Head hunter
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Decapitation structures a bold new take on cinematic theory. Review: The Visual Guillotine: The Cinematic Cut and Politics in Latin America, Thomas Matusiak, 2026, University of Minnesota Press
Forgotten defenders
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Afro-descendant Brazilians are in the front line of the battle for Nature. Review: The Earth Gives, the Earth Wants, Antônio Bispo dos Santos, translated by Alex Brostoff and Jamille Pinheiro Dias, 2026, Polity Press.
Categories: Brazil, South America
Last man standing
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A black revolutionary’s exile in Cuba draws attention to unfinished business. Review: Fugitive States: The Life of Charlie Hill, a Black Radical Exile in Socialist Cuba, Teishan A Latner, 2026, University of North Carolina Press
Categories: Africa, Caribbean, Cuba, United States
Invisible punks
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Migrant Mexican farmworkers can count punk rock among their contributions to the US. Review: Latinx Encounters: How Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans Made the Modern Midwest, Juan Ignacio Mora, 2026, University of North Carolina Press
Categories: Mexico, Puerto Rico, United States
Hopeful pessimism
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All is not lost: Puerto Rico can be free. Review: Post-Disaster Futures: Ruin, Repair, and Decolonial Imagination in Puerto Rico, edited by Yarimar Bonilla and Isabel Guzzardo Tamargo, 2026, Haymarket Books
Categories: Caribbean, Puerto Rico, United States
Cultural Medusa
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A pioneering woman was behind Latin America’s first avant-garde arts magazine. Review: Artes Visuales: The Latin American Avant-Garde in Print, Harper Montgomery et al., 2026, Hunter College Art Galleries/Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA)
Categories: Mexico, United States
The femicidal impasse
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Violence against women in Guatemala reflects deep historical traumas. Review: Seeking Justice for Gendered Violence: Courts, Communities, and Care in Guatemala, Erin Beck and Lynn Stephen, 2026, Duke University Press
Categories: Guatemala
The resilient revolutionary
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Lessons about Cuba’s survival can be gleaned from the latest biography of Castro. Review: Fidel Castro: Beyond the Legend, Katrien Demuynck and Marc Vandepitte, 2026, Praxis Press
Categories: Caribbean, Cuba, International, Mexico, North America, Russia, United States, Yugoslavia (the former)
Scholars who spy
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The history of US academics involved in espionage highlights a modern risk. Review: Scientists or Spies? The American Museum of Natural History in World War I Latin America, Roberta Marx Delson, 2026, Springer
Categories: Central America, Mexico, South America, United States