Thirty-three years have passed since there was laid in the tomb, shrouded in humble Franciscan garb, one of the most glorious ornaments of Hispanic letters, and one of the greatest literary critics that Spain has had. His name, nevertheless, is glorious and is still revered in Hispanic countries along with those of Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and Calderón. While still alive, he had been raised to the category of the classics. His watchful spirit still dwells in the halls of universal culture, for his simplicity and modesty as a tireless worker gave him, even in his lifetime, the crown of the immortals. Don Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo in a period of criticism and reflection produced a literary work which has been idolized. “The studies of Menéndez y Pelayo,” wrote Edmundo González Blanco, “on literature and history have not only been used extensively in themselves, but have been elaborated and developed; and if they are not so much read today, it is because they were entirely absorbed into the spirit of the times and penetrated into every vein of contemporary Spanish culture, and it may be justly stated that in the last thirty years not a single important line has been written on topics treated in his studies in which his influence is not recognized.”

Fifty years ago all Mexico assembled at the feet of the ancient and venerated image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and in token of their loving submission to the Queen of Heaven, an imperial crown was placed on the head of the Blessed Mother of God. Her spiritual empire had been extended from the day when she had first appeared to the Indian Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeaca. The holy friar and first Archbishop of Mexico, the Franciscan Don Fray Juan de Zumárraga, was proud to have been among the first to kneel before the holy Image. Our Lady had won the hearts of all Mexicans. Tireless missionaries had taught the story of Guadalupe to their neophytes in far-off lands, and in this year of grace 1945, when all the American continent claims her as their Queen, the Chapter of the Basilica of Guadalupe, the Archbishops and Bishops of Mexico, and the hierarchy of all the Americas joined in the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Coronation of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The fall of the monarchy in 1889 left Brazil in a state of confusion and disorder. The republicans seemed to lack a coherent political program; the new régime as a consequence, was forced to contend with dissension within its own ranks. Extreme ideas of “states’ rights” and the vagaries of impractical political dreamers diverted attention from a monarchist opposition which, however small, was at least united on a specific aim. The army was mainly responsible for the existence of the new republic; the army proceeded, therefore, to take charge and attempt to introduce unity after its own fashion.

Modern Ibero-American thought is generally neither distinguished by originality nor by systematic integrity. The Mexican philosophers Antonio Caso and José Vasconcelos, both to-day well advanced in years, are two notable exceptions to this rule. Both are systematic thinkers as well as prolific writers, and Vasconcelos combines with a synthetic view of life and civilization a vigorous originality of expression, two gifts which in their conjunction make it quite understandable that he is regarded by many of the intellectual leaders of Latin America as one of the most representative exponents of Ibero-American ideas in general and of Mexican philosophic thought in particular. A comprehensive monograph, dealing with the life and work of José Vasconcelos is being published this autumn by Dr. Oswaldo Robles, Professor of Philosophy at the National University of Mexico and Academic Rector of the Latin-American Military University in Mexico City. The writings of Vasconcelos comprise more than twenty volumes of works on metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics; a History of Philosophy; a History of Mexico; essays, biographies, and tragedies; and an extensive autobiography in four volumes. The author of this imposing oeuvre is at present Director of the National Library of Mexico and engaged in carrying through important reforms in that venerable institution.

Hardly had the Spaniards established themselves in Peru, when they founded a settlement also in Upper Peru or Charcas, the present Bolivia. Los Charcas, the name of an Indian tribe, was given not only to the first town, but also to the entire province which in 1825 became an independent republic named for the “Liberator,” Simón Bolívar.

As early as 1538, Diego de Rojas, sent out by the governor of Peru, founded a colony at Charcas. He also was the first to enter Tucumán, or northern Argentina, in 1543. Charcas is the present capital of Bolivia, and since Independence it has been known as Sucre. In colonial times the town was known also as Chuquisaca and as La Plata, which latter should not be confused with the La Plata colony, south of Paraguay, the present Argentina.

Students of Latin American art of the colonial period will agree that this book, which deals with the development of architecture in Spanish America during the sixteenth century, is the most important analysis of the subject that has yet been made. Prepared with the assistance of the Spanish government and the cooperation of private investigators and government agencies in Latin America, this book is the first of a series of volumes which, it is to be hoped, will eventually present the whole history of Hispanic American art. It brings together for the first time a mass of factual information taken from source material of the period concerning the earliest monuments of Spanish building from Mexico to BoliVia and interprets it in the light of Spanish architecture of the time with a knowledge and an attention to detail never before applied on such a scale. Almost without exception every building mentioned is fully illustrated, plans of the more important are provided, together with diagrams of variant architectural details such as moldings, bases and arches, and whenever possible contemporary architect’s drawings from the Archivo de Indias in Seville are submitted as well. Although a good deal of this material had previously been published in one form or another, there is much that had not been, especially in the chapters devoted to South America. The work therefore goes beyond the mere compilation of facts already recorded and presents a whole series of new monuments on the basis of original investigation.