The Republic Montesquieu Could Not Write
In the autumn of 1748, a book with no author’s name left the presses of Geneva. Its creator had spent twenty years writing it and did not dare sign it. The magistrate of Bordeaux, Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, already knew what imprudence cost: his Persian Letters (1721) had also been published anonymously, printed […]
When Stealing Stopped Being Shameful
loss. He has no land to leave them, no cattle, no home. Martín Fierro, the character created by José Hernández, has been a forced soldier, a deserter, an outlaw, and a fugitive. He has lost everything, including his respectability. And yet, in The Return of Martín Fierro (1879), when he gathers his sons and the son of […]
The American Republic: An Experiment Begun 250 Years Ago
It is the night of July 4, 1776. In a printing shop on Market Street in Philadelphia, a young apprentice sets type letter by letter for a document that has just arrived from the Continental Congress. His employer, John Dunlap, has asked him to work through the night: the text must be printed before sunrise. […]
Less Free Than Athens
Lisandros was born in Phoenicia but has lived in the port of Athens for twenty years. He rents a workshop where he manufactures amphorae to export olive oil. He hires both free workers and slaves. He asked no one’s permission to open his business. No one demands monthly reports from him. If a trading partner breaks […]
Should Guatemala Follow Mexico? A Mirror We Cannot Ignore
Do you remember Demetrio? The man from the Alka-Seltzer commercials of the 1980s who, after a night of excess, would return home feeling miserable. Well, when Demetrio wanted to buy his Corolla in the year 2000, he needed twenty-seven months of salary to pay for it. That same year, a Demetrio in Guadalajara needed only […]