In 1983, following a military dictatorship that left thousands dead and disappeared and the economy in ruins, Raúl Alfonsín was elected president of Argentina on the strength of his pledge to prosecute the armed forces for their crimes and restore a measure of material well-being to Argentine lives. Food, housing, and full employment became the litmus tests of the new democracy. In Search of the Lost Decade reconsiders Argentina’s transition to democracy by examining the everyday meanings of rights and the lived experience of democratic return, far beyond the ballot box and corridors of power. Beginning with promises to eliminate hunger and ending with food shortages and burning supermarkets, Jennifer Adair provides an in-depth account of the Alfonsín government’s unfulfilled projects to ensure basic needs against the backdrop of a looming neoliberal world order. As it moves from the presidential palace to the streets, this original book offers a compelling reinterpretation of post-dictatorship Argentina and Latin America’s so-called lost decade.

"Adair’s book, which originally places food and politics at the center of its analysis, is a stimulating and well-written examination of a historical period that has been dis- regarded by the Argentine historiography. It will find an enthusiastic readership among historians of Argentina, food scholars, and scholars of democratic transitions." - Hispanic American Historical Review

"In Search of the Lost Decade is well-written, compelling, theoretically ambitious, and makes a significant contribution to the developing conversation around the 1980s in Latin America." - EIAL: Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe