Through the Kaleidoscope gathers together some of the best writers on the region: Nestor Canclini and Ruben Oliven unravel the legacy of slavery, the ambivalent relationship towards development progress, the impact of globalization, that gives rise to a characteristically hybrid modernity; Beatriz Sarlo and Nicolau Sevcenko writes about Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo; Renato Ortiz and Ana Lopez look at how television and cinema have shaped modernity; Jose Jorge de Carvalho, Jose de Souza Martins and Nelson Manrique address questions of religion, politics, ideology and social movements; and Gwendolyn Kirkpatrick and Beatriz Rezende explore the intricacies of artistic and literary modernism.