Central America Books

This is comparative history at its very best. Elliott superbly describes and chronicles the history of the British and Spanish exploration and colonization of the Americas, as well as the process whereby both the British American and Spanish American colonial societies brought about their independence from the imperial governments. It is a comprehensive, detailed, and yet highly readable overview of the political, economic, social, military, and religious forces at play in the Americas during the time period. Elliott goes beyond the telling of historical events and facts, to provide analysis and interpretation of why history unfolded as it did. The writing is excellent and clearly reflects a highly learned historian who has the ability to tell history in a an engaging manner. His juxtaposition and comparison of British and Spanish America in a single volume results in a very interesting and stimulating way to learn about the two empires. The book contains very attractive end papers, a number of excellent maps and numerous color plates. Very highly recommended.

Elliott delivers the masterpiece that those who study the Atlantic World have been waiting for. The idea of studying history from the perspective of the Atlantic has been growing in popularity and worth taking a further look at. Britain and Spain established mammoth empires and Elliot looks at their rise and fall. He also considers other powers including the French and Dutch but focuses mainly on the first two mentioned. The age of exploration is put in context and in true Atlantic fashion the slave trade and development in Latin America are very important. The revolutions of the Atlantic world are very clearly explained in this book and Elliott leaves you wondering where else this field can go. Elliott writes very well and this book is a must read for those who want to consider how the Atlantic world impacted Europe and the United States.

In Empires of the Atlantic World, Professor Elliot compares and contrasts Spanish colonial America with British colonial America. I am not aware of any other books that take this is their subject, and I think that it is worthy of attention. Elliot presents 2 very different experiences in terms of government, economy, and culture. For instance, the Spanish conquistadors came upon a very highly centralized political structure, which they were able to penetrate (and co-opt for their own rule) with relative ease. This enabled them to retain the tributary labor system of the Aztecs and Incas, which they labeled the encomienda system. The British in North America did not have the same experience, as the Indians there tended to be far more decentralized. This forced the British to pursue a far different strategy in their efforts at conquest. Also, the scarcity of gold and silver in North America forced the British to diversify the colonial economy, leading to a more developed economic scene.

Additionally, I found Elliot's side-by-side discussion (between the British and the Spanish) of various other colonial themes to be well-developed. In particular, he goes into considerable detail in contrasting Spain's Catholic-only policy in the Americas with the religious diversity that existed in the British colonies. At the same time, he also explores the very different attitudes that the British and the Spanish had toward the Indians, and how those differing attitudes shaped political and social orders in the 2 regions (look at the large "Mestizo" population that exists in many parts of Latin America today, in contrast to the relatively small population within the United States). For instance, the Spanish sought to bring the Indians into the Catholic Church (witness the significant presence of the Catholic Church in the colonies), and even (theoretically) included a measure of legal protection for Indians within the encomienda system. On the other hand, the British did not make christianizing the Indians a high priority, nor did they concern themselves wth any legal protections for the Indians (a notable exception to this was William Penn).

Elliot gives a great deal of space to discussing how the political and religious regimes that existed in Great Britain and Spain were transferred to these nation's respective American colonies. For example, the British colonists were nurtured, to some degree, by the growing "liberal" ideas that were coming out of Great Britain at the start of the 1700s, while Spanish colonists had no such ideas to turn to (at least none in Spanish). Moreover, British control over its colonies was relatively decentralized (many of the colonies were private or corporate, and all enjoyed a measure of self-government), though Spanish colonies were under the tight grip of the Spanish monarchy. Finally, Elliot demonstrates how both Great Britain and Spain began to "reform" their administrative policies vis-a-vis the colonies, and how those reforms triggered colonial resentment (though the 2 nations had different results in quashing this resentment).

This well written and well organized book is a careful synthesis of the enormous secondary literatures on colonial British America and colonial Spanish America. Elliott provides a pair of parallel narrative overviews of British and Spanish America from their foundings to the revolutions that severed ties to their home nations. The narratives provide the basis for some comparative analysis that recurs throughout the book.

Knowledgeable readers will probably be familiar with much of the narrative about British North America. Much of the information about Spanish North American will probably be new to many readers (like me). For example, the small British settlements of the 17th century were dwarfed by the scope of the Spanish colonial enterprise. When Boston and Philadelphia were modest seaports, Spanish America boasted several large cities. At the time of Harvard's foundation, Spanish America already possessed several universities.

Elliott divides this book into three sections; Occupation, Consolidation, and Emancipation. Occupation is devoted to the initial experience of exploration, colonization, and encounters with the native peoples of the Americas. The chapters in Consolidation describe the development of mature colonial economies and imperial government, the challenge of developing European style societies in radically different circumstances, and the sense of identities developed in these new societies. Emancipation describes the 18th century conflicts between the metropolitan centers and the colonies, particularly as London and Madrid attempted to develop closer control and upset traditional arrangements. All chapters are particularly good combinations of political, economic, and social history.

Elliott points out the common problems faced by both British and Spanish colonial efforts but also how the different features of the home nations and different circumstances in the Americas produced different outcomes. The Spanish, for example, were confronted with very large native populations that they attempted to incorporate into their empire. This fact, plus traditions inherited from the Reconquista, would contribute to the generation of the very racially differentiated society in much of Spanish America. The existence of enormous silver deposits in Mexico and Peru drove the Spanish Crown to exercise considerably closer control of its colonies than the British monarchy would exercise over its colonies.

In his comparative analysis, Elliott deals with the major differences in British and Spanish America, and implicitly how they led to such differing outcomes after the revolutions at the end of the 18th century. Elliott's answers are surprisingly traditional. He stresses the centralized bureaucratic nature of the Spanish empire, the more 'commercial' nature of British settlements, the religious pluralism of the British colonies, and the more liberal/representative political traditions that the British brought with them. Elliott is careful to point out that many of these ultimately beneficial features were essentially inadvertant. If the English crown had been stronger or if rich gold mines had been found in the Blue Ridge mountains, the path of British colonization might well have been closer to the Spanish model.

