In Search of the Lost Decade Everyday Rights in Post-Dictatorship Argentina

Reviews

"Adair’s book, which originally places food and politics at the center of its analysis, is a stimulating and well-written examination of a historical period that has been dis- regarded by the Argentine historiography. It will find an enthusiastic readership among historians of Argentina, food scholars, and scholars of democratic transitions."—Hispanic American Historical Review

"In Search of the Lost Decade is well-written, compelling, theoretically ambitious, and makes a significant contribution to the developing conversation around the 1980s in Latin America."—EIAL: Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe

“This excellent study provides a new take on the 1980s in Latin America by revealing how the Alfonsín administration in Argentina channeled popular demands for social justice, political participation, and economic opportunity. In contrast to familiar accounts of the transition from military to civilian rule, In Search of the Lost Decade focuses our attention on overlooked features of Alfonsinista democracy, particularly its struggles to blend human rights discourses with broader promises of freedom from want and equitable national development.”––Eduardo Elena, Associate Professor of History, University of Miami

“For those of us who lived in Argentina during the Alfonsín presidency, it is hard to imagine those years as history. But indeed they are, as Jennifer Adair’s fine-grained analysis of the period demonstrates with clarity and great critical acumen. The study also creates a certain nostalgia, memories of the optimism of those years that are so far from the country’s current mood and troubles. The country’s ongoing struggle to rebuild democracy needs to reassess the lessons of that hopeful period when so many things seemed possible.”––James Brennan, Professor of History, University of California, Riverside

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