Central America Books

This is a fun book and all Scouts should own one. We see how some things change, but we also see how some things don't. Truths remain true and common sense and good remain so as well. Pick one up!

This is a great book showing the scout perspective. The other half is the Handbook For Scout Masters 1914 recently reprinted. The two show both sides of the picture and are both funny from their angle.

Lot of info is out of date here, such as their dietary and first aid, but that is what makes it fun.

Superb book. In the world we live in there is constant change, this book demonstrates that somethings are timeless.

I was a Cub Scout, Weblo, and Boy Scout for years. Some of my fondest memories are of times spent with my fellow scouts around the campfire, telling stories, jokes, and just being BOYS. This edition reminds me of the pre-PC and pre-secular Boy Scouts, when scouting was almost a calling for teenage boys, and certainly contributed to their moral and ethical upbringings. In this day of anti-God, anti-anything-as-long-as-it's-secular-humanism, it's refreshing to read a handbook with advice on serving one's God, and that it should be a regular part of one's life. Kudos to the publisher for re-introducing a classic.

A Caribbean Journey from A to Y (Read and Discover What Happened to the Z) is an ABC picturebook that leads the reader through the Caribbean islands as well as through the alphabet. From Aruba to Trinidad and alligator to yam, A Caribbean Journey from A to Y is filled with fun facts about life, cuisine, fun, and culture in island nations! "What words begin with Z? Zoo begins with Z, but we'd rather use it for zebra. We don't have zebras in the Caribbean (except at the zoo), but that doesn't matter. We will take our Z to Africa, where zebras are really from, and where they still run free." Simple, color illustrations in the style of a child's drawing enliven this wonderfully educational picturebook.

This is an alphabet book for children like no other. The words, carefully chosen, educate children in a way that is not just fun, but entertaining as well. The illustrations jump off the page and makes this book a journey like no other. Surprising, as you can tell from the title, is how Z is used at the end. This book is filled with suspense, history, knowledge and fun. This is a great book to read aloud, in a classroom, on the plane, etc. As a father, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for more than an alphabet book, but a book that will leave the reader wanting to learn more about the caribbean islands and a better understanding about how the caribbean came to be.

This is a wonderful book filled with bright and beautiful illustrations and provides great information about the caribbean islands and their abundance of unique flora and fauna. The story is entertaining and easy to read, with a great discovery in what happened to the Z. I read this book to my son even though he is only 2 and he loves trying to find all the items listed on the page, provides fun and education. A rare find! A one of a kind ABC book!!

Mario Picayo's A Caribbean Journey from A to Y creates a sincere, helpful template for readers as they navigate the Caribbean Islands using the alphabet as their guide from letters A to Y (leaving the reader in suspense wondering where the Z has gone to). Each letter serves as a looking glass into Caribbean culture by representing its rich vegetation, diverse array of animals, and, most importantly the great people that inhabit these islands. While the alphabet guides the reader, Earleen Griswold's illustrations supplement the text with their lush, vivid colors that are diverse as the Caribbean itself. Bright hues of vibrant blues skies, colorful fish, and hot orange suns catch the eyes as well as the imagination. The story supplies the reader with factual and historical insight in addition to instilling a sense of great pride by uniting the Caribbean Islands by way of highlighting their origins to their African roots. I highly recommend this book especially for reading to children. The striking illustrations and enriching text are perfect for showing the little ones. A great read for children and grown-ups alike.

Hurricanes, diving and treasure all make Richard Trout's Cayman Gold a fun read. It tells the story of the MacGregor family on a trip to the Cayman Islands to study ecology issues about turtles and ends up being a trip of adventure and danger. Trout creates believable and engaging characters and uses story elements from geography and history to create an adventure that is fun for everyone. I have been diving in the Caribbean and survived a hurricane; the realistic way these are used in the story shows Trout has done his research.

