Thomas McGann Book Prize in Modern Latin American History
Originally established for the most outstanding presentation at the annual RMCLAS meeting, this prize is now awarded for the best book on modern Latin American history published by an
association member in the previous calendar year (2025). Due to ongoing global shipping challenges, RMCLAS will accept nominations in either physical or e-book formats. If both are available, our readers would appreciate access to both. To be eligible, candidates must be members for two out of the last three years, including the current year.
Deadline: March 1, 2026
Please send a copy of the book to each member of the committee:
Giovanni Batz
Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies
1714 South Hall
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4120
gbatz@ucsb.edu
Thomas Field
4710 N 33rd Pl
Phoenix, AZ 85018
Thomas.Field@erau.edu
Monica Rankin
1214 Crestwick Dr.
Murphy, TX 75094
mrankin@utdallas.edu
Previous Award Winners:
2025, Giovanni Batz, The Fourth Invasion: Decolonizing Histories, Extractivism, and Maya
Resistance in Guatemala. Oakland: University of California Press, 2024.
2024, Sandra McGee Deutsch, University of Texas-El Paso for Gendering Antifascism: Women’s Activism in Argentina and the World, 1918-1947. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2023.
2024, Honorable Mention, Elizabeth O’Brien, UCLA for Surgery and Salvation: The Roots of Reproductive Injustice in Mexico, 1770-1940. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2023.
2023, Not Awarded
2022, Elizabeth B. Schwall, Northern Arizona University for Dancing with the Revolution: Power, Politics and Privilege in Cuba. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2021.
2021, Carolyne R. Larson, ed., St. Norbert College for Conquest of the Desert: Argentina’s Indigenous People and a Battle for History. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2020.
2020, Donald Stevens, Drexel University for Mexico in the Time of Cholera, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2019.
2019, Susie S. Porter, University of Utah for From Angel to Office Worker: Middle-Class Identity and Female Consciousness in Mexico, 1890-1950. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2018.
Honorable Mention, Stephen E. Lewis, California State University at Chico for Rethinking Mexican Indigenismo: The INI’s Coordinating Center in Highland Chiapas and the Fate of a Utopian Project. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2018.
2018, John Lear, University of Puget Sound for
Picturing the Proletariat: Artists and Labor in Revolutionary Mexico, 1908–1940. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2017.
2016, William E. French, University of British Columbia for
The Heart in the Glass Jar: Love Letters, Bodies, and the Law in Mexico. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015.
Honorable Mention: Renata Keller, Boston University for
Mexico’s Cold War: Cuba, the United States, and the Legacy of the Mexican Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
2015, Thomas C. Field, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for
From Development to Dictatorship: Bolivia and the Alliance for Progress in the Kennedy Era. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2014.
Honorable Mention: Elaine Carey, St, John’s University for
Women Drug Traffickers: Mules, Bosses, and Organized Crime. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2014.
2014, Natalia Milanesio, University of Houston for
Workers Go Shopping in Argentina: The Rise of Popular Consumer Culture. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2013.
Honorable Mention: Louise E. Walker, Northeastern University for
Waking from the Dream: Mexico’s Middle Classes after 1968. Stanford University Press, 2013.
2013, Steven B. Bunker, University of Alabama for
Creating Mexican Consumer Culture in the Age of Porfirio Díaz, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2012.
2012, Jody Pavilack, University of Montana for
Mining for the Nation: The Politics of Chile’s Coal Communities from the Popular Front to the Cold War. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2011.
2011, Alcira Dueñas, Ohio State University-Newark for
Indians and Mestizos in the “Lettered City”: Reshaping Justice, Social Hierarchy and Political Culture in Colonial Peru. Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2010.
2010, Matthew O’Hara, University of California-Santa Cruz for
A Flock Divided: Race, Religion, and Politics in Mexico, 1749-1857. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010.
2009, Asunción Lavrin, Arizona State University for
Brides of Christ: Conventional Life in Colonial Mexico. Stanford University Press, 2008.
Honorable Mention: Samuel Brunk, University of Texas-El Paso for
The Posthumous Career of Emiliano Zapata: Myth, Memory, and Mexico’s Twentieth Century. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.
Honorable Mention: John Dwyer, Duquesne University for
The Agrarian Dispute: The Expropriation of American-Owned Rural Land in Postrevolutionary Mexico. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008.
2008, Thomas C. Wright, University of Nevada-Las Vegas for
State Terrorism in Latin America: Chile, Argentina, and International Human Rights. (Rowman and Littlefield, 2007)
2007, Bianca Premo, Florida International University for
Children of the Father King: Youth, Authority and Legal Minority in Colonial Lima. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.
2006, Karen Vieira Powers, Arizona State University for
Women in the Crucible of Conquest: The Gendered Genesis of Conquest. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005.
2005, Francie R. Chassen-López, University of Kentucky for
From Liberal to Revolutionary Oaxaca: The View from the South, Mexico 1876-1911
University Park: Penn State University Press, 2004.
2004, Susan Deeds, Northern Arizona University for
Defiance and Deference in Colonial Mexico: Indians under Spanish Rule in Nueva
Vizcaya Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003.
2003, Pamela Voekel, University of Montana for
Alone before God: The Religious Origins of Modernity in Mexico. Durham, NC: Duke University
Press, 2002.
Honorable Mention: Kris Lane, Tulane University for
Quito 1599: City and Colony in Transition. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2002.
2002, Andrew Grant Wood, University of Tulsa for
Revolution in the Street: Women, Workers, and Urban Protest in Veracruz, 1870-1927.
Scholarly Resources, 2001.
2001, Peter V.N.Henderson, Winona State University for
The Absence of Don Porfirio: Francisco Leon de la Barra and the Mexican Revolution.
Scholarly Resources, 2000.
2000, Ann Twinam, University of Cincinnati for
Public Lives, Private Secrets: Gender, Honor, Sexuality, and Illegitimacy in Colonial
Spanish America (Stanford University Press, 1999)
1999, Jeffrey Pilcher, University of Minnesota for
¡Que Vivan Los Tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
1998, Paul Vanderwood, San Diego State University for
The Power of God Against the Guns of Government: Religious Upheaval in Mexico at
the Turn of the Nineteenth Century Stanford University Press, 1998.
1997, Karen Powers, Arizona State University for
Andean Journeys: Migration, Ethnogenesis, and the State in Colonial Quito Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996.
1994, Frederick M. Nunn, University of Arizona for
The Time of the Generals: Latin American Professional Militarism in World
Perspective Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992.
1992, Donna Guy, Ohio State University for
Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires: Prostitution, Family, and Nation in Argentina Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991.
1990, William H. Beezley, University of Arizona for
“Holiday Days, Holy Days: Mexican Virtue on Parade: An Examination of Nineteenth-Century Celebrations”