In this book, renowned Latin Americanist Mike Gonzalez explores the left course taken by Latin American politics over the last two decades, known as the Pink Tide. Considering the recent setbacks and reactionary challenges, Gonzalez asks: has the Left peaked and is it now on the wane?Following the election of Hugo Chavez to the Venezuelan presidency, and the Cochabamba water wars, the radicalisation of Latin American politics carried to power leaders and governments who identified with the social movements rising across the continent.Gonzalez argues that these developments have been widely celebrated, but less has been written to address the problems and conflicts that have arisen, which have posed some urgent political questions for those in the West who anticipated very few of them. The 'new left' process in Latin America has reached a critical point, in the context of both global neoliberal crisis, and the contradictions inherent in the left-led projects themselves.Providing a critical but sympathetic analysis of the records of the left governments across the continent, Gonzalez offers a refreshing reflection on the prospects and future of Latin American politics, asking whether Chavez's vision of twenty-first century socialism may ever be realised.