From the mid-nineteenth century until th 1930s, many Latin American leaders faced a difficult dilemma regarding the idea of race. On the one hand, they aspired to an ever closer connection to Europe and North America, where during much of this period "scientific" thought condemned the nonwhite races to an inferior catagory. Yet, with the heterogeneneous racial makeup of their societies clearly before them and a growing sense of national identity impelling consideration of national futures, Latin American leaders hesitated. What to do? Whom to believe? Latin American political and intellectual leaders' sometimes anguished responses to these dilemmas form the subject of The Idea of race in Latin America (from back cover).