The Great Argentine Debate:
Civilization, Barbarism & Moral Crisis

Throughout the 19th century, Argentina struggled to define itself between “civilization” and “barbarism”: caudillos and constitutions, gauchos and cities, liberal projects and authoritarian power. This collection brings together six foundational texts that stage and contest that debate: from Sarmiento’s Facundo and Hernández’s Martín Fierro to Echeverría’s brutal El matadero, López’s urban realist La gran aldea, and Cambaceres’s naturalist novels En la sangre and Sin rumbo.

Ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses on Latin American nation‑building, realism and naturalism, and the long‑lasting myth of civilization vs. barbarism in the Río de la Plata.