Dominican Republic Books

This definitely is a timely book with very valuable and insightful information given the current very tragic situation in the island shared by the two republics. Cambeira's intelligent focus and keen interpretation of the island's development in every sense helped me better understand especially the Dominican culture that most of us know so little about. I am sure many readers who are curious about Caribbean cultures will find this work extremely informative.
I also recommend this writer's new novel Azucar! The Story of Sugar.

This particular book by Professor Cambeira is truly a jewel in terms of its historical and cultural content and its unique treatment. Unlike any other book of this kind that I have read for its clarity in presentation. This is not your ordinary history textbook, but rather a highly personalized and lucid and informed interpretation of a community's evolution. I like how the Professor, who is Dominican, convinces the reader of his honesty. He says what many other Dominican writers don't say about our country, especially concerning certain questions of identity and the notion of inclusion in the formation of what we call dominicanidad. I also like the way Cambeira's writing style flows so gracefully. His nonfiction style is like his lyrical fiction that I found in his novels Azucar! The Story of Sugar and the sequel Azucar's Sweet Hope...Her Story Continues.

Cambeira is a wonderful writer in every sense.

High Recommended Reading.

His latest novel Azucar's Sweet Hope...Her Story Continues is the Best Novel I've read in a long time !

I am very impressed by this unusual perspective on Dominican history and culture by the Dominican writer Alan Cambeira. Cambeira's work is not your conventional history text. It reads more like an interest sustaining novel; It also presents some cultural aspects most writers on the subject usually omit or avoid altogether. I also found a surprising side issue: the theatrical version of Mario Vargas Llosa's La Fiesta Del Chivo (The Festival of the Goat) is in production by the well respected Repertorio Espanol and has an accompanying Study Guide done by Iliana Fuentes. I see that Ms Fuentes also lists Cambeira's book as a part of the suggested reading in this regard. To me, then, Cambeira has a winner. His book is definitely worth the read. ...

Bravo Cambeira!

Everybody called Quisqueya the "Athens of the New World".
It is a country with beautiful beaches and beautiful people and a complex history. The island's ethnic mix of indigenuous, European (mainly Spanish) and African cultures and their merger across time resulted in the distinctive Dominican culture that we know today. Cambeira's passion for his native island is evident on every page. This book gave me a really different and fresh perspective from other books on the subject by other authors that I have read. This is an excellent personal interpretation that I'm recommending to anyone interested in learning about the Atena del Nuevo Mundo.Thanks to the Author. My next reading will certainly be his novel that everybody is talking about: Azucar! The Story of Sugar.

"To Dream alone is dangerous, but to dream jointly has been the beginning of the greatest changes in history."
This writer tells the true history with eloquence and elegance.
This book is a Treasure!

Quisqueya La Bella Is A Must Read Book!

Delivery was super speedy! The product was exactly as the seller described! I would definitely do business with them again!

The product was as I expected it to be according to the product description. Very satisfied.

Cuanto me alegra que haya una autora que cuenta parte de la historia dominicana. Me encanta como Julia escribe. Este libro esta muy bien hecho pero ojo: Julia Alvarez escribe en ingles no en español. Aun asi, me parece que la traduccion de esta historia esta estupenda.

Me quedé muy impresionada con la historia y literalmente me lo devoré. Está basado en hecho reales, lo cual fue un factor para que me gustara más. Lo recomiendo.

Es una historia interesante y entretenida, sobretodo para aquellos latinoamericanos que nos interese la historia. Aunque es una novela, tiene mucho de fondo històrico. Los personajes son agradables, bien logrados. Me dejó el interés de conocer màs sobre la historia de Trujillo. No llega a la excelencia de La Fiesta del Chivo de Vargas Llosa, es una buena Historia

Fascinating!!! Very well written. A must read for all.

As one of the previous reviewers describe, read Crassweller's book about Trujillo to really get a good picture of how awful this Dominican dictator was to his people. For those interested in the assasination of the dictator, Diederich's book describes in minute detail of how the murder took place. Crassweller's book leaves much of this out. Trujillo was as bad to his people as Saddam is to the Iraqi people.
One good point of this book is the reader's knowledge that Diederich was there at the time in the country. This is no author piecing something together from written sources, but a news correspondent covering the Dominican Republic during the time of the incident. The book was very readable.

THis is a great read. Popular history. A great book about an extraordinary act of heroism in which a small band of men killed a brutal dictator.

My parents are from the Dominican Republic and all during my childhood I heard my father tell stories about the infamous dictator known as Trujillo. While reading this book and asking my parents questions about certain details, I can say that the author truly did describe the horrors lived during those thirty years while Trujillo governed the country. I enjoyed the book very much and would recommend it highly.

As you'll know if you've been to Santo Domingo, Robert Crassweller's "Trujillo" has long been the best-known biography of the dead Dominican dictator, perhaps owing partly to its omnipresence in the island's hotel gift shops. But "Death of the Goat" by Bernard Diederich is in my opinion the best and most readable non-fiction work through which to explore Trujillo and his bloody regime.

"Death of the Goat" has as its focal point the assasination of Rafael Trujillo, that is, the end of a 30-year-long story: the preparations, the backgrounds of the assasins, the frantic attempts to hide once the deed was done. But while focusing on the deed Diederich does an outstanding job of explaining how things got to that point, and does so less with the formality of a historian than with the incisiveness of an investigative reporter. This book is especially valuable for the light it sheds on the six months after Trujillo's assasination. Far from bringing about an immediate collapse to the regime, the assasination ushered in a six-month reign of terror during which Trujillo's family, led by the bloodthirsty Ramfis, exacted horrifyingly gruesome revenge on anyone they believed to have been involved in the plot. The torture visited on men such as father and son Miguel Angel Báez and Miguel Angel Báez Diaz is painful to read about even today and definitely not for those with weak stomachs. The curtain did not really fall on the "Era of Trujillo" until his sons executed their last captives at Trujillo's hacienda in November 1961 and then fled the country with their father's body and a hefty chunk of their nation's wealth.

The insightful and shocking look Diederich provides at the period after the assasination is essential reading for anyone seeking knowledge of the modern Dominican Republic. Perhaps most unbelievable of all is the fact that Joaquín Balaguer, one of Trujillo's rubber-stamp "Presidentes", could through his silence collaborate with such atrocities and yet still be elected president time and time again, most recently in 1994. Also hard to comprehend is how one of Balaguer's political allies could be Donald Reid Cabral, whose brother Robert committed suicide after the plot rather than be taken alive by the remaining Trujilloites whom Balaguer was involved with. In Dominican politics, truth really IS stranger than fiction. Diederich shows us why.

This fun to read and well researched book explores the rise of Bachata from its obscure beginning as a musical style of the rural and urban poor in the Dominican Republic to its eventual international popularity. It is the only book of its kind in english and a must read for anyone interested in bachata's roots.

Hernandez delves particularly into social conditions and class issues which impacted bachata's formative years. The book traces back the Dominican Republic's musical and social climate beginning from the period of the repressive Trujillo Dictatorship (1930s-1961), and through bachata's humble beginnings in the 1960s to its attainment of international popularity by the early 1990s.

While the subject matter is complex, the book flows easily and is actually difficult to put down. Interviews with musicians, colorful anecdotes and plentiful song lyrics all help to bring to life the humor, candor, and also the pains, of the people who created bachata.

An excellent companion to this book is the classic bachata compilation CD Bachata Roja: Acoustic Bachata From the Cabaret Era - the accompanying booklet features an introduction by Hernandez along with many of the photos she took while researching.

I'm glad to have gotten this book, but the cover photo of Raulin Rodriguez is somewhat misleading. I'm a huge fan of Raulin and I was hoping to read more about his impact on the popularity of the Bachata in the DR. There is still a lot of stigma attached to the Bachata as music suited for bothels and shantytowns and the emergence of Raulin and Antony Santos has done much to make this form of music legit in the public view. The bachata of today is very different than the political songs described in the book. It also seems to me that most of the research took place in the Santo Domingo area rather than on the north coast where the Bachata is far more popular. Just as you wouldn't research country music in NYC, it seems odd to research the Bachata in the DR's largest city. A full follow-up book on the Bachata of today would be great that includes the Americanization of the form by such groups as Aventura and the current complexity of the music's guitar form.

Un curioso estudio, un libro de bachata. La primera vez que lo vi no me anime a leerlo. Pensé como todo mal dominicano con el complejo de gazcue que un libro sobre una música que no me gusta no merecía que le dedicara tiempo. Tuvo que pasar un año y un despertar de mi entendimiento para saber que no importa que la música no me guste o que sea de clase baja o que sea vulgar y yo solo escuche música clásica o rock; lo importante es que es nuestra música, nuestra identidad nos guste o no. El libro como una disección cuidadosamente hecha por una antropóloga trata el tema no con la frialdad de un descubrimiento arqueológico sino con la calidez de un tema humano, bueno con toda la calidez que puede hacerlo una norteamericana. Ella trata el tema de la bachata desde la historia de la etimología de la palabra. No sabia y ahora sé que la palabra bachata significa jolgorio, reunión en que las personas tocan música con guitarras. Las influencias de la bachata según la autora provienen de cuba.

El método de investigación de la autora consistió en residir en Republica Dominicana por un tiempo, mientras entrevistaba a los bachateros de radio guarachita, a artistas famosos, a historiadores y sociólogos. El libro escrito en ingles, también posee unas cuantas letras de bachatas famosas con su respectiva traducción, una galería de fotos de bachateros y merengueros y muestra el avance de la música y su aceptación final al llegar bachata rosa de Juan Luis Guerra al escenario y darle un impulso internacional a la bachata. La autora después de este acontecimiento tuvo que cambiar su foco narrativo, porque esta música lentamente se empieza a aceptar en la radio y ha dejado de ser marginada. Me agrada mucho ver que de todas estas cosas salen estudios, libros, análisis y que mi país esta bien representado. Ojala que autores dominicanos se enfrenten a la labor de exaltar lo nuestro y dejemos nuestro complejo gazcuense, nuestra exaltación de lo extranjero sobre lo nacional y nos pongamos a escribir sobre mas cosas de nuestro país.

Luis Méndez.

Deborah Pacini Hernandez offers an excellently researched, intelligently written, and amazingly detailed history of the Dominican Republic's Bachata music. Be forewarned ... this is not an easy book to read; this is not a glib magazine article with a superficial history of Bachata. On the contrary, Ms. Hernandez analyzes the growth of Bachata from a socio-economic / political and cultural point of view and her discussions and overall presentation often read like a doctoral dissertation.

Despite the book's academic tone, it is a wonderfully rich, engrossing study of Bachata and I highly recommend it. The book covers the birth of Bachata (circa the early 1960's) and traces its growth up until the early 1990's. I would like Ms. Hernandez to write another book that covers the explosive growth and popularity of Bachata from the mid 1990's up to the present. Ms. Hernandez is to be commended on her extraordinary research and intelligent presentation. I rate this book: A+.

This is a great book, one that challenges white male assumptions about class and its relation to music. A valuable book for anyone interested in combatting stereotypes, and patriarchal and racist interpretations of 'popular' music. I was reading a somewhat pompous academic's book about hiphop musical culture by someone named Russell Potter, and it almost made me swear off academic books about music. But Deborah Pacini Hernandez is unusual in that she understands, appreciates, and identifies with the best of Dominican popular music. What a great book!

This review by Ghostwriter Reviews, Reviewer, Sunshine is posted by D. K. Christi as a member of Amazon.com

