The Company They Kept: Migrants and the Politics of Gender in Caribbean Costa Rica, 1870-1960

Review

"A vivid, beautifully written, sophisticated, and insightful book. By focusing on the intersections of gender, migration, work, community, and the subjective dimensions of honor and violence, Putnam provides an entirely new perspective on the history of the banana region of eastern lowland Costa Rica. (Catherine C. LeGrand, author of Close Encounters of Empire: Writing the Cultural History of U.S.-Latin American Relations)"
"An engaging and stunningly well-written work that dissects invented traditions with powerful anti-essentializing effects. In this welcome brand of social history we learn just how culture and values interact with choice and individual personality. (Lowell Gudmundson, author of Costa Rica Before Coffee)"

About the Author

Lara Putnam teaches Latin American and Caribbean history at the Universidad de Costa Rica.