This was an eye-opener for me as I knew very little on Spain's American territories, besides brief descriptions of some of the conquistadors such as Cortes and Pizzarro. What Elliott has done in this book is to show the comparisons and contrasts between England's New World Colonies and Spain's. There are many fascinating facets underlaying the reasons for acquiring these territories, how both sides viewed their mission and goals, and how they governed them. This is without a doubt a remarkable book that revealed a lot for me.

The first colonization was begun by the Spanish in the early 16th Century. The English made their first successful attempt in the early 17th Century. Both South and North America posed different challenges for both governments, i.e. the size of the indigenous populations, the geography and climate, natural resources and so forth. For me, the real fascination was learning more about the Spanish colonies and the establishment of the viceroyalties of New Spain (based in Mexico City) and Peru (based in Lima) with additional ones developing over time. The interaction with the natives, the attempts at Christianization, trade, and many other aspects of Spain's colonization were quite enlightening.

Being more familiar with United States history, I felt more familiar with the material covered on England's planting of settlers in Jamestown and later in New England. However, the real education was in Elliott's efforts to show how each of these two powers (Spain and England) confronted the realities and challenges of establishing their presence in these very different regions. The differences were often quite stark. Some of the points of contrast that most differentiated the two powers included each nation's attitude towards the Indians (including the attempts or lack of evangelization) and the extent of imperial bureaucracy brought over from the mother countries.

Elliott also describes how world events had helped to shape and or guide the developments that occurred in both country's territories. The Reformation, the British Commonwealth under Cromwell, the Restoration, the Glorious Revolution, the French and Indian War, the French Revolution and so forth, all served as factors in shaping the events that transpired in North and South America. The role of various monarchs, religious, military and political leaders, as well as indigenous leaders, are also discussed.

Elliott does try to take an even-handed approach in acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of both government's endeavors. Of course it goes without saying that the notion of empire, with the connotations of exploitation of natives and their cultures, is unpopular in most peoples minds nowadays. Yes, it was and remains a blot on the records of all nations that engaged in replacing the livelihoods and cultures (sometimes more like extermination) of indigenous peoples, or those who engaged in the slave trade, but we must keep in mind that we have to try to keep modern standards in check for historical purposes.

This is such a broad subject that I find it hard to even begin to touch on more specific details found in this book; I'm just trying to outline the broader contours of Elliott's book. Having some introduction to this time period will help you, but you need not be an expert on this particular topic. An illuminating read.

Mike has done an awesome job. This is a well researched, excellent book.

Highly recommended!

It obvious the the author has done his research and is very familiar with Houston. This guide is easy to navigate and simple to follow. Houston, has so many restaurants and it's good to know where to get a bargain, even if ur a native. Might i say though if you are a first time houston visitor, splerge at least one night and go to Cafe Annie, or Marks, or Tony's, or America's, or Ruggles and live a little, I mean Houston has so many great restaurants that are well worth the steap price, just use the money u saved buying this guide used on amazon and with the knowledge u aquire there in and go treat yourself, Houston is blessed with some of the best restaurants in the country, you only live once, right?

I lived in Houston for many years, and I am impressed by how well this author knows the Houston restaurant scene. He truly did not leave out any of the tasty cheap restaurants in the city. He even mentions some of the really good but more expensive ones in a special section and guides readers to hard-to-find cuisines like Guatemalan. This is a fantastic book for both locals and visitors.

Odin be praised for I love this book! Whenever I'm in town (I'm a Londoner), I don't hesitate to use this book to choose my family's next dining adventure.

The details and descriptions of the food and establishments you cannot find in any other Houston publication.

If I ever meet Mike, I will give him one love filled sucker punch!

This book is exactly what it claims to be. Well written, and thorough. Mike seems to know of every cheap eatery in the city, and gives a comprehensive review of each. A salivating read!

This collection is among my favorites published in recent years. Janet McAdams lyrically links the personal with the political. Her work is engaging, memorable, passionate, yet not didactic--some poems will even keep you awake at night. Many poems reward multiple re-readings. I'm already looking forward to her next book.

As a poet myself, I can only stand in awe of the work in "Island of Lost Luggage." Janet Mc Adams is a major talent. I've turned my initial envy of her gift into a goad to write better and wider myself.

This Island of Lost Luggage is wonderful. Janet McAdams's poems are lyrical and gritty at the same time, swollen with life, drenched with place, and she never seems to take the easy way in or out. Highly recommended!

I used to write poetry, even studied with some of the greats, including C.K. Williams, Ellen Voight and Louise Gluck. But I found that in any workshop, I could rarely tell a great poem from a mediocre one. This made me feel less than smart about poetry. Janet McAdams has helped revive my love for the form, and my sense of poetic savvy. For with "Island of Lost Luggage" I Know I'm in the presence of Great poetry. That is clear from page one. How to say why this is Great isn't as easy, but I'll venture the following: Mc Adams is gifted with rich language, of course, but she is a more than a fine wordsmith. She takes on issues that have huge resonance, that go beyond any mere narcissim. Each time I enter one of her poetic worlds I find more layers within it, more associations building within me. So, Thanks Ms. McAdams for restoring my poetic sensitivity, and for this wonderful book, a gem, that's most highly recommended for all readers, lovers of poetry or not.

Even if poetry isn't your "thing" this book, given the quiet and serious attention it deserves, will unlock many mysteries. Highly Recommended.

For a Confederate examination, Steven Woodworth's book is essential reading in understanding the complex relationships between President Davis and his western theater leaders. Peppered throughout the book are insightful examinations of such generals as Beauregard, Polk, Van Dorn, Albert Sydney Johnston, Joe Johnston, Bragg, and Hood. Woodworth delves into Davis' leadership weaknesses by showing that his health problems and his lack of humility and people-skills (he would have six different War Secretaries) increased his inability to cooperate with others. His unyielding loyalty to promote incompetent friends to high positions routinely injected failure and casualties in campaigns, but Davis refused to bow to the facts and remove them. Woodworth wraps up his analysis with a fair theory that interconnecting these problems was Davis' hesitancy and indecision. The president often submitted suggestions and not orders in correspondence and he falsely believed backbiting and arrogant generals would just cooperate towards the common cause. His inability to provide unifying command authority, especially over the Mississippi River region further fractured what little strategy existed. Woodworth's analysis is a rare addition in the often-neglected study of western command. It is insightful, extremely well-wrttien, and engrossing.

I re-read Woodworth's excellent treatise on Jefferson Davis and his involvement in the Western Theater. The chapters are succinct and focus more on strategy than in specific battle details. My favorite parts are the reviews at the end of each chapter. I have always believed that Lee's strategy to invade the North rather than deploying his forces in the West was a major blunder. If there is one salient point that screams from this book it is that Jeff Davis' personal relationships with his generals (Polk??) definitely was a detriment to his decision making. This book should be required reading for high school and undergraduate students. Indeed any leader could profit from the analysis and history rendered here.

This book is a must read to understand the generals, campaigns, strategy, and the thinking of Jefferson Davis in the Western Theater. The book is well-written, informative, and features good analysis of the differing generals, Davis' actions, and some very good mini-biographies of the major players. Although the book does not go into major detail about specific battles, Woodworth does give a good overview of the major campaigns and battles of the West. The book also has some interesting theories on why Davis failed in the West. Although I disagreed with some of Woodworth's conclusions, especially regarding Braxton Bragg's capabilities as a commander, I found his arguments well-reasoned, although I thought he went out of his way to bash James Longstreeet. The major sticking point I had with the book was Woodworth's analysis on Bragg and his theory that J.E. Johnston thought the CSA's cause was doomed so he didn't really try to win. I thought that was utter nonsense, but that was really my only quarrel with the book. Well-written, informative, just an excellent book.

Seemingly endless Civil War books are written rehashing every minute move of Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia. There are far fewer that cover the situation of the Confederacy's western armies and generals, despite, or perhaps because of the fact that it was in the west that the Confederacy lost the war. With Jefferson Davis and His Generals: The Failure of Confederate Command in the West, Steven E. Woodworth steps up to fill this gap with a first rate book that every serious student of the Civil War should read. He presents a clear and reasoned argument that the failure of the Confederacy in the west was not due to the quality or quantity of its armies or even of its supplies, but a direct result of a monumental failure in its high command.
Woodworth writes of Jefferson Davis as a man who seemed to be eminently and uniquely qualified to become commander in chief of the Confederacy. He was a West Point graduate, a Mexican War hero, had served as a particularly effective secretary of war under President Franklin Pierce, and had been a United States senator. He understood politics, and he clearly understood war. His resolve for his cause, like his loyalty to his friends, was unshakable. Contained within these impressive qualifications and traits, however, were flaws and blind spots that would severely hinder Davis' management of the war in the west, where he had no Lee to take charge. Foremost of these faults was a lack of judgement when appointing friends as generals, and unreasonable loyalty to them thereafter. Compounding these problems was a fierce pride in his own military judgement that left him unable to acknowledge and correct mistakes. Finally, his pride led him into bitter personal feuds with key generals that hindered his ability to utilize them to the fullest.
Woodworth follows Davis' moves in the west, from his initial organization of the Western theater, through the high stakes game played and eventually lost to gain Kentucky for the Confederacy, to the crisis at Shiloh, where with the death of General Albert Sidney Johnston, the Western Confederacy lost its best hope for competent command. The catastrophe of the loss of Vicksburg, the disastrous infighting among the generals under Bragg in the Army of Tennessee, the loss of Tennessee, the Atlanta Campaign, and Hood's final failed campaign are all covered. In each instance, Woodworth notes the command decisions that Davis made, or failed to make, in the crisis. At the end of each chapter, he summarizes and critiques Davis' performance, highlighting areas where Davis was at least partly responsible for the problems, as well as pointing out where he performed as well as could have been expected.
Woodworth clearly has a strongly opinionated point of view. He is nearly unique among the Civil War historians that I have read in his spirited defense of General Braxton Bragg as a competent commander, and lays all of the blame for the failure of Bragg's campaigns on incompetent and insubordinate generals under his command, chiefly Davis' personal friend General Leonidas Polk. He also repeatedly accused General Joseph Johnston of lacking a will to win, and of never believing that the Confederacy could win the war. While many will disagree with these positions, his boldness in stating them is characteristic of the bold approach that is evident throughout his book.
Jefferson Davis and His Generals is a bold, original work, that addresses a theme that is too often neglected in Civil War studies. It is consistently engaging, insightful, and controversial. It is clearly written, well researched, and a pleasure to read. I consider it to be among the very best books that I have read on the Civil War, and would recommend it highly, especially to those with a specific interest in the war in the west.

Theo Logos

Insightful and thought provoking analysis of what Davis did and did not do to save the West. I feel this is a very important book and one that a serious student of the war should read. Additionally, I feel that this book should be read after Connelly and Horn to preserve a balanced picture. Woodworth presents a more favorable view of Bragg than I have seen from other authors. Some of this is fair and some maybe the author's perceptions of Bragg. It takes getting used to and the more you know about Bragg and his failings the better off you are. He scores many good points and made me modify my view of Bragg and the problems he had with Polk and Hardee.

His treatment of Jefferson Davis is very fair. His points are valid and well supported, showing where Davis did well and where he did poorly. The reasons for the decisions are supported and logical, given Davis' personality. This is the best part of the book and balances the blame the "Eastern Block" that is found in other books.

I am less happy with his treatment of Longstreet, feeling that he has accepted the "Lost Cause Myth" and not explored the situation. Rather than dismiss Longstreet, I would have liked to see an explanation of his relationship with Davis and Lee's influence in this area.

This is a well written, easy to read informative book. Not without faults but a valuable addition to my ACW library.

Very sad, but an honest depiction of a part of Guatemala that we were exposed to during our recent visit. The poverty seemed crippling, and children in work roles were very common.