Arirang: The Bamboo Connection
Arirang The Bamboo Connection

AUTHOR: D. K. Christi¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
Melani, a young American wife and mother working in Korea, is the picture of the proper image; faithful, dutiful wife, loving, attentive mother and hard-working, dedicated teacher. She has a "friend" on the side, Dale, whom she spends her time with due to the lack of interest and communication on the part of her husband. But then she meets Jack, a handsome officer on temporary duty. What ensues with them is a flirtation with trouble, as they begin to sneak around to meet each other and spend time together behind closed doors. If word got out, she could jeopardize everything she has, her job, her child, her husband, even her household help. Should she stop because of those reasons or continue with it because her husband has his share of company as well? What happens when Jack's time there is finished?
Wow, some women have all the luck! A beautiful son, an interesting job, a husband, a "friend" to spend time with when your own husband doesn't give you the attentiveness you need and another man who makes you feel what you've long ago forgotten. Being an enthusiastic reader, I can really appreciate the effort this author put forth in writing this book, from the plot, to the descriptions, to the over all feeling of the story. When an author puts in this kind of effort, it makes it easier to get into a book such as this one. Since I also have a very active imagination, the descriptions of scenery and locale really helped me visualize the idea the author is going for. I also appreciated the effort put into the technical research, like describing the various cultures, history and mannerisms that are encountered throughout the character's lives. Though it's long, this is a book I'd read more than once, just because the descriptions allow my imagination to run away, taking me with it.

I give this book a very enthusiastic 5!
Reviewer: Sunshine
Ghostwriter Reviews

ISBN: 142414776X

It is a book of adventure. The reader will learn much about foreign living and travel to a variety of locations. The reader will also sail the seas enjoying the high life with all the hazards of sailing. The frustrations of life and survival play a large role in D.K. Christi's book. It includes romantic encounters with the agony and ecstasy of love given, received and lost. The book gives a down to earth look at life's struggle and the plight of people to survive in the land of plenty.

Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for Reader Views (1/07)

Jack has the bluest eyes Melani has ever seen. There is something special between them when their eyes meet. She met him at the tennis courts in Korea never suspecting their paths would cross again. Jack wanted them to meet again. Melani is married but her husband "spends his business evenings in the Kiesing houses, arriving home too drunk to miss me. Like Cinderella, the ball has come to an end."

Jack mesmerizes Melani. "He has impressed on me that our whole existence is based on our relationship together at that moment in time. The rest of the world is another place, not allowed to intrude on our feelings for each other. Nor do our feelings need to affect anyone else."

This is the life story of a young girl, from childhood through her "senior" years. Melani's life is an adventure. She travels from America, to Korea, the British Isles, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. Her marriage to Derek began like most with dreams and ideals but it ended with affairs and divorce.

Another marriage ends in rage and abuse. "When he was good he was very, very good but when he was bad he was horrible." Melani and her son Brian were on their own again "with an ocean of tears behind us." Jack will always remain her soul mate.

This is a book of tears, joy, adventure, pain, love, duplicity and grief. Melani is a woman of great character and intellect. She is strong but doesn't always realize it. This book is a window into her soul.

D.K. Christi is a tremendously talented author. She writes "Arirang: The Bamboo Connection" from the first person perspective, giving readers the sense of being Melani. She offers great insight on the personality of her main character. Despite character flaws I could not help but love Melani. She shows strength that one would not expect; a strength that grows with each page. I could have been easily convinced that this was not fiction but based on a true story if I had not already read otherwise. The cover of this book teases the reader to delve inside. This book is of epic proportions. I truly enjoyed reading it.

ARIRANG, an incredible story of a young girl's journey through life from childhood to the "golden years." It is filled with adventure, betrayal, love, joy and sorrow. As you witness Melanie's life as seen through her prospective, Melanie will soon live in your heart from the beginning of the very first page through the last. She is a person of great intelligence, integrity, passion, depth of character and "true grit" that the author has an uncanny ability to reveal to the reader. This is not just a book traversing seven continents, but a book that takes you into the depths of Melanie's psyche allowing the reader to identify and feel her pain and her joy. The reader will experience the terror of surviving life-threatening seas to the frustrations of performing daily tasks while Melanie and her husband sail their sixty-seven foot sailboat from Miami to Venezuela. It is my hope that D.K. Christi will write many more books. This one, I could not put down. Melanie remains in my heart.
Nancy Canter

Review by D. L Montgomery, author of A Nanosecond To Eternity in the Twinkling of an Eye . A tour of heaven and how the earth comes to the end of life as we now know it.

Book Reviewed:
Arirang: The Bamboo Connection. By D.K. Christi

ISBN: 1-4241-4776-X 487 pages, Softcover PublishAmerica

D.K. Christi unfolds a compelling tale that has everything that you would want in a romantic novel: travel, love, adventure, happiness, pain, grief, disaster and finally how to live comfortably through the rest of our days on earth.
D.K. Christi, uses her vast education, her many travels to foreign lands and her knowledge of various cultures to write this brilliant, seamless, love story.
Melani, her main character in Arirang: The Bamboo Connection, is married, has a young son Brian and works and lives in Korea. She is not happy with her marriage but has made friends with Dale and Jack, who have given her the friendship and love that she so desperately needs.
Melani, her husband Derek and son Brian take a vacation to various exotic lands in the mid east, that are described in the book with exacting detail; one can see in their minds eye every enchanting sight, smell the aroma of the food available in the various outdoor market places and have a tingling sensation at the back of your neck when reading some of the harrowing adventures that take place during the vacation and through the balance of the story.
I found the book to be a tour de force that will be enjoyed and appreciated by readers of all genres.

Burning the Sea is a refreshing novel without a traditional love story. The mix of politics and personalities made me unable to put it down. The scenery is rich and the story is intellegent and introspective.

Burning the Sea is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. The novel drifts back and forth between the internal worlds of two intricately interconnected and riveting characters; determined by and reconciling pasts of sexual, racial and cultural repression. In allowing the reader seamlessly into their minds and logic Sarah Strong gives powerful evidence to larger conditions of world trade, colonialism and globalization and the intricate locus' of power that are prescribed, inherited, navigated, and ultimately internalized in a breadth of personal formations.

Sarah Strong knows how to write from voices whose believability is articulated through her ability to reveal their pain, blind spots, vulnerabilities, and hidden strengths by guiding us into their very human thoughts. This is a wise and perceptive novel, a mystery about two awakening minds and one of the most engaging and intimate books I've ever read...Burning the Sea is the kind of book where I realize how generous the author's act of writing truly is.

What a great book! I savored every moment of it. Beautifully written, strong characterization, rich with history and cultural and political ideas and information, and at the bottom of it all, a really good story.

I loved this book. It is a compelling story, beautifully written, suspenseful and evocative. I stayed up way too late at night reading it, thinking about it, wondering how it would turn out. I laughed, I cried, and I was sorry that it had to end.

Burning the Sea awakens and enlivens the emotions! It is full of suspense, love and pain. SPS has done a fantastic job in capturing the readers hearts with her complex characters. I have not been able to put this book down since the minute I started it.

If you want to know more about architecture in the Caribbean, you have to read this book!

Through his work at la Marina, Casa de Campo, Gian Franco Fini captures the essence of refined architecture with a perfect air of Caribbean elegance.

This is a book about one of those magical places that once you get there you don't want to leave. It's in the path of boats coming from Miami to the West Indies and is the place to see in the Caribbean before you die. Casa de Campo is the Caribbean most complete resort by far where any possible hobby in the world could practiced at world renowned conditions -besides skiing, except if you change it for water-sky-. The book about the Casa de Campo's Marina is definitely a 5 start in class, quality and content. This is the real thing in Caribbean Elegance and Luxury where you'll be able to find some of the most exclusive houses in the region.

This is the only book available about Marinas from an architectural standpoint. Blueprints, sketches and more than 300 full-color pictures are a never ending source for one of the most luxurious approach to Caribbean Architecture. It's about the renowned Marina at Casa de Campo, La Romana, Dominican Republic and is a must for anyone willing see from the inside out as many options as possible to recreate a tropical paradise despite if it's and apartment or a houses under 2,000 sqf or a masterpiece above 20,000 sqf.
In contrast with W.R. Blain's book for "Marina Developments" -That is an excellent and maybe the only book about Marinas from a structural standpoint- this one is an architectural approach to Marinas and all the elements around it such as Yacht Club, Apartments, Houses, Restaurants and all related services. It's full of details and references in a text that is catchy and easy to read. My only concern was that I thought it was pricy in the first place despite that it was printed and bounded in Italy, but Blain's book is above the $250 and this one is more related to interior design and architecture so it's worth 5 out 5 starts.

