Author's Note:

There are four different files under this title:
1. PREFACE 
to items 2,3,4 of Underdevelopment of Development
2. THE UNDERVEVELOPMENT OF DEVELOPMENT- 
An Autobiographical Essay
3. LATIN AMERICAN THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT REVISITED -
A Participant Review Essay
4. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLICATIONS 1955-1990 of A.G. Frank

All were written and prepared between 1989 and 1991.  
They were then collected and published in revised form in THE
SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS, Special Issue:
Vol. X, No. 3, September 1991, and/or its Bethany Books, 
addresses are:
P.O. Box 7444, 10391 Stockholm Sweden
and/or
P.O. Box 705, San Marcos Texas 78667



PREFACE

This is an autobiographical essay on development, especially
in Latin America. Its origins and purposes are set out in the
first section of the essay and need not be repeated here. To
avoid possible misunderstandings however, I would like here to
warn the reader about some things that this essay is not.

This essay is not and does not pretend to be a comprehensive
or conclusive study of the problematique and theory of
development, not even regarding Latin America. In the present
essay, the mention of many Latin American friends along the
way is not to survey or evaluate their work, but to relate
them and their work with mine. However, the task of writing a
comprehensive study on development is unending and could not
be accomplished by any one author, certainly not by myself.  

For this reason also, I have written a "participant" review
essay of five books on Latin American theories of development
by other authors. My review of their reviews is a partial
compensation for my failure to deal with these theories
comprehensively in the more autobiographical essay. On the
other hand, it is also evident that each of these non
participant reviewers not only sees the theory and reality in
his or her own way, but that they also fail to see or report
things that are not of their interest or knowledge. Thus,
these five non-participant and therefore potentially more
objective observers have different perceptions a la Rashomon.
Therefore a forteriori, someone like me, who did participate
and has personal interests and memories of this history, has
to render it in a personal version. However, this personal
version need not for all that be any the less objective than
that of others; and often mine is at least objectively more
informed, because I was there. (This review essay is /not/
included here and is possibly forthcoming in Latin American
Perspectives and/or European Journal of Development Research).


This essay also is not an autobiography, but merely an essay
on development thinking with an autobiographical account of my
own participation therein. Therefore, the essay may be
something of an intellectual autobiography with regard to
development theory and issues. However, the essay deals only
very little with my personal practice and politics or my youth
and backround. The essay also does not make much mention of
personal and political events. It even omits many that ocurred
in direct relation to the development of underdevelopment, the
exprience of which by my family and myself would merit a place
in a real autobiography. These experiences would include, for
instance, my problems of unemployment and the sacrifices of my
family in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico while I was writing what
would become my first book. They might also include details
about the many political and other obstacles that certain
publishers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Spain
placed in the way of the book's publication in Spanish, which
delayed the same by many years. All that and more is the sort
of thing I would prefer to leave for another time -- when
perhaps I may sit down to write an autobiography from the
perspective of a more advanced age.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the preparation of this autobiographical essay, I am
indebted to each of the friends I name therein. However, my
greatest debt is to the members of my family, who  have shared
and  suffered - often more than I - these experiences with me.
Moreover, each of them, Miguel, Paulo and Marta has also done
some work on this essay itself. Especially Marta's input has
been much greater than either of us acknowledge. She chose to
witdraw her name from the joint authorship of the early
drafts. So I had to eliminate several references to her, and I
changed most everything from "we" to "I."  I also wish to
thank Franklin Vivekananda and the Scandinavian Journal for
Development Alternatives for their interest in making these
reflections available in a special issue of this journal.


                                   Andre Gunder Frank
                                   Amsterdam
                                   May 30, 1991