I love this book. Working in a library, I've been happy to be able to show it to so many people. The hero has a hard life and a mother who doesn't love him. But he has a roof over his head at his grandmother's house, and a simple determination to work, to help, and to learn.

There's an indescribable feel to this book, almost a scent, different from any other book. It really is a masterpiece.

I am from Guatemala City and currently living in the US, I read this book with my daughter and she loved it, this book has helped me to explain some of my culture to her. She knows that "anyplace can be the most beautiful place in the world..."

I have read this book aloud to my first and second grade students for years. It is an excellent story, well told, with all the realities of a different culture in a different situation than USA children. However, it is painted with the strokes of deepest, realistic love that a family can have. This is a great story to teach and talk about the struggles of families everywhere, the world and it's differences, and the importance of character "no matter what". It is the book my second graders yearn to read on their own and therefore is a super motivator. It is rich in geography.

The story that I read was really snappy and cool. It's called The Most Beautiful Place in the World By Ann Cameron. There was a boy named Juan and his grandmother. There was also Juan's mom. It takes place in San Pablo, Guatamala. The problem is she leaves him for ever and his mom doesn't let him visit her. He really loves his mom after his dad left them.Some one would want to read this book because its really sad and who ever loves tragedy or not it's a really good book.I recommend this book to people of any age.

My family and I have all read this book and enjoyed it immensely.It was doubly enjoyable since we know the family personally. It's a good book for family reading and Myrna's writing style makes for easy reading.

Every family should be so lucky as to have a
Myrna. Together with an amazing memory
and talent for writing, she has the gift of
compassion. And from an ex-Zonian..."Thanks,
Myrna, for reminding us of things which we
grew up taking for granted."

I was born in Panama of mixed ancestry, and there reared for 13 years before leaving in 1944. Therefore, I can attest to the author writing knowingly and ofttimes movingly of her protagonists in the time-frame and geo-space introduced in Onward Peregrinos.

Ms. Erickson bring's a female's perspective to the maturation of the free spirited 1st born daughter, Niza. Niza, offspring of Glover Boynton - an older American adventurer - who marries a young lady, Maria, in her home country of Ecuador in the 1920s. The family , eventually growing to 6 children, weave between the U.S. and the tropics.

The mid-section of the book seats the Boynton family in the Canal Zone (1930-1952), and it is there that Niza acquires the seeds that subsequently flower into a poised, confident woman who dares to achieve her ambitions in the central coastal zone of CA.

The author crafts her tale well; it has color and interest. The work -overall- merits your reading.

I highly recommend this book. There is so much worth reading about a strip of land that was transformed from jungle into a delightfully livable home away from home that will be immortalized for centuries, The Panama Canal Zone.

I devoured this book because I could relate to it. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. The author accurately described life in the Panama Canal Zone, which is a unique place, at a dynamic time in history. It is a wonderful story of adventure and family love that takes place in Ecuador, Florida, Panama Canal Zone and Central California. I recommend it to everyone.

This book was a favorite with my second-grade son. Not only is the story suspenseful (to keep a young reader's attention) but it has lots of educational stuff in it about pirates, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and sailing. As a mom, I love that this new series is educational as well as fun for readers. I vote it one of my favorites for my kids to read.

My third-grade class went crazy over this story about pirates. The book was a little scary at times, but the author managed to tone the scary parts down, so that what was left was an interesting and exciting tale about pirates. The book is also filled with many facts about pirates. I love how this author manages to include educational facts in the story, so that kids learn without even realizing it. I'm a huge fan of this new series. Hopefully, there will be many more adventures to come.

Pirates in Paradise is the forth book in the Incredible Journey Series. These books feature brothers Max and Sam as the two find themselves on exciting adventures around the world. In the first book of the series, Criminals in the Caymans, the boys were mysteriously sent an old leather journal and a map labeled Max and Sam's Incredible Journey Map. During each new adventure, a letter suddenly appears on this map. So far, they had a W (on the Cayman Islands), a T (on Tahiti), and an S (on Africa). Now, there's a D on the Virgin Islands.

We've all heard stories about the pirates of old. Greedy and dangerous, everyone feared what the pirates might do. In Pirates in Paradise, Max and Sam fight out that modern day pirates may not dress like Black Beard but they are still just as scary.

Max and Sam are about to go on a boat trip through the Caribbean with their father. They are looking forward to the trip except for one thing - both have been having nightmares about pirates. Their father tries to reassure them, but it turns out they may have reason to be worried. Soon their peaceful trip through the Caribbean turns outs to be dangerous.

Both children and their parents will enjoy "Pirates in Paradise". Children will love the adventures Mark and Sam have especially the sailing around the Caribbean. Parents will love the fact that children will learn as they are reading. The book not only teaches them about sailing and pirates, but also about various islands in the Caribbean and types of fish found there. The pirate aspects are scary, but not too scary.

Besides the story itself, there are several other things in the book. There is an ongoing story in the books in the series involving a mysterious map with a letter showing up on the map during each adventure Max and Sam have. Children will have fun trying to guess what letter will show up and what the secret message ultimately will be. At the beginning of the book there are several pages about pirates including Facts about Pirates, Pirate Phrases, A Pirate's Life, A History of Piracy, and Piracy Today. At the back of the book there are facts about the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, as well as a science experiment called "Ocean in a Bottle".

Although "Pirates in Paradise" is part of a chapter book series for ages 7 through 9 it can be read on its own. However, children will probably want to collect all the books in this fun series.

As one who has lived a good part of her life on a sailboat and who has spent many years in the Caribbean, I have to say that I enjoyed this book. My only problem was the way the author referred to Max and Sam's father as Mr. Stone. I would have liked "Dad" as the book seems to be from the children's point of view. But other than that little nit-picky thing, this is a nice little adventure story for the early reader, or one you can read to your child at bedtime.

I've been everywhere in the book and I hope it inspires children and parents alike to visit Virgin Gorda and the Baths, they are truly gorgeous. Life in the Caribbean moves at a different pace, slower, more friendly, well it wasn't so friendly to Max and Sam. From the beginning of the book when the boys spy "The Lost Soul" far away at sea, you know something is going to happen. And happen it does. Modern day pirates, who a year ago hijacked "The Lost Soul" leaving its crew abandon on a deserted island, are now after a better prize and they take over the boat Max and Sam are vacationing on, leaving Mr. Stone to go adrift, bound and gagged aboard "The Lost Soul."

Can the boys get away? Well, that is the question and why you'll be wanting to get his book to read to your child. Shiver me timbers matey, this is a book your child will love.

Reviewed by Captain Katie Osborne

This is a valuable book. "Footprint Colombia Handbook: The Travel Guide," highlights Colombia's many wonderful assets. It also warns of its potential pitfalls.

In regard to travel...this book covers all the bases. Colombia is an immense nation with outstanding hotels, magnificiant places to eat and wonderful people. Moreover, its parks and natural beauties can hardly be matched anywhere else in the world.

However, one must not ignore the subtle warnings in this text. Colombia must be approached with open eyes. It can be a wonderful experience and this book allows one to take a bite of the best the nation has to offer.

I was in Colombia for three months and used this guide continually.

Peter Pollock writes for a broad audience, but he excels in providing insightful caveats for the adventuresome and ecologically focused traveler. He has information on shipping motorcycles and automobiles to Columbia. He has an excellent section on health, and his 'Background' section is succinct and informative (History, Culture Etc.). He covers the normal tourist destinations and encourages exploration of places that 99% of visitors to Colombia would miss (Tayrona National Park, Ciudad Perdia, etc.).

His accommodations and dining recommendations are adequate, generally accurate, reliable but are becoming outdated. Luckily, although this guide has been out for three years, the prices for lodging in Colombia have stayed relatively stable and accurate and eight out of the ten hotels I selected to visit in Bogota were still open.

AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT: A serious omission for this 2000 guide is the absence of hotel web pages and hotel email addresses. Electronic addresses have become a "must have" for any competitive guide book. A good hotel web page allows you to view the property, get current rates (and specials), view the
property and rooms and make an on-line reservations. This is a must for the next edition.

Good maps are essential in a guide. Bogota, Cartagena, Barranquilla, Cali and Medellin are sprawling cities that desperately need good maps. Bogota has four maps, but they are upside down! Normally maps are oriented with North at the top of the page, not so here, North is at the bottom and South at the top. I had a hell-of-a-time orienting myself, until I got my compass out and discovered this wacko lay out.

Also confusing are references to map numbers that don't exist. Pollard mentions a number, IE in the Bogota section, 'Hacienda Santa Barbra #3 on the map', but the publisher did not print the numbers on the map. His recommended sleeping locations are noted on the maps, but not restaurants. Needless to say, this is an important area that needs significant improvement.

The above shortcomings notwithstanding, you will not want to go to Colombia without this guide. I strongly Recommend it.

I bought this book previous to my first vacation to Colombia to visit my wife's parents this year. This book is truly amazing because it explains the social and economic climate as well as providing detailed listings of destinations throughout the book, including small towns and remote destinations. Pollard's book does not ignore the fact that using common sense is important when visiting this beautiful country, but contrary to the US State Department warnings, he reminds us in his own words that this is indeed a wonderful country to visit and the people are as open and friendly as anywhere in the world. My friends and family who live in Colombia were truly impressed with the wealth of information presented in this book. The only criticism is that the book is now over three years old and some of the information regarding specific locales need updates. Overall, this may be the best travel book I have ever used.

I was in Colombia in 2000 and will go back next year. I checked on the places I know and really liked the stile and information provided. I liked the positive outlook, it warns of dangers but also makes you feel comfortable of going. I liked that. The book is compact, well organised and includes lot of unlikely and not too obvious places. It also hast lots of tips and adresses for nature travel, trecking, rafting etc.

I bought this book previous to my first vacation to Colombia to visit my wife's parents this year. This book is truly amazing because it explains the social and economic climate as well as providing detailed listings of destinations throughout the book, including small towns and remote destinations. Pollard's book does not ignore the fact that using common sense is important when visiting this beautiful country, but contrary to the US State Department warnings, he reminds us in his own words that this is indeed a wonderful country to visit and the people are as open and friendly as anywhere in the world. My friends and family who live in Colombia were truly impressed with the wealth of information presented in this book. The only criticism is that the book is now over three years old and some of the information regarding specific locales need updates. Overall, this may be the best travel book I have ever used.

"In 1949, Alexander Foote wrote a small book, "A Handbook for Spies" which contains all one needs to know to conduct espionage. Now comes another small volume, "Contra Cross", by William Meara which contains much of what one needs to understand to counter or for that matter support an insurgency. Based on his experience in El Salvador and with the Contras in Honduras/Nicaragua during the 1980's, Meara provides a crisp, thoughtful exposition of the problems and requirements for the winning of such conflicts. Meara's thoughts and experiences are well worth pondering as our nation takes on its current adversaries."

Duane Clarridge - Thirty-three year veteran of the CIA's clandestine service, Chief of CIA Latin American Division 1981-84, conceiver and chief of CIA Counterterrorism Center 1986-88, author of " The Spy for All Seasons."

The ongoing Coalition conflicts against insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated just how difficult a challenge conventional expeditionary forces face in adapting to asymmetric threats. Nowhere is this difficulty of adaptation greater than within the US Armed Forces, currently the most powerful and technologically-advanced military in the world.

What is significant is that failure to adapt at a theater, or even tactical, level engenders dysfunction at a strategic level, and creates deeply-paralyzing or divisive morale problems which eventually pervade the political structures of democratic societies. Indeed, the damage to (or impact on) the society is often evident even before the damage caused by the failure to adapt to asymmetric warfare shows up in the overall capabilities of the military forces itself. The result can often be a "hollow force": a monolithic defense structure, incapable of acting against the adversaries who besiege it daily, and yet waiting, becoming more bureaucratic by the day, for a "worthy [symmetric] adversary" who may come but once in a lifetime, if at all.

