The essays examine the linkages between the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America in the area of intellectual production over the centuries. No other book provides such a broad coverage of the most significant intellectual influences between the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America. At the same time, it treats each case study with unparalleled interdisciplinary depth.

Original essays by some of the most accomplished scholars from Europe, Latin America, and the United States address not only the question of the meaning of the Quincentennial of the Encounter, but also provide the first reflection on what lies ahead in terms of a research agenda and broader questions concerning the relationship between Europe and Latin America.

The last ten years have been marked by an increasing interest in colonial and postcolonial studies. However, there has been a lack of anthologies in English chronicling the complex relationship between Spain, Latin America, and its colonial legacy. Bridging the Atlantic helps to fill this gap and stimulates new "dialectical encounters," as well as more comparative research on postcolonial questions.

Marina Perez de Mendiola is Assistant Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee.