This is the first detailed scholarly study of culture and sociability in Colombia during the period c. 1850 and 1930. Patricia Londoño-Vega gives a vivid picture of some of the factors that reduced social distances in the province of Antioquia during this period of relative harmony and prosperity. She examines hundreds of the groups and voluntary associations which flourished at this time and which brought a growing number of Antioqueños of different social backgrounds together around religious practices and societies, the exercising of charity, a concern for education, and the pursuit of cultural progress.