Muy pocas obras literarias logran impactar al lector y garantizan su existencia a través de los años. Como fiel lector desde su primera impresión, siempre he encontrado esta guia útil para amigos, estudiantes, y catedráticos. La existencia de esta pieza literaria la recomiendo sin reservas para todos aquellos que interactúan con el mundo globalizado de hoy.

Muchos diplomáticos no comparten su experiencia y conocimientos con otras personas.

El Dr. Manuel Morales Lama, es un diplomático de carrera, que es grandemente apreciado en varios países donde ha prestado servicio, incluyendo Israel, México y Venezuela. Es un experto no solo en la práctica de la diplomacia, si no también en escribir libros en su área que sirven de guía para diplomáticos, especialmente los que se están iniciando en la carrera diplomática.

La cuarta edición de este libro de derecho diplomático, fue seleccionado por nosotros como un libro de consulta para nuestros diplomáticos en Latino América y fue también puesto en circulación en la Universidad de Tel Aviv.

Estoy seguro de que está última edición (la séptima), que ustedes actualmente distribuyen, "Diplomacia Contemporánea, Teoría y Práctica para el Ejercicio Profesional", que es producto de su talento personal, su experiencia, y sus profundos conocimientos será un importante libro de consulta para numerosas Academias Diplomáticas y para estudios universitarios en relaciones internacionales.

'Diplomacia Contemporanea: Teoria y Practica Para el Ejercicio Profesional' es un tome sumamente fiel a su titulo, siendo una obra excelente y bien estructurada presentada sobre la practica y manejo de la diplomacia hoy en dia. Morales Lama situa el asunto en su contexto historico, demonstrando en estilo de facil comprension el desarrollo del tema. La obra no solo trata de la teoria sino tambien resalta el uso practico de la diplomacia,especialmente con lo referente a los asuntos protocolares. En este sentido los Apendices 4 y 5 se destacan. Este libro uno de los mas impactantes de su genero de nuestra epoca es imprescindible no solo para estudiantes de diplomacia sino tambien para todos los diplomaticos sin importar sus rangos,al igual otras personas relacionadas con la politica internacional.

Es una obra muy bien estructurada, con un esquema ágil que el autor ha adoptado para facilitar el entendimiento de cada uno de los asuntos a que se ha referido en este libro. Es un estudio académico con la debida precisión de los conceptos y muy bien documentada, donde se pueden encontrar muchas respuestas a las inquietudes o simples consultas, que surgen sobre el tema, tanto en el medio académico, como en el ejercicio de la diplomacia. Indudablemente que la calidad del trabajo garantiza su particular importancia y utilidad.
Dr. Prometeo Cerezo de Diego
Secretario General del Instituto Hispano Luso Americano de Derecho Internacional.

Imagine in modern times a novel so powerfully authentic that the author's very life is placed in danger. Or that having initially won the nation's prestigious National Fiction Award upon publication, the prize is immediatley snatched away by the President because of its perceived personal offense to that president. What serious reader of good literature could possibly resist such excitement (however frightening) surrounding a first novel? Such is only part of the sordid history of Viriato Sencion's sensational novel They Forged the Signature of God.
The story is straightforward and uncomplicated. It narrates the maturation of three seminary students as they try to understand life against the nightmarish socio-political backdrop dominated by the monstruous dictator Tirano and his enigmatic cohort and successor Dr. Mario Ramos. The author skillfully incorporates real-life individuals and places under fictitious names. Thus, it isn't difficult to unmask Tirano as the diabolical and ruthless dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo, Ramos as Dr. Joaquin Balaguer, and the nameless Caribbean island-nation is the Dominican Republic. The student Arturo is Sencion's own alter ego. But we must be careful not to catagorize this novel as either a political expose or political biography; it is more correctly a brilliantly crafted and unique artistic text. The author's only dilemma, I suggest, is the problematic element of fusing literature and reality. The striking dominance of authenticity seduces the reader into sharing the intensity of "lo dominicano" --that is, the Dominican Experience in all its essence and intensity. Sencion, for example, effectively captures the language and its distinct subtleties of orality as spoken and heard on the Island. For this reason among many others, I personally preferred the original Spanish version [Los que falsificaron la firma de Dios, 1992]. I agree totally with the renown Dominican intellectual giant and literary critic Silvio Torres-Saillant when he observes that "Sencion's artistry is one of the most important contributions in recent years to Dominican Letters." Sencion's prose resonates in elegance.
A Highly Recommended Novel.

Alan Cambeira, Author of AZUCAR! The Story of Sugar (a novel)

Los q ue falsificaron la firma de Dios

PERSONAJES: Antonio Bell Arturo Gonzalo ( alias Viriato Sencion) Frank Bolaño

Tres jóvenes cuyas vidas se juntan alguna vez, para luego tomar destinos separados

Y PERSONAJE INVITADO: EL Doctor Mario Ramos, que firma la orden y esconde la mano.

Archimalo de la novela, hombre enigmático, callado, de maneras suaves y andar pausado.

Una novela muy buena aunque los personajes están afectados de cierto acartonamiento y no sean del todo creíbles. Pero el libro es excelente en todo lo demás. En verdad merece el premio de literatura que le arrebataron en el 93.la historia trata del autoritarismo en días de libertad y de ese extraño personaje el doctor Mario Ramos, un hombre malvado, impulsado por quien sabe que sueños y que ilusiones. Como una maquina de manejar a la gente se desenvuelve el doctor ramos, que pasa de simple títere a real arbitro de la vida nacional aun cuando esta fuera del poder; Su presencia gravita en la vida del país.

Paréntesis ( el gallo, Juanito, pierde si quieres, de Ramos pa arriba coño, un hombre frio y calculador, nadie como ella para apagar el calor de una hembra, el autor esta en la novela, esta adentro,es la novela, es el es el es el ....... =?====?????????) Esos muchachos tan imbuidos de sueños como los presenta el autor, nunca he tenido el gusto de conocerlos. Quizás la juventud de esta época sea más mercurial, mas material, que en ese entonces. Hay pocas personas preocupadas seriamente por lo que les pase a los pobres de este país y casi todo lo que se hace es pantalla para ganar votos o afectos del pueblo en un determinado momento; un pueblo con tan mala memoria que no recuerda la cara de los verdugos a los que elige para ser oprimido. Tengo la confianza de que algún día la gente no necesitara de este tipo de obras, pues ya no habrá más tiranos que derrocar y doctores ramos a quienes descifrar y a quienes alabar. Algún día los pensamientos no serán perseguidos y en que tendremos paz y seguridad social. Bueno basta de soñar. Es un buen libro y basta....

NOTA: el comentario anterior se basa en la obra escrita por Viriato Sención y los personajes ahí descritos. Cualquier parecido con personas de carne y hueso es pura coincidencia y queda el autor de este escrito libre de toda culpa por difamación. Ja ja ja

LUIS MENDEZ

Los q ue falsificaron la firma de Dios

PERSONAJES: Antonio Bell Arturo Gonzalo ( alias Viriato Sencion) Frank Bolaño

Tres jóvenes cuyas vidas se juntan alguna vez, para luego tomar destinos separados

Y PERSONAJE INVITADO: EL Doctor Mario Ramos, que firma la orden y esconde la mano.

Archimalo de la novela, hombre enigmático, callado, de maneras suaves y andar pausado.

Una novela muy buena aunque los personajes están afectados de cierto acartonamiento y no sean del todo creíbles. Pero el libro es excelente en todo lo demás. En verdad merece el premio de literatura que le arrebataron en el 93.la historia trata del autoritarismo en días de libertad y de ese extraño personaje el doctor Mario Ramos, un hombre malvado, impulsado por quien sabe que sueños y que ilusiones. Como una maquina de manejar a la gente se desenvuelve el doctor ramos, que pasa de simple títere a real arbitro de la vida nacional aun cuando esta fuera del poder; Su presencia gravita en la vida del país.