It is the persistent failure of much of the US conventional military leadership as well as the US political leadership to understand how to successfully prosecute warfare against a fluid, informal adversarial structure, operating within a broader psychopolitical environment, in Iraq (and Afghanistan) which is the Achilles Heel of the US as a strategic power into the 21st Century.

These are lessons which should have been learned after the Vietnam War ended in the 1970s. After all, the Vietnamese, the Soviets, and the leadership of the People's Republic of China (PRC) all emphasized that they had defeated the US in the media, and by sowing disenchantment (and narcotics) within US and Western society; in other words, by irregular, contextual, and psychopolitical stratagems. But peace after the Vietnam War -- as with the peace which followed World War I and World War II -- merely allowed the rump of the conventional US forces to re-assert the formal, highly-bureaucratized doctrine and methodologies which suit a rigidly hierarchical command and control system. Today's "Net-Centric Warfare", for example, is designed to use modern technologies, such as computerization and communications, imagery, and the like, to give true battlefield advantage to the field commanders, down to platoon level. Instead, it has been used repeatedly to afford centralized, remote micro-management of conflict, denying fluidity and cultural insinuation in the conflict zone by the forces there, where field officers should be able to exercise the command mandates of their commissions.

Significantly, many of the failures attributed to outgoing US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were caused by his determination to bring change and greater flexibility to the US defense structures. He may have had other failings, but his attempt to force change on the services is what created many of his enemies within the uniformed leadership, those who are reluctant to change, and to learn the lessons of history.

What better time, then, for a book about an aspect of the "lost history" of the Cold War to emerge, giving profound lessons from the battle front on the business of asymmetric warfare.

William R. Meara's new book, Contra Cross: Insurgency and Tyranny in Central America, 1979-1989, is a profound contribution to thinking about strategic doctrine, as the US -- and all major industrial powers -- face a watershed of introspection following the US electorate's decision to essentially retire from the global battlefield. Meara's great contribution is the fact that his book recounts the impact of doctrine and the strategic environment on the battlefield of that "small" war against the Nicaraguan Sandinista leadership which projected one of the last aspects of the Soviet grand strategy against the West before the end of the Cold War.

The book is also timely in that it reminds a new generation of strategic thinkers of the real origins of the Sandinista Government which has now returned to Nicaragua, following the re- election of former Sandinista Pres. Daniel Ortega -- now 60 years old -- with the November 5, 2006, Nicaraguan Presidential election. But more than that, Meara's book, told from the perspective of a "boots on the ground" true Cold Warrior, has the true grit of realism. It is not a book of theory, but a book which shows how theory translates on the ground in an asymmetric conflict.

William Meara was a US Army Special Forces officer who trained as a Foreign Area Officer (FAO), and then specialized in, and relished, psychological operations. His field of expertise was Central America. His book cover, and the name of his book, reflect the "Contra Cross", the Contra crucifix memento made from a neutralized M-16 5.56mm ammunition by wounded Contra veterans in the hospitals which housed them after their personal war was over. Meara carried with him the memento, and the draft of his book, for a couple of decades before deciding to finally publish his writings.

The US Armed Forces and Government -- operating mostly from Honduras, supporting the Nicaraguan Contras against the Sandinistas -- were at this time still nursing their wounds after Vietnam. Many of the US military policies being pursued in Central America were based on either lessons learned from Vietnam and other Cold War theaters, or on a stubborn persistence in the view that a monolithic military machine -- the Green Machine of the Army, as Meara reminds us -- could roll over any adversary with "superior firepower" and technology. Clearly, the mainstream US Army had little time for psychological warriors or for grubby little wars. But there were those who understood this kind of warfare, such as the "crusty old SF (Special Forces) team sergeant" who embraced what he called "Low Intensity, High Per Diem War".

Meara, who left the US Army for the US Foreign Service (he remains a US diplomat) where he essentially continued his liaison and support work with the Contras of the ERN (Army of the Nicaraguan Resistance) until the end, highlights the profound importance of understanding the language and culture of the environment in which any war is being conducted. He knew that he had made the breakthrough when, as he put it, he was able to "swear like a Contra", and be able to converse at a truly meaningful level with the forces and cultures in which he had to operate. His time in Nicaragua, before he became part of the US-supported war supporting the Contras, gave him a good understanding of the Sandinistas, who took their name from the 1920s nationalist Nicaraguan fighter, Augusto César Sandino.

But before he was engaged in supporting the Contras, Meara was also engaged in US Army support operations in El Salvador where he also learned not only how Latin American armed forces shaped their priorities and doctrine, but also how guerilla forces, such as the Faribundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), functioned. He also faced the more enduring adversary: US Army "milicrats".

Apart from the profound timeliness of the book, as Sandinista Daniel Ortega returns to power in Nicaragua -- this time ostensibly within the framework of an ongoing process of democratic elections (we have yet to see whether he abides by the process, or whether he continues to think of "one-man, one-vote, once" as the process of re-entrenching pseudo-marxist-leninist governance) -- Contra Cross has real lessons for war- fighters and planners considering Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, or Sudan.

William Meara also highlights the distinctions which often exist between the actual combatants in the guerilla wars and their political leaders, citing the case of the Contras, whose political leadership was based in Miami, Florida, where sophistry and political expediency prevailed to the detriment of the forces in the field. Meara highlights the disservice done to the Nicaraguan rebellion by the Contra political leadership in Miami, which was the principal interface with the US political system.

Meara's final chapter, Contrarian Conclusions, outlines some of his maxims for conducting irregular or asymmetric warfare, and particularly the aspect of this which is conducted by great powers at arm's length: surrogate warfare. But before that, Meara had to defend, even resurrect, the image of the Contras, noting: "My positive sentiments about the Nicaraguan resistance put me clearly in contrarian territory. It would be hard to exaggerate the extent to which the contras were vilified in the United States."

