<p>Latin America has often been condemned to failure. Neither poor enough to evoke Africa’s moral crusade nor as explosively booming as India and China it has largely been overlooked by the West. Yet this vast continent home to half a billion people the world’s largest reserves of arable land and 8.5 percent of global oil is busily transforming its political and economic landscape.</p> <p>This book argues that rather than failing the test Latin America’s efforts to build fairer and more prosperous societies make it one of the world’s most vigorous laboratories for capitalist democracy. In many countries—including Brazil Chile and Mexico—democratic leaders are laying the foundations for faster economic growth and more inclusive politics as well as tackling deep-rooted problems of poverty inequality and social injustice. They face a new challenge from Hugo Chávez’s oil-fuelled populism and much is at stake. Failure will increase the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants to the United States and Europe jeopardize stability in a region rich in oil and other strategic commodities and threaten some of the world’s most majestic natural environments.</p> <p>Drawing on Michael Reid’s many years of reporting from inside Latin America’s cities presidential palaces and shantytowns this book provides a vivid immediate and informed account of a dynamic continent and its struggle to compete in a globalized world.</p>