"A watershed analysis—the new political history of Latin America begins here."—John Tutino, Georgetown University "Florencia Mallon's analysis of peasant politics and state formation in Latin America compels us to rethink the relationship between the 'national' and the 'popular.' In particular, she questions the concept of 'community' in a way that scholars of subaltern histories elsewhere will find enormously helpful."—Dipesh Chakrabarty, Director of the Ashworth Centre for Social Theory, University of Melbourne, Australia