He added: "But I think the world should be proud of the contras. The young peasants of Nicaragua refused to be enslaved by communism. They waged a courageous struggle against great odds. They persevered when the situation looked very bleak. They sacrificed for the good of their people and the future of their country. They were noble and honorable freedom fighters. The mucos refused to be like Longfellow's `dumb, driven cattle'. They were heroes in the strife. ... I give the contras most of the credit for the elections held in Nicaragua in February 1990."

Equally, in saying that he felt that "Americans should be proud of what the Reagan Administration did and tried to do in Central America", he added: "But I don't think that everyone has the right to feel good about their actions during the Central American conflict. I think those Americans who gave aid and comfort to the Sandinistas and the Salvadoran communists should feel guilty. They were on the wrong side in the Cold War." These were, he said, what Lenin called "useful idiots".

In his "lessons learned" in that concluding chapter, Meara notes: "Cultural factors really are the equivalent of a terrain feature that cannot be ignored [in surrogate wars]."

And: "Fluency in foreign languages is the indispensable key to understanding." "Regional expertise and experience are crucial. People working on insurgencies shouldn't be doing so on their first trip to the region."

He went on: "Americans need to be aware of the institutional biases and shortcomings which make it difficult for us to deal with foreign insurgencies. We need to realize that our big, high-tech military machine -- our big catapult -- might not be much use against an insurgency built around people like Miguel Castellanos [real name Napoleón Romero García, an El Salvadoran FMLN guerilla who later defected to the Government]. I saw many signs of our weakness in this area: the tank traps we were building in the `Choluteca gap' [in Honduras, to face literally a non-existent cross-border threat from Sandinista tanks]; our big bucks, high-tech approach to support for the Salvadoran armed forces; our army's conviction that `any good officer' can work on insurgency. I came to the conclusion that our powerful military is a blunt instrument. It is very capable of performing its primary mission (destroying enemy military forces), but is poorly-suited for cross-cultural battles for foreign hearts and minds."

"Finally, when we get involved in foreign insurgencies," Meara says, "we should always strive to conduct ourselves in a manner consistent with our national values ... we should remember our history. We should remember that we were helped by foreigners when we were fighting for our independence. We should remember that we too were once embattled farmers. ... we should not think of these people [the surrogate fighters] as dis- posable pawns."

Contra Cross is full of personal insights and anecdotes "from the field", and is an inspiring and timely read. It is, in fact, essential reading, not just for those psyops and special forces practitioners who already embrace asymmetric warfare, but for the policymakers and those who have found their careers in the bureaucracy of military leadership. That is where the lessons need to be learned.

We all should thank William Meara for carrying this document with him over the decades, and giving it to us at this particular time.

[Reviewed by Gregory R. Copley, Editor, Defense & Foreign Affairs Publications, at the International Strategic Studies Association, Washington, DC area.]

Contra Cross is unique among personal memoirs of former soldiers, government officials, diplomats, and intelligence officers. The author is humble. He had a front row seat at the numerous Central American proxy wars the United States engaged in during the 1980s. Despite this experience, the author never believed he was as important as the events around him, a trait that so many memoirs lack. He was a Cold War grunt and he knew it.

The numerous insurgencies and counter-insurgencies fought in Central America are slowly being forgotten. Located between the large and divisive Vietnam War and the even larger Global War on Terror, the proxy wars in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador are now seen as the last gaps of the Cold War. Despite this hindsight, during the 1980s it was where the action was.

Since the author was involved at the ground level, he is able to give the people of the area a real human feel, which is lost in the Cold War rhetoric of policy makers from Washington.

The author makes several outstanding points about the need for cultural and language skills when dealing with local conflicts. While our current conflict is called the Global War on Terror it is the really combination of thousands of local conflicts tied together. Having the deep local cultural knowledge is the real key to winning our current war. While the book is far from being the seminal book on U.S. involvement in Central America, it never tries or claims to be. Its true strength is how it depicts dedicated Americans, whether military or Department of State, attempt to implement strategic policy made thousands of miles away in Washington into actual action on the ground amongst real people.

The book is part memoir, part analysis. It begins with a chapter on the author's experiences working at a Catholic missionary school in Huehuetenango, Guatemala in the summer of 1979. It was here that Meara began to gain a "grunt's eye' view of Latin American culture and the deep, underlying social, political, and economic problems confronted in many of the countries. Two weeks after he departed, a right wing death squad assassinated one of the school's teachers, Brother Jim Miller. This event partially radicalized Meara and made him deeply suspicious of the government in Guatemala at the time. It also spurred him to visit Nicaragua, which had just witnessed the victory of the Sandinistas. Meara traveled to Managua with romantic visions of the revolution and left there disillusioned by the totalitarianism he experienced. Nicaragua transformed him from a left-leaning college student to a more center-oriented future military advisor and diplomat.

Meara's career with the U.S. Army began at the age of 17, when he joined the National Guard. In college, he attended Officer Candidate School, and decided to become a full-time Special Forces officer soon after returning from Nicaragua. The Special Forces "impressed him" with its combination of adventure and foreign culture immersion. After completing the "Q" course and the Foreign Area Officer training program at Fort Bragg, Captain Meara began his first real-world assignment as a psychological warfare instructor for the El Salvador Armed Forces (ESAF).

In 1986, El Salvador was mired in civil war with the Faribundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), an umbrella group of five Marxist organizations trying to overthrow the government. Meara's job entailed training his Salvadoran counterparts in Communist ideology, tactics, and strategies. This role put him in close touch with several FMLN defectors, whom he invited to his class as guest instructors. Through these courses, Meara gained a complex understanding of the institutional culture of ESAF. For example, he learned that it was just as preoccupied with Honduras, an historic enemy, as the FMLN. Furthermore, the Salvadoran officer corps resembled a social club more than a traditional military hierarchy. This club-like system fostered tolerance for officers who failed to perform and bred paranoia within the corps. It also made it extremely difficult for the U.S. Military Group (MILGRP) to convince the Salvadoran military to punish human rights violations. In the end, however, U.S. influence did convince the Salvadorans to clean up their act and in 1992, the FMLN laid down its arms in part because of assurances from the United States that it would "keep the Salvadoran military in line."