I have been reading this book and can't put it down. I love the adventure and interesting historical facts in the book. Anyone who likes an action packed series should read the Macgregor Family Adventure Series

For the past couple of weeks, I have been reading Richard Trout's novels. I have already finished "Cayman Gold" and while I was reading it, I couldn't put it down. I am now almost finished with the second book in the series: "Elephant Tears". I do not usually like this kind of book, but this series has absolutely intrigued me. I love the sense of adventure! I am about to start the third book in the series: "Falcon of Abydos" and I cannot wait. Hope M, San Antonio, Texas

For the past two days, I have done nothing but read...and when I say read, I mean "Cayman Gold". It is the greatest adventure book, or for that matter, the greatest book I have ever read. One of the reasons I love this book so much is because when it gives you an action-packed scene, as you read it, you are there! My favorite part so far is when Captain Garcia meets the English ship, the Lady Elizabeth. Blake R, San Antonio

Chocolate: Riches from the Rainforest is one of the most attractive books I've come across in some while. This is far more than a picture book though. Chock full of chocolate history, kids of nearly any age will find this book enticing.

I'd like to first point out that I gave this book 5 stars. Second...Amazon is selling this book at only $3.39 at this writing. This is a REALLY good deal and I'm going to buy the book. Now for my review:

I saw this book on display in the children's section of my local library. It has a very appealing cover to it and the word "Chocolate" written in it's title so...I HAD to check it out.

When I brought it home I thought it would be way to advanced for my 5 year old to be interested in but I wanted to read it myself. It is written for children maybe twice her age but she was VERY interested in the history of her favorite food and remained attentive to the whole book.

There were words and situations I had to give her a background on--such as what an African slave was/is. Unfortuneatly, slaves are still sometimes used in the production of chocolate to this day according to the author Robert Burleigh.

We loved the looks of this book...the lay-out, the yummy chocolate colors, photos, and illustrations are very eye appealing.

We now know a lot about the rainforest cacao (ca-COW) trees, the pods, the seeds and the complicated process that it goes through to become the chocolate we so love. Good thing we live in today's world. We also learned of chocolate's ancient infancy which at times was violent. Cacao was once only for royality and the very rich--not for 5 year old chocolate freaks like the one that lives in my home. We learned a lot and we loved this book!

Chocolate: Riches from the Rainforest tells the story of chocolate. The book begins by discussing where chocolate comes from and who discovered it. It goes on to describe how the ancient Maya and Aztecs drank chocolate regularly and offered it to their gods, and how the Spanish added sugar to chocolate to give it the sweet taste. The book also describes how chocolate making has changed over time and how it is made today. In addition, the book includes a glossary of terms used in the book and an author's note about some of the things he learned while writing the book.

I would recommend this book for ages 10 and 11. Children these ages will enjoy learning about the history of chocolate. I do not feel that this book would be appropriate for younger children due to the discussions of human sacrifices and slavery. I would recommend using this book during the summer as part of a fun segment on chocolate. Having chocolate available for the kids to eat would be ideal because it is difficult to get through this book without craving it. The book is filled with wonderful photographs and illustrations. These pictures add to the story by showing children the plant that chocolate comes from and some of the items that the Maya and Aztecs used to make and consume chocolate. There are also step-by-step photographs detailing how chocolate is made today.

Most of us carry out an intense love affair with chocolate. To some, it is a fundamental part of our love affair with another human and to a few, it ignites the passion in their life. This book describes the history of chocolate, and like some foods, one wonders how it was first discovered. Until I read this book, I did not realize how chocolate is made. It is derived from the seeds inside the fruit of the tree and requires a great deal of processing before it reaches the form that we love. This was an interesting book to read, well illustrate it is a concise, yet thorough introduction to the history of one of my favorite foods.

The seller sold the book in the condition which described. It arrived in a timely manner and enabled me to save money, and not waste time!

If you are a novice in the study of colonial Latin America, this book is a good place to start. Burkholder and Johnson have covered just about every aspect of society and politics in colonial Latin America from pre-Columbian cultures to the struggles for independence in the 1800's. The book covers religion, slavery, the environmental impact of Europeans, government structures, gender roles, racial issues, economics, and family history as well as developments back in Europe that had reverberations in Latin America. One very helpful aspect of the book is that unfamiliar Spanish terms are in italics and a glossary of all such italicized words can be found in the back of the book. Most people have heard of Cortes, Montezuma, and Pizarro, but Burkholder and Johnson are especially strong on the less familiar story of what happened once the Spanish and Portuguese had taken control in the New World. This book covers only Spanish and Portuguese America, so if you are interested in the French, Dutch, or English enclaves in the Caribbean, you will need to look elsewhere. Specialists will be familiar with all the themes in this book, but for beginners it is an excellent introduction to the subject. Burkholder and Johnson periodically update the book so as to keep it on the cutting edge of current scholarship. Anyone interested in doing more research will also benefit from up-to-date bibliographies at the end of each chapter.

