established in 1819, and during the wars of independence they were protected by Royal Navy officers but only if this did not interfere with their neutrality. After the wars ‘merchants tended to behave as “non-state” actors distancing themselves from British imperial interests’ (p. 175). This chapter shows that in contrast to what has often been assumed, merchants were not agents for the Crown. Chapter 5 touches on the question of Britain’ s recognition of Chilean independence. The new republic’s elites considered this of prime importance, even if other nations such as the United States had recognised them as early as 1818. In large part this was to coun- ter the rising power of the United States in the Pacific region, so Chileans devoted much energy to achieving British recognition. They sent ministers to London, but they were ignored and treated as ‘ well-informed travellers’ because otherwise it would have been de jure recognition. Officials were very disappointed when Chile was not amongst the first countries to be acknowledged in 1825 and were convinced this was due to the lack- lustre reports sent by the British consul and their previous efforts to paint their country as devoid of interest in order to fend off possible invasion. All this was compounded by the instability that characterised Chile in the first years after independence, as Britain was mostly interested in establishing relations with territories that were either wealthy or stable. It was only once efforts to secure recognition stopped that Britain stepped up as a reaction to French recognition of Chile in 1831. In this book Baeza presents a view of a period that is seldom analysed from a trans- national perspective. His empirical work shows that the ‘dependency theory’ that con- sidered Chile as part of an informal empire led by Britain is no reflection of reality. Instead, Chileans had different and changing perceptions of the British and there was a wide variety of contacts, with naval officers, missionaries selling Bibles and establishing schooling systems, or with merchants. Although to some degree all these actors reflected British imperial desires, they did not represent them and instead established relations with the Chileans based on their own specific needs and ambi- tions. By illustrating how this process came to pass at the very start of the republican era, Baeza contributes to the reader’s understanding of Chile as a unique case, as well as the wider way in which the British intervened in South America in this period. doi:10.1017/S0022216X22000293 Juan Carlos Yáñez Andrade, El tiempo domesticado, Chile 1900–1950: Trabajo, cultura y tiempo libre en la configuración de las identidades laborales (Valparaíso: América en Movimiento, 2020), pp. 176, $12.00 pb. Ángela Vergara California State University, Los Angeles Latin American labour scholars have become increasingly interested in the history of leisure time and working-class culture. New studies about neighbourhoods, 346 Book Reviews https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022216X2200030X Published online by Cambridge University Press