Stanley J. Stein

Stanley J. Stein (June 8, 1920 – December 19, 2019)^[1] was an American historian of Spanish America and Iberia, with interests in colonialism and post- colonialism as well as imperial history, political economy, and social history. Until his retirement, he taught at Princeton University, holding the Walter Samuel Carpenter III Professor of Spanish Civilization and Culture.^[2] His most well-known book is The Colonial Heritage of Latin America, published jointly with his wife, Barbara H. Stein (1916–2005),^[3] which explores the idea that Spain's restrictive policies on trade meant that Spanish America's wealth did not enrich the region while simultaneously turning Spain into a dependency of Northern Europe. In an interview published in 2010, Vincent Peloso says of this work, "It is fair to say that no one who studied Latin American history over the last 35 years would have failed to engage the slim, elegantly written synthesis."^[4] Stein went on to publish with his wife significant work on the rise and decline of the Spanish Empire, works bringing them both high academic recognition.

In 2018, Princeton University acquired a valuable collection of Brazilian manuscripts. "The acquisition honors Stanley and Barbara Stein's contributions to the library's Latin American collections and to Latin American studies at Princeton."^[5]