Paréntesis ( el gallo, Juanito, pierde si quieres, de Ramos pa arriba coño, un hombre frio y calculador, nadie como ella para apagar el calor de una hembra, el autor esta en la novela, esta adentro,es la novela, es el es el es el ....... =?====?????????) Esos muchachos tan imbuidos de sueños como los presenta el autor, nunca he tenido el gusto de conocerlos. Quizás la juventud de esta época sea más mercurial, mas material, que en ese entonces. Hay pocas personas preocupadas seriamente por lo que les pase a los pobres de este país y casi todo lo que se hace es pantalla para ganar votos o afectos del pueblo en un determinado momento; un pueblo con tan mala memoria que no recuerda la cara de los verdugos a los que elige para ser oprimido. Tengo la confianza de que algún día la gente no necesitara de este tipo de obras, pues ya no habrá más tiranos que derrocar y doctores ramos a quienes descifrar y a quienes alabar. Algún día los pensamientos no serán perseguidos y en que tendremos paz y seguridad social. Bueno basta de soñar. Es un buen libro y basta....

NOTA: el comentario anterior se basa en la obra escrita por Viriato Sención y los personajes ahí descritos. Cualquier parecido con personas de carne y hueso es pura coincidencia y queda el autor de este escrito libre de toda culpa por difamación. Ja ja ja

LUIS MENDEZ

This novel, of the Dominican writer Viriato Sencion, reflects the interests and anguished of the Trujillo/Balaguer reign through a host of lively characters and their contempt of the political reality. It presents us with the two important figures of those times, Trujillo and Balaguer, and the somber reality of Dominican politics of the time are presented in a frank manner. Because of this reasons in 1993 a jury awarded unanimously to Mr. Sencion the Dominican National prize of Literature sponsored by the Education Secretary of State's 'Secretaria de Estado de Educación, Bellas Artes y Cultos'. But by a decision of the Dominican government (in these times headlined by the PRSC under the constant command of Balaguer), through the Minister of State of in that era, they awarding of the prize was recalled. In other words, the government robbed from Mr. Sencion the justly won prize, because it displeased the Head of State. This book is not the first and will not be the last time where the Dominican government, or for that matter any other Latin Government, those as it pleases, crushing the rights of its citizens. You want more examples of such disgusting actions, buy this book. Every Latino, Dominicans in particular should read this novel to understand the lack of liberty and excess of abuse that existed and continuous in the Dominican Republic and the world.

The book was brand new and was the one I needed for class. I couldn't find it in our book store, but luckily enough, amazon had it! Thanks!

Up in Manhattan's Morningside Heights and its Dominican analogs all over the US, salsa is edged out by the magnificently manic beat of the merengue, whether stirred into Dominican rap and house (the most original as well as the least known versions of the genre) or in the tear-em-down accordion of Fefita La Grande. Austerlitz has all this and a lot more, all the way from the luckless Toma' back in the 1840s (read the book!)Austerlitz covers merengue from rural to hi-society in all its fierce joviality. Read this book and you'll know there's one good thing Trujillo did for the Dominican Republic!

John Storm Roberts

If you are looking for a quick yet thorough coverage of this topic then this is the book for you. It is a relatively short book, coming in at 167 pages (not including bibliography but including notes section), yet it covers the whole spectrum of the national music of the Dominican Republic.

Mr Austerlitz covers the beginnings of this music all the way through to its current state. It also spends time on Merengue's development during the Trujillo era (a particularly interesting topic to anyone who studies the Dominican Republic).

Mr Austerlitz also does a good job of addressing the sociological issues that arise from music and manages to blend well the merengue of the campo with that of the salon.

A good read and it even comes with a CD with some very good campo (country) merengue. If you are looking for merengue at its roots then this CD should please you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1.Introduction

PART 1: THE HISTORY OF MERENGUE 1854-1961. 2. Nineteenth-Century Caribbean Merengue. 3. Merengue Cibaeno, Cultural Nationalism, and Resistance. 4. Music and the State: Merengue during the Era of Trujillo, 1930-1961.

PART 2: The Contemporary Era, 1961-1995. 5. Merengue in the Transnational Community. 6. Innovation and Social Issues in Pop Merengue. 7. Merengue on the Global Stage. 8. Enduring Localism. 9. Conclusion

Let me know if you found this useful.

Enjoyed the insight into the history of Merengue and its cultural context. This book has a place on my bookshelf along with "The Latin Tinge" and "The Brazilian Sound."