin America. The author presents many original arguments in the course of his discussion of the key issues. These include: the civil-military system, whereby the military exert power and influence even when they are not in government; how this system and also military professionalism have developed over time; how the “corporatist” ethic of South America military differs from the “partisan” ethic of the military in Central American and Caribbean countries and the consequences of this; how there are different types of coups; how the military find it difficult to disengage; how the military often intervene to exercise the principle of “guardianship” in order to preserve the fabric of society and economy which, in South America, are remarkably stable despite the many coups. Throughout, the author draws on examples from all Latin American countries from the middle of the nineteenth century onwards and summarises the existing literature to support his rich and convincing arguments. The book concludes with a summary of the arguments and with a discussion of trends and the prospects for “real” democratisation. It is a must read for students and researchers of Latin American politics and military studies.
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