Latin America is a fascinating area of study. My recent grad class in the subject exposed me to much new material such as this book (our basic text)

Burkholder and Johnson have done an exhausative study of both poltical and cultural history of Spanish & Portuguese colonial America. They covered the various periods of the colonies under expansionism, Imperial neglience, Bourbon reforms,and the rebellions that gave the region its freedom from the mother country.

The detail is impressive. Shipping numbers, industrial production, political reform, the lives of the majority Indians and Metizo commoners...it's all here. Slavery in all it's permutations is covered as well as the absurd attempts to name the various racial combinations that resulted in a multi cultural society.

For both the novice and the dedicated historian, this book cannot come highly recommended enough.

I have to give this book a good review because I got an A in Dr. Lyman Johnson's (the book's co-author with Mark Burkholder) Colonial Latin America class at UNC Charlotte - of course he made us buy this book as the required textbook! Johnson was a fasinating storyteller and quite a funny lecturer, and he really knows his stuff. He's one of the best professors on the UNC-Charlotte faculty.

The book is full of information with a simple and concise organization. Latin America's colonial period was long and complex yet simple at the same time, and this book explains it well. The Spanish conquest of Mexico has to be one of the most interesting events in human history.

My complaint is that Dr. Johnson was such a joy in the classroom, but the humor and wit did not translate to the book.

I thought I knew Cuba, having been there over 5 times. This book gave excellent insight into the real Cuba, and has inspired a trip I plan to take this summer.

In 1994 Jerzy Adamuszek flew from Montreal to Varadero, but upon arrival he left the usual tourist track and began cycling around the country on his own. He was there just before Fidel opened the country to limited private enterprise and his deadpan account is a wonderful record of the way the country was in those days. This book isn't going the make you want to bicycle around Cuba - and Adamuszek himself doesn't recommend it - but it will reveal how Cubans away from the tourist enclaves really are. It's a classic in the bicycle travel writing genre.

I met Jerzy on the corner of 86th street personally selling his book and chatting with passersby. I bought the book based on his radiant look. A man pursuing his dreams to the fullest with clarity and courage. The book is just as I expected. I encourage all those with the ability to explore the road less traveled (so to speak) to read this book!

I spent two weeks traveling through Cuba, staying with families and exploring the non-touristy world of the island. But Adamuszek, with the eyes of someone who grew up in Eastern Europe, sees a dimension of Cuba that my American eyes couldn't. Reading this travel memoir was fascinating for the author is not only insightful, but with delightful commentary observes the life of the Cuban people at a critical time in the island's history. For anyone who wants to read about adventure, politics, and the human spirit, this book will more than satisfy.

I grew up on the Mexican border, and Langewiesche beautifully captures the schizophrenic love/hate relationship entangling the two sides. He writes with the clean, precise lines of the journalist, but gives the end result a spin of philosophy that could only come from really feeling the people and places he visits. Much like his second work, "Sahara Unveiled", this is much more than reportage. It's too bad not more people have read this book...I think it would greatly help Americans' understanding of border relations.

As a former City Manager of Marfa, Texas, I have observed and experienced first hand many of the incidents described in the book. For instance, the morning gathering of area ranchers at the former Thunderbird Restaurant, totally devoid of Hispanic participants; the persistent overtones of bigotry amoung many of the well established Anglo citizens;and, there are still semblances of the old "Patron" system alive and well.

While I can't prove that my dismissal from my position as City Manager was based on the fact that I am Hispanic, I have no doubt that the racial aspect played a part in the decision to terminate my services. Many local residents have told me that the Mayor could not stand a smart well-educated Mexcican making him look bad.

In any event, the description of Marfa and the region surrounding it are all surprising accurate. The author most certainly has a deep sense of morality, and an uncanny method of lucidly describing people, situations, and injustices.

A very good read about the tense and diverse relations that exist at the Mexican - U.S. border. Author is a good storyteller, and offers great detail. A must for anyone seeking to understand our neighbor to the South.

In the 21st century, the United States will finally acknowledge that it's a largely spanish-speaking country. Meanwhile, Mexico remains a mystery to many of us. Not after reading this book: Without descending into a morass of facts, we learn about the essence of the place, and its relationship to the US. A well-written treatment with respect for its subject.

THE DARIEN GAP: TRAVELS IN THE RAINFOREST OF PANAMA is a fine pick for any who would read adventure travel at its most gripping, and for general-interest libraries catering to armchair travel and adventure audiences. It tells of the author's twenty years of travel in Central and South America, fascinated by tales of the Colombian outpost Darien, a sanctuary for guerrillas and a long-time haven for spies, pirates and treasure hunters.

Martin Mitchinson's "The Darien Gap" is a wonderful book, a great collection of histories, mythologies, and personal adventures and reflections. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in traveling in Central America, as well as for anyone who loves good, and thoughtful travel writing.

In a place that is infamous for kidnappings, Colombian Guerrillas, and thick jungles, Mitchinson performs the unthinkable act of remaining in the region for a year and a half to gather together Darien's many stories into a book that is a pleasure to read. In a series of wonderfully-crafted vignettes, Mitchinson writes with a very personal voice to bring Darien's jungle to the reader - from the 65 million years of ancient geological formation, to native histories, pirates, eccentrics, and ridiculous canal schemes that are part of Darien's past and present.

This book has just been released, but I've found a handful of early reviews:

"What Mitchinson has produced, with bugs, mud, graces, dangers, superstitions and all... is a wonderfully entertaining book full of close observation and flourishes of poetry."

- Garry Geddes, poet and author of "Kingdom of Ten Thousand Things"
_____________________

"... impressive and compelling..."

"... threading the history of the area, with accounts of its indigenous peoples and early explorations, into a dramatic and involving tapestry. There is much humor here,... passages of genuine suspense, including a harrowing account of a near-drowning in a jungle river..."

- The Vancouver Sun
_____________________

"... the summer's best read."

- The North Island Midweek
_____________________

"...hairy enough to scare even the most intrepid armchair traveler. But the stories that he tells of this wild barrier make his book come doubly alive.

Combining one part history with one part travelogue... escape reading at its best."

-The Sun Times
_____________________

"... personal anecdotes are lush with honesty and sparse with reservation... it sucks you from your reading chair only to plant you in the mangrove swamps of the Darien Gap."

"...intriguing tale connects the reader to Mitchinson, the people of Darien and the Darien province itself."

- Comox Valley Record

The Darien Gap beautifully weaves together the local politics, geological and colonial history with native folklore in a personal voice. Finally, a travel book not focused on some hero conquering a new land. Mitchinson brings honesty and humor at his own discomfort. He offers a well researched story of a patch of jungle that "is the only missing link in what would otherwise be 16000 miles of uninterupted highway from Alaska to Tierra Del Fuego". The book is brilliant!

This is a marvellous read and a marvellous exploration. Author Martin Mitchinson takes us through a remote corner of the Panamanian rainforest on a journey that is paradoxically both leisurely and exhausting. At his side we undergo a full range of jungle miseries, both grim and entertaining, dipping pleasantly all the while into byways of history, geography and legend.
Whether he was enduring perilous hours in a dugout canoe or trekking painfully across the continental divide, Mitchinson held me captivated. By turns I laughed out loud at encounters with endearing characters or was moved by rippling passages of poetry and philosophy.
At its best, and in common with the best of books and journeys, The Darien Gap transforms one's vision of life and of the world. Highly recommended.

This is a book that is easy to read. It beautifully explains many of the Navajo stories of their creation. There is humor, pathos and much wisdom.
If you read it, you will see parallels to other stories of creation.
A lovely book to read any time, but especially if you are planning to visit the American southwest. You will appreciate New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado in a heightened way, seeing sacred spots to the Navajo and understanding why they are to be respected.

This book is about the creation of life. How human beings evolved in a world that had kaos. This tale includes many different worlds, in which life was discovered. Many gods have created human life to bring forth to what we arrived to today, but the only thing to destroy us is kaos. Hatred among both sexes causes the seperation which leads to longing for one another. Among the humans, anxiety was brought to the world and the gods who created the world, got angey. So the gods took action and destroyed the world by pushing all forms of life out almost killing everyone, but the humans were the smartest and emerged into the next world which is known today

There are several versions of the Navajo Creation Story known but Paul Zolbrod has captured the most plausible and accepted rendition in print. Most Navajos that I know accept this text as adequate and feel that the author's treatment of the subject matter is fair and sensitive to a very vital element of Dine' culture. Many Navajos, especially elders will say that the material printed in this book used to be reserved for the sweat hooghan and special times between family members but understand that now things have changed and accept the publication of very special and sensitive aspects of a great peoples' religion, as long as it is done under the auspices of the Navajo Nation. Perhaps in time others will publish material more to the needs of Navajo scholars but to this day this book is the literary standard of the creation stories.

