Hispanismo, 1898-1936: Spanish Conservatives and Liberals and their Relations PikeThis book review of Hispanismo, 1898-1936: Spanish Conservatives andLiberals and their Relations with Spanish America, by Frederick B. Pike, is mainlyabout as the title suggests, Hispanismo. Hispanismo or often calledHispanoamericanism and/or Pan Hispanismo is a trend of Latin American culturesthat is quite simply in the most basic terms the “shared . . . unassailable faith in theexistence of a transatlantic Hispanic family, community, or raza (race)” ManyCentral and Latin American countries for years feared the influence of Spain intheir lives with the United States posing little threat and being often helpful. Thisall changed with the downfall of the Spanish Empire, in the 1800s, weakening themenace to its former colonies and the final crushing loss of the Spanish-AmericanWar in 1898. But after this turning mark year, the United Sates posed more of animperialistic threat to its southern neighbors than weakened Spain. With a newthreat to the North, the new world countries regained their ties to the “mothercountry”. Activists in a new movement saw Spain and Latin countries of theSouthern Hemisphere as sharing common values, beliefs, and characteristics. Thisbook, describing the subsequent ties to Spain, is important to my study of LatinAmerica’s involvement in the Spanish Civil War and in this review I will analyzethis work to determine its value as a source. Hispanismo, 1898-1936: Spanish Conservatives and Liberals and theirRelations with Spanish America, part of the International Studies of the Committeeon International Relation Series of Notre Dame, deals with the rise of theHispanismo movements in Latin America from 1898 up to 1936, the turning pointin Latin America’s/Spain’s relations. Pike deals with the perspectives of theHispanismo movement and the people's attitude toward Spain on the eve of theS...
