Rich in details and examples, exhaustively researched and engagingly narrated, Public Pages is an example of cultural studies at its most rewarding….This is clearly the work of a mature scholar who has dedicated years of research to a project that is driven by both intellectual, professional and personal concerns. Schwartz’ book succeeds in making visible a transnational push toward the valuing of literature as a key to civic participation and social change. It reveals the big picture of literature in Latin America today in its most tangible—and necessary—form.
~Latin American Literary Review
This study will be of great interest to scholars of contemporary reading, education, and cultural production in Latin America, as well as to anyone with a stake in the question of how local organizing and the printed book might continue to serve as a focal point for imagination and politics in an increasingly digital world.
~Bulletin of Spanish Studies
[Public Pages] is surely [Schwartz's] magnum opus...Combining a celebratory tone with a cautious, critical edge, Schwartz’s book is a stellar contribution to research on print culture, urban studies and literary and cultural studies in Latin American and transnational contexts. As befits a book that champions public reading, Public Pages is clearly written and highly engaging, making it accessible for researchers and the general public alike.
~Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
[Public Pages] makes a strong case for cultural production in general, and particularly literary reading, to be an essential element in the binding of the diverse communities that inhabit today’s urban centres.
~Bulletin of Latin American Research
Schwartz offers us a book-length example of approaches to the public humanities and demonstrates ways to put them into practice, as well as to analyze what the outcomes of these interventions might be...Schwartz does not speculate about possible roles for the humanities, but documents a series of hands-on projects in which literature is key to creating community.
~Chasqui
[Schwartz's] study models a patient form of reading that points to important avenues of inquiry within the study of contemporary Latin American literary culture...In both analytic detail and methodological rigor, Public Pages is an inspiring contribution to contemporary literary studies.
~Revista de Esudios Hispánicos
The chapters [in Public Pages] on the cartoneras and the commemorative activities organised in the libraries of banned books in Argentina are inspiring. However, they are most of all convincing examples on how activities related to literature in the public space can contribute to community organising and the creation of political awareness about a specific topic like recycling or human rights.
~European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
This is a truly exceptional work that will definitely stand as one of the most innovative books in contemporary Latin American culture studies. Methodologically, it not only represents a truly exceptional example for scholars interested in print-culture studies but also offers an inspiring starting point for the collective rethinking of the future of Latin American studies from a material and mediological perspective.
~Javier García-Liendo, Washington University in St. Louis, author of El intelectual y la cultura de masas: Argumentos latinoamericanos en torno a Ángel Rama y José María
I learned a lot from Schwartz’s arguments and descriptions, and my interest was piqued by the diverse projects she studies. The cases studied are expertly chosen, each of them illuminating a different side of the question of reading in public. The sites are diverse, but the book is refreshing in its treatment of each place as its own specific context, without collapsing into a vague, homogenized idea of the Latin American region.
~Craig Epplin, Portland State University, author of Late Book Culture in Argentina