Paul Zolbrod does a fine job of collating his own transcriptions of Navajo oral traditions with the records of other scholars from decades past to create a seamless narration of the Navajo story of creation. This is a valuable contribution to a deeper understanding of a specific native American culture.

Hodagneu-Sotelo's poignant look at the lives of Latina immigrants in Domestica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence, can be a source of enlightenment as well as a sort of "how-to" manual for any employer or employee in the nanny/housekeeper and house cleaning fields. The author argues that the women in these types of work continually battle for basic employee rights: adequate pay and set hours free from discrimination, harassment, and substandard working conditions. She addresses issues of long hours, unreasonable demands, alienation, and the reasons that the workers stay in these situations; fear of retaliation from employers and deportation.
Although a bit verbose, this book is packed with valuable information and resources that the reader is sure to use or be able to pass along to someone else. It is a meritable attempt at expressing the angst felt by Latina immigrants and the unresponsive attitude of the employer. It does tend to come across as a bit one-sided, due partly because not many employers or employees were willing to participate in her research efforts, but is still a great and easy read.

In Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo's Doméstica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadow of Affluence, readers explore, along with the researcher, an oft overlooked element of domestic labour in America. In examining this particular manifestation between the haves and have little, Hondagneu-Sotelo has provided a "scholarly" treatment where Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed fell short. This is by no means an indictment of Ehrenreich's work, quite the contrary. Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed is approachable by the many levels of readers that seek to understand the phenomenon of the working poor and their interaction with affluent Americans (here, I speak specifically of Ehrenreich's chapter two titled "Scrubbing in Maine"). However, in Doméstica, Hondagneu-Sotelo has opted to focus her research on immigrant domestic workers, specifically Mexican and Central American women in Los Angeles. In so doing, her research provides insight into the minds and worlds of both parties who engage in what can easily be termed a "love hate" relationship; one where, out of necessity, both the employer and employees are in need of one another. In addition, Doméstica serves to highlight some of the struggles of members of America's largest "minority" population (be they documented or otherwise). While Hondagneu-Sotelo relegates her analysis and interviews to women in the Los Angeles area, this reviewer is of the opinion that her research may well be duplicated in other cities with similar populations and yield like outcomes.

Reading this work, I began pondering the future of work and workers and four questions came to mind: (1) As America becomes more diverse, will the question of immigrants holding less than desirable positions along the socio-economic margins become of increasing interest to researchers and politicians such that worker-friendly policies emerge? (2) If so, what forms will later policy manifestations assume? (3) What will such a shift mean for the future of economic relations between these two disparate groups? (4) Also, will America continue to marginalize employees that hold the critical job of caring for our young such that we ensure a future of troubled youth due to attachments to caregivers and the familial realities of economic and social stratification? History has shown if we ignore questions not unlike these, problems are sure to result.

Historically, "love labor" had been performed, initially, by captive African American women and later those under strict laws (Jim Crow) of mobility, both physical and social. With the relative ascension of African Americans into the socio-economic sphere of marginal acceptance in America, certain forms of work are left to the cheaper, and sometimes unpaid, labor force of immigrant women. Increasingly, such workers are admitted into affluent homes in America through informal networks. For this brief iteration, we consider Hondagneu-Sotelo's Part Two titled "Finding Hard Work Isn't Easy." Here, Hondagneu-Sotelo discusses the other worldly process where women in need of domestic workers and the women in need of domestic work come in contact with one another.

This "whole other world" is highlighted when Hondagneu-Sotelo writes, "most prospective employers looking for paid domestic workers in Los Angeles bypass employment agencies, newspaper ads, or other formal job announcements, which they find expensive, slow, and unreliable. Instead the majority rely on their co-workers, neighbors, friends, and relatives when they seek domestic help" (63). This in itself is telling in that it pulls from Granovetter's theory of the strength of weak ties as mentioned in Deirdre Royster's Race and the Invisible Hand. Applied to Hondagneu-Sotelo's work, there exist, in the domestic worker community, ties that allow for a potential employer in need of workers to gain access to a network of domestic workers with the ability to refer friends and/or family members to employers in need of domestic assistance. Additionally, such a process not only allows for a socially and economically unequal relationship to ensue and continue for years in some cases, it also provides the foundation for further entrenchment of unequal employee and employer relations rooted in economic exploitation.

