Latin-American and Anglo-American, but also European and Israeli social scientists gathered at the University of Erfurt in December 1998 for The Americas Distinct Patterns of Modernity conference, part of a larger European project on identity, public spheres, and political order. When they applied their ideas to the Americas, they discovered that modern does not necessarily mean Western, nor Western necessarily mean European. Distributed in the US by ISBS. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)