The second half of the book covers Meara's work as a State Department Liaison Officer to the Contras in 1988 and 1989. In that role, he oversaw United States Agency for International Development aid to the Honduras-based Contras and served as a de-facto ambassador to the insurgency during the waning days of the struggle. Meara shuttled between the Contra base area at Yamales and the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, trying to secure adequate humanitarian assistance for the insurgency, and bridge the cultural gap between the troops in the field and their foreign benefactors.

As a fluent Spanish speaker with extensive experience in Latin America, Meara developed a close rapport with the Contras, but struggled to maintain emotional distance from the insurgency. This became particularly challenging towards the end of his tour when the U.S. began to cut off support to the fighters. In the end, Meara saw the Contras as embattled farmers similar in some respects to the colonial militia of the American Revolution--poor farmers whose way of life was threatened by the economic policies of the prevailing government. Meara had profound respect for the difficult odds under which they struggled but in the end never forgot that his primary loyalty lay to the U.S. and its policies. Meara's description of the isolated situation at Yamales reveals how easy it is for special operations types to succumb to Joseph Conrad-like influences of the field and become advocates of the insurgents as opposed to mere advisors. It takes a very special type of person to keep these impulses in check.

The main lesson of his book is that only people well-versed in foreign languages and cultures have any hope of successfully waging insurgency or counter-insurgency wars in the third world. In order to be effective in special operations, you need to be able to "curse like a Contra," and in this regard America is still woefully unprepared, not just in the U.S. Armed Forces but government-wide. The strength of Meara's work is its first-hand look at insurgency and counter-insurgency, and the author's nuanced understanding of the local cultures in El Salvador and Nicaragua . Contra Cross also stands out as one of the few published accounts of America 's struggle against Communism in Latin America in the 1980s, and for this reason is important.

It is often quipped that the mark of a brilliant man is that he agrees with what you believe; I read Bill Meara's book Contra Cross yesterday and I would use the words brilliant and brilliantly delivered to describe it.

Let me back up in time a bit. In 1988 just back from UN duty in Lebanon and Egypt I sat down in my 15-man section at CGSC and we did the "where I have been and what I have been doing" confessional. My section leader looked at me and quipped, "you have not been in the Army." I simply asked him and the larger group, "Have any of you been shot at lately?" No one answered. Later the same guy in discussing low intensity conflict remarked, "I cannot see anyway the US Army will ever get involved in a counter-insurgency again after what happend in Vietnam." I asked him what exactly he thought was going on in Central America at the very moment. He suggested that what was happening was not really the US Army. Six years later I greeted that same individual as he arrived in Goma with a water truck task force. He had a stunned look on his face. I said, "Welcome to my world."

Contra Cross is about Bill Meara's world, one like and at once unlike my own. The book is from the foot soldier's perspective and it offers unique insights on the wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Bill was a Special Forces officer trained in psychological operations and as a regional specialist. He served in uniform with the Military Advisory Group in El Salvador and later as a Foreign Service Officer as liaison to the Contras from Honduras. Like any good read, Bill's book offers key themes and messages, weaving them through the pages, repeatedly exposing the reader to them in the hopes they will imprint. I will list some here:

Culture and Cultural Understanding is Critical

Language is Fundamental

COIN and Guerrilla Warfare Target the Minds of the Population, Not the Enemy

The Greatest Cultural Gap is Between DC and the Field

The Unconventional Warrior is Indeed From Venus and the Conventional Warrior Refuses to Visit From Mars


I tell every Soldier that I coach, teach, and mentor that I have two fundamental rules for cross cultural understanding:

They do not think like you do

They have an agenda in every interaction with you

Bill's narrative hammers home the first point and his story reinforces the second. His self-reflection on his role as an US government representative while serving as liaison to the Contras is one of the book's greatest strengths.

I would recommend this book to all from Strategic Corporal to the White House. I only wish that it had come out earlier.

Great job, Bill!

Sincerely,

Tom Odom
Author Journey Into Darkeness: Genocide in Rwanda

There is so much information in this book it is ridiculous. I have found new sources just by flipping through this book. Every entry is detailed. Many different facets of the war are covered such as political, military, and socioeconomic issues. This is a true all encompassing source to the American Civil War! It is well worth the money.

This is an absolutely essential book for anyone with an interest in Civil War scholarship. The scope and breadth of this work is utterly astounding. Over 250 Civil War scholars have joined to create over 2700 pages on 1600+ entries in this massive book. As advertised, this book is a political, social and military history, as pretty much nothing is missed. Makes a phenomenal starting point for information and research on about any subject or person relating to the war that you can think of. Each entry also includes a list of recommended books and articles for further reading for each entry in the encyclopedia. Several appendicies to the book are made up by important documents realted to all aspects of the conflict, a civil war chronology of events and a state by state battlefield location map. This is a book you will constantly refer back to for information. And, at the seldom instance you are not using this book for study, you can use it in your workout program, as it is darn heavy for a book.

This humongous encyclopedia is easily the best reference I have ever seen on the Civil War. The thing is 2600 pages long, has 1600 entries, and weighs about 7 pounds, and is quite well written and edited. It covers military, political, and social events, and biographies equally. The articles are generally well written but short and introductory rather than exhaustive. Has lots of photos, illustrations and maps (the maps are OK but not spectacular), and a wonderful bibliogaphy section. I can't recommend this book enough. I learn something new every time I open it.

As a writer and public relations practitioner where the Civil War is concerned, I've found Heider's Encyclopedia of the American Civil War to be a top-notch source of information about the War Between the States. Thorough, yet concise, there is information on all aspects of the conflict ranging from pre-war issues to its ultimate consequences. Although it's impossible to cover all skirmishes and engagements, it's amazing how many are included. The Documents section is impressive and all entries contain excellent cross-referencing. I recommend this encyclopedia to anyone interested in the conflict between the North and South.

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