Whereas many of these workers are not earning a living wage, some employers exercise great pains not to flaunt their affluence. In one telling moment, Hondagneu-Sotelo writes, "some employers try to snip off the price tags on new clothing and home furnishings before the Latina domestic workers read them because they fear the women will compare the prices of those items with their wages - which they invariably do. While some employers often feel guilty about 'having so much' around someone who 'has so little,' the women who do the work resent not their affluence but the job arrangements, which generally afford the workers little in the way of respect and living wages" (xi-xii). In this instance, we witness the uneasy but, to the employer, necessary relationship between the affluent employer and the unaffluent worker. Additionally, we note how workers, through Hondagneu-Sotelo's in-depth interviews, indicate that they would rather that requests come not "as a symbol of servitude and a humiliating affront" to one's dignity, but that their work is seen for what it is, essential to the functioning of the household in which they are employed (145).

In producing a work with statistical data on domestic labor in Los Angeles, coupled with the voices of women on both sides of the issue, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo has done an admirable job of broaching the subject of the uneasy relationship between affluent women who require domestic assistance and unaffluent immigrant employees that work and, in some cases, live among them. Of the many good points in this work, her in-depth interviews with employees and employers are most revealing. Not unlike the work of Ehrenreich in Nickel and Dimed and Katherine S. Newman in No Shame in My Game, Hondagneu-Sotelo allows readers to, as Newman suggested, gain a clearer understanding of the interconnections between people and networks that a purely quantitative work would not permit. That being said, this reviewer applauds Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and her effort to provide a clearer understanding of the women we see on train platforms and in bus terminals that dot American cities and suburbs of affluence.

First let me begin by saying that this is an interesting read. You basically learn about domestic workers (live in nannies, home cleaners). The author gives you alot of information, in fact I would say that she gives you a plethora of information. As such it took me over a month to finish this book, and the fact.

Basically, the two problems I have with this book are 1. The author's monolithically leftist viewpoint (which seems to be common in books like this), 2. The hard time she has getting to the point. In particular comments like "Some feminist theorists, especially those influenced by Marxist thought, have used the term "social reproduction" or "reproductive labor"..." (Page 23) or "The United States has a long history of incorporating people of color through coercive systems of labor...slavery and contract labor systems...today, international labor migration and the job characteristics of paid domestic work" (Page 51)

Again the biggest problem I have with this book/writer is the use of a marxist/conflict theory filter in regards to analyzing domestic worker (as in us [domestic workers and their allies] vs them [middle class homeowners who employ domestic workers]). When if you actually take a moment, breath and impartially assess the facts the relationship is more of a symbiotic/functionalist/"we need each other" type deal in which two autonomous human beings are simply trying to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Now what I do like... There is some great information presented in this book. 1. Domestic workers are entitled to minimum wage like normal employees and can sue for backwages. 2 Live-in housekeeper is a common first job of immigrants to the United States and as such is very important to economic integration of immigrants (legal and illegal alike).

Basically, you learn all about domestic work in all it's most interesting facets. An example being spoiled children who are hell for their domestic workers, and the situation is compounded because consciquences for bad behavior are underminded by the parents. Or usage of prozac and ritalin by parents for behavior modification of children and the avoidance of direct confrontation between domestic workers and their employees and many other interesting facts concerning the profession.

Because of how interesting this book is I'm giving it 4/5 stars (although I'm tempted to give it 3/5 because of the marxist rhetoric).

Dr. Hondagneu-Sotelo's beautifully written work takes the reader into the world of Latina nannies and housekeepers, showcasing the women's own voices and perspectives while maintaining an academic's sharp-eyed analysis. She chronicles the difficulties of domestic workers while still acknowledging their ability to impact their own work environments. One of the strengths of Hondagneu-Sotelo's book is the analysis of class inequality, particularly the ways that employers awkwardly handle their own discomfort with their priviledge. Her conclusions, rather than knee-jerk dismissals of domestic labor, suggest ways that domestic employment can be viewed as the job it is. The author's thoughts on her own position to her research subject in the preface is worth the price of the book. This book recently won five awards from different sociological organizations, and deservedly so.