This volume examines the unprecedented growth of several cities in Latin America from 1830 to 1930, observing how sociopolitical changes and upheavals created the conditions for the birth of the metropolis.

Acknowledgments Introduction Idurre Alonso, Maristella Casciato Chronology ALBUM_ Capital Cities 1-The Emergence of Latin American Capital Cities in the Nineteenth Century German Rodrigo Mejia Pavony 2-Exile and Return from Paradise in the City of the Future: Order, Nature, and Society in the Latin American Metropolis Jorge F. Rivas Perez ALBUM_ Colonial Cities and National Heroes 3-From Postcolonial Cities to the First Latin American Metropolises, 1850-1930 Arturo Almandoz 4-Dominated Nature in the Construction of the Latin American Urban Landscape Sonia Berjman ALBUM_ Avenues, Parks, Theaters, and Vacation 5-The Visible and the Invisible: The Photographic Image of the Latin American Metropolis (1840-1930) Idurre Alonso 6-Visions of Mobility: Early Cinema in the Latin American Metropolis David M. J. Wood ALBUM_ Infrastructures 7-Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires: Plans and Projects for the Formation of the Metropolis Maria Cristina da Silva Leme 8-The Resurgence of the Ancient Past: Mexico City in the Age of Modern Technologies Cristobal Jacome-Moreno 9-Americanizing the Metropolis. Pre-Hispanic and Colonial Reinterpretations in the Search for a New Art Rodrigo Gutierrez Vinuales ALBUM_ Expositions and Literature 10-Architects and Urban Planners, Voyages from Europe to Latin America Maristella Casciato ALBUM_ Toward Modernism Archival Sources Bibliography Index

"The authors shed light on the transformations that modified the colonial model of Iberian cities in America, from Mexico to Argentina, displacing the axis of viceregal power toward a circuit of cities that were able to expand and gather international prestige during the republican period. The book includes an unusual repertoire of topics in the field of research of history at the early stages of modernity in Latin America."-Gabriela Rangel, artistic director, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA); "The Metropolis in Latin America is an excellent survey featuring the city's key role in the conformation of the social and political order of the newly born republics, with enlightening essays that discuss a broad range of interdisciplinary approaches. A magnificent iconographic collection shows how Latin American urban development challenged Western architecture's aesthetic canons, became an accurate laboratory for the newly constituted discipline of urbanism, and shaped the structure of its own image and identity, as we can see today."-Horacio Torrent, professor of architecture, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile