South America Books

Each chapter is an essay on some aspect of life in the Sand Hills, often connected to the author's trials with his university or other human institutions, often dam builders, stream diverters, highway folks, boaters, hunters. As usual, some chapters are much more interesting than the others. I liked the parts about curlews and malaria the best. He has a strong and distinctive voice that sounds like a lot of zoologists i have met. Botanists just don't have the same attitude, somehow.

John Janovy captures the excitement of biological field research in his "own back yard". This classic, "Keith County Journal", details the work he and his students did on parasitology in his home state of Nebraska; a state that does not immediately conjure up images of great scientific discovery. This is a great pity because many fundamental discoveries can be made without traveling to the Amazon or Antarctica. In fact a researcher can spend some very fruitful time in such places as mud holes and stock tanks, as well as others, such as agricultural fields. Barbara McClintock, for example, won a Nobel Prize by studying corn in her own research plots and Jean Henri Fabre wrote a whole series of very well-known books on the insect life found mostly on his home "harmas" of about one hectare.

While he and his students scrounge through ponds to look for snail and bird parasites, Janovy was also busy making drawings and paintings of birds. Not wonderful paintings, but certainly reasonable ones. In this he joins with a large number of natural scientists/naturalists/artists who have utilized art as a vehicle for observation. Indeed, Janovy makes a very good case for such observation as a basis for field biology.

This is not just a book for biology wonks, but will also give the general reader a taste of what field biology is all about. "Keith County Journal" is in fact a highly readable book and I recommend it and any other work by John Janovy without reservation.

There are books by scientists and nature writers that inspire an attitude of awe and wonder, and they do it with a graceful style of coolly elegant prose. This is not one of those books. Janovy, a University of Nebraska biologist specializing in parasitology, is often awestruck by nature, but his style is wonky and comically ironic, using the kind of classroom lecture technique meant to engage undergraduates by seeming to be anything but reverential about subjects he loves, enjoys, and deeply cares about.

Unscientifically, he personalizes and humanizes the species he discusses (termites, snails, fish, birds) and even the places where he and his students do their field work - the Platte River, the waters of man-made Lake McConaughy, the streams and marshes that feed into it, and the Nebraska Sandhills. And there are references as well to beer drinking, the Doors, and Waylon Jennings. He refers to himself sometimes in the third person and easily reveals his own embarrassments and frustrations as his attempts to unravel nature's mysteries are sometimes less than successful. Waxing philosophical at nearly every turn, he eventually reaches a state of mind he calls the "Ogallala blues."

Meanwhile, like a great teacher who inspires with his enthusiasms, he opens a world unknown to anyone unaware of the subtle and complex relationships between species. And he's able to do this by focusing on just a few life forms, including one-celled animals, in a small area of western Nebraska. Janovy invites you to take the nearest exit ramp within range of open fields and streams - even a patch of weeds - and just feast your senses on the flora and fauna. His book is full of fascinating material for the nonbiologist and a pleasure to read.

This story is very specific in its content, which is great for a biologist like myself, but because it is so specific it may appeal only to a limited audience. I especially enjoyed the field trips described and felt I was there, leaky waders and all, plus battles with barbed wire and seeking permission from land owwners to trespass their property.

The use of common names in addition to scientific names may have contributed to its readability. More illustrations would help too. I recommend this book to anyone interested in biology, particularly those over age 15.

This book is a quiet masterpiece. I am not a biologist, but I did not find the book too specific or too technical. Janovy sees lessons everywhere. He teases them from his subjects, his students, his experiences. When he wades into Whitetail Creek with his twenty biology students, he changes the lives of those that follow him, whether in the water or on the page. He writes of the Rock Wren, "Live in a place where you are not tested, and you are living in a place of inferior quality." True, the book is about parasites, and his treatment of parasites is fascinating. But the parasites are packed in among his observations about human being and place and the workings of the world. His writing style is graceful and enticing. I can't wait to read more.

To my mind, the expanding civil war in Colombia is the biggest story in the Western Hemisphere -- but no one seems to be paying much attention to it. Good thing, then, that we have Garry Leech, a talented reporter and writer whose book explains it all, from the start of the trouble over fifty years ago to the U.S.'s involvement today with more and more money, guns, and soldiers. If George Bush gets his way, Colombia is going to be the next bloody battle in the "war on terrorism." Americans need to get wise to what's going on before we sink any deeper into Colombia and a world of hurt and regret. Step one: Read this book!

This book satisfied my need for a clarification of the conflicts in Colombia. Leech does an amazing job of simplifying this political quagmire.

Leech has done the confused observer of Colombia's tragedy a great service with this short, pocket-sized introduction to the reality behind the sporadic news reports on Latin America's most violent, dysfunctional country. The book provides a clear and concise history of modern Colombia with particular emphasis on the causes of the armed conflict that has raged there for decades. Leech examines Colombia's civil war and how it differs from yet is intertwined with the drug war, while avoiding the common pitfall of completely muddling the two topics.

The book also traces the gradual U.S. entry into the fray of the Colombia's conflict, from early forays into combatting marijuana production to the current strategy that closely resembles Reagan-era strategies in El Salvador, albeit with the additional complication of Colombia being a leading cocaine and heroin supplier. Leech's answer to the uncomfortable question, "Is the drug war working?" is an emphatic "No." He explains how the U.S. drug war is failing on all of its own terms, while at the same time detailing the disastrous human toll of increased U.S. aid to the undisciplined and extremely compromised Colombian military. The role of the various guerrilla and paramilitary groups is explained, and there are also interesting new insights into the relations between the Colombian army and the rightist paramilitaries.

This book should be of particular use to those who seek to quickly learn more about the country and conflict that are fast becoming one of the primary U.S. foreign policy concerns. Its brevity and breadth should prove especially appropriate for high school and college classes focusing on current events, foreign policy, Latin American affairs, and history. A good, short read on a truly important topic.

"Killing Peace" is an outstanding book. Garry Leech provides a front row seat to the surreal violence in Colombia. Moreover, he explains why a just and enduring peace is so difficult to attain. The author is a superb journalist who documents how the flames of peace have been doused and the drums of war have been amplified. Recommended.

Killing Peace is a good introduction to the forty year civil war in Colombia. (Arguably the civil war began in the 1940s. The 1960s represent the date the rebel forces FARC emerged.) Leech provides objective descriptions of the history of the conflict, the social forces and striking class divisions generating it, how the USA's imperialist interests and interventions aggravate it, the civil war's principal players and fighting forces, the widespread human rights abuses that debase the conflict, the criminal activities employed to finance it, and the many failed military and peace approaches to resolve it.

I particularly appreciated Leech's analysis of the rise and role of the right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia, the staggering degree of homelessness and poverty created by the USA's "fumigation" program, and the USA's use of (what should be frankly coined) corporate mercenaries in the war. Although FARC is the largest fighting rebel force in Colombia, I wish Leech would have provided more information about the ELN. But, in this respect, Killing Peace is like most works on the Colombian civil war.

My chief issue with the book, and others like it, is that it tends to analyze the prospects for resolving the conflict in terms of some equitable and just accommodation among the principal players (except for the paramilitaries). But that's precisely the problem with this civil war: given the nature and extent of their human rights violations (including assassination, mass murder, terror, kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking, etc.), it is doubtful the principal players are capable of fashioning and maintaining an equitable and just settlement.

The book doesn't satisfactorily look at other options. For example, the prospects for a resolution coming from the various social movements within Colombia as well as how other Latin American regional powers and interests could be brought to bear on the conflict. Perhaps that hope is too thin for Leech, but it could very well be the only one available.

I wasn't sure at first if I was going to enjoy this cookbook because I am not at all familiar with Latin dishes or ingredients. The recipes in "Latin American Cooking Across the USA" are very accessible, as I've read many of them I've thought to myself "that sounds really good", even ones with ingredient combinations and preparations completely unfamiliar. I am happy that this book dispels the notion that all Latin food is super-spicy, there are subtle and flavorful recipes in this book not just heat ( I think Americans have gone way overboard with hot spices and garlic as if that is a guarantee of good flavor, which it is not). It is also interesting to see how recipes have changed because of availability of ingredients in the US or because of change in tastes by later generations. I can't wait to try so many of these recipes!

THIS BOOK IS A KEEPER, FOREVER AND EVER. I FELT I WAS TRAVELING THE WHOLE HEMISPHERE WITHOUT LEAVING MY BED! NOT ONLY ARE THE RECIPES DIFFERENT, IMPRESSIVE AND EASY TO PREPARE, THIS BOOK IS A TREASURE OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY ABOUT THE MANY LATINO GROUPS WITHIN OUR OWN USA BORDERS. I LEARNED CULTURE AND GOT A FEW LAUGHS AND IMMEDIATELY TRIED SOME RECIPES THAT REALLY IMPRESSED MY FAMILY. IT'S THE BEST COOKBOOK I'VE EVER HAD. IF THE AUTHORS READ THIS, I'D LIKE TO REALLY CONGRATULATE THEM FROM MY HEART!

This is a great cookbook. If you have any interest in cookbooks that are worth reading, as well as using to cook from, just buy it already. You will learn a lot about Latin American family traditions, too.

More than 10 years ago, while browsing cookbooks at the Strand bookstore in New York, I came across this book, and discovered Puerto Rican holiday recipes. "Why not try them this year?", I thought. So, I made Puerto Rican christmas that year, and ever since. A testament to how good/authentic these recipes are is that in that first year, the guests included my (Puerto Rican) mother-in-law and a family friend in from La Isla. The results we warmly greeted. "Eddie's Puerto Rican Roast Pork" is one of those recipes that is super easy, but will result in an indescribably good dish, and a beautiful centerpiece to your dinner. I have made many of the other dishes, too -- all to great acclaim.

Favorites inclue the "Arroz con Gandules", "Panama Canal Seviche", "Shrimp Seviche", both Flan recipes, and, of course, "Coquito", the yummy Puerto Rican version of eggnog, with rum and coconut.

The stories are as good as the recipes, so even if you don't cook, the book is a terrific read. But, be warned, it _will_ make you hungry.

I tried the Jerk marinade recipe for chicken and curry goat (lamb) and both came out delicious. Even though the jerk recipe I have been following for a while now calls for green onions and brown sugar, both of which are omitted in the recipe from this book, the result (it uses ginger and garlic that I havent seen in other jerk rubs before) was delectable. Following the recommendation of the author, we recently visited Vernon's Jerk place in the Bronx and were very pleased with the food!! I have been dabbling in caribbean/cuban/spanish cuisine for a little while now and this book is a must have if you wanna prepare authentic latin american dishes! This book also has a huge dessert section. Colombian American Guava Bread, Pumpkin Flan and Coconut Bread Pudding all came out excellent! Happy cooking! I am sure this will be a book you'll keep coming back to every time you feel like whipping together something spicy and exotic!

This book features a wide variety of recipes from across the spectrum of Latin American cookery, including contributions by notables Celia Cruz, Cristina Saralegui and others.

Our favorites have been the "Latin from Manhattan" chicken soup, pork and rice, black bean soup, chicken fricasee *and* the Guatamelan coffee. And this Thanksgiving I will be making the wine-infused turkey! Other recipes include pasteles, chicken and beef dishes, milk shakes and desserts.

There are also interesting side articles such as "How Jamaican beef patties came to be sold in New York pizzerias" (I had always wondered about that!)

A great resource for the novice or experienced cook!

Overall I was pleased with Roszak's book. Most of the pieces i've read about the sixties and the "hippie" era focus only on the sex, the drugs, and the music. While Roszak did dicuss this, his book was quite different because it focused mainly on the politcal and social issues of the time. Roszak include everything from the Vietnam War to how the counter culture has affected the lifestyles of the typical American family. Although Roszk is clearly on the far left side of the political spectrum, it is obvious that he tries his best to be objective and is sure to back up most of his points and information with credible sources. What I admire most about Roszak's book is the tone he takes. In my experience, many adult pieces concerning this era in history and the taboo, radical things that went on are often full of criticism towards that particular generation. Roszak did not criticize the protestors or the acid droppers, like most do. In his book, he carefully explained and supported the motives for these people, suggestng his approval and admiration for those who weren't afraid to stand up for what they believed in, no matter how much society frowned upon it.

This book offers a highly detailed examination of the relationship of the late 1960's counterculture to cutting-edge intellectual ideas of the same era; Roszak discusses Herbert Marcuse and Norman Brown, among others, in great detail and shows very lucidly how their ideas influenced intellectual and political movements on college campuses in both America and Europe. Roszak's prescience here is amazing, considering that he wrote this book in 1967-68, while the phonemena he discusses were still unfolding! It would be interesting if Roszak were to write a response to his own book today, considering how the counterculture of the early 1990's has been so rapidly devoured by the mainstream--Roszak foresaw the possibility of this happening to the 1960's counterculture, but it took far longer then than it has now. Roszak's ruminations on the absurdity of the Alternative Nation would be welcome with this reader!

Roszak's "Making of a Counter Culture" defined an era and the youth society that composed it. A thrilling expose' of Counter Culture Philosophy and oreintation, this is where the discussion all began. His bent on analysis of cultural differences and tendency to omit much of the political implications necessitated the need for a library of text thereafter.
Timothy Fitzgerald

read this still inspiring report on the counterculture and own its potential for self-transformation in your own life and the life of our global society.

I read this book in 1979 and it helped me to make sense of the 60s landslide in my own life. Re-reading it many times over the years, together with Roszak's other very insightful work (Unfinished Animal, 1975) is always an inspiring reminder of the counterculture's deep potential for cultural renewal. Forty years after the Summer of Love, Roszak's insights are still right on.

This book is by far the most seminal book one can read in attempting to get an accurate and unvarnished understanding of the sixties counterculture; the social and historical reasons for its rise, its intellectual underpinnings, and the way in which its actions were informed and indeed propelled by its unique constellation of integrating values into a cultural ethos.

Recently the counterculture has been viciously attacked, intellectually trashed and intentionally trivialized by a series of books and articles by mainstream neoconservatives who wish to discredit the counterculture once and for all by blaming it and the "permissiveness" it spawned for the manifest ills the mainstream society has actually engendered through the evolution of its own corrupted, nonrepresentative, and nondemocratic political process. Many ignorant youthful authors have succumbed to attributing fallacious ideas and notions of this ethos in a way that is not only inaccurate and disingenuous, but which serves to trivialize the quite serious cultural critique it comprised.

All that is set aside here. Remember, this book was written more than 30 years ago, even as the counterculture was rising, so it is very much a observational history, one done at ground zero of the demonstrations, sit-ins, when the tumult and strident calls for radical new solutions rang clear, and the heady air of nascent social and intellectual revolution was in the air.

Here one finds the counterculture placed in its proper context, and not just discussed 'en passant' as the demonized triage of sex, drugs, and rock and roll'. One can hardly understand the sixties in such simplistic terms, and Roszak helps one to understand the complex welter of social, economic, and political factors that led to its emergence. In its essence the counterculture was a social and political reaction to the hypocrisy of the mainstream materialistic culture from which it sprang, and as sociologist Philp Slater has commented elsewhere, most of the individual elements of the value system of the counterculture stem from values the mainstream culture in fact claims to hold but actually does not practice and employ.

This, then, is book with remarkable insight, perspective, and historical verve. Rosazak nails quite accurately the tensions, problems and contradictions associated with the rise of the counterculture and the innate problems its continued existence eventually portended for the materialistic mainstream culture. Of course, as history shows us, the sixties ethos was flattened by the overwhelming onslaught of the establishment and the Ohio National Guard, and the political and social ethos of the counterculture melded into the domain of increasingly isolated private and personal philosphies of hippies being assimilated into the mainstream.

The fact that its ethos is now blamed for much of the discontent and confusion of contemporary America is a likely result of what happens when one tries to merge antagonistic ideas and notions into a cultural system that is inconsistent with its own. This is a wonderful book, and one needs to read before the victors of those fractious times so revise the official version of the history of the 1960s that those of us who were there will no longer recognize it.

The book was wonderful reading and I knew it was going to be, however I was stuck with two books since I made a mistake making the order. When I contacted Amazon within minutes of my purchase I was told that they could not do anything about it. Next time I will really think before ordering from you again. Thank you. Elizabeth Schwartz

Este libro es absolutamente espectacular. Todavía la historia es casi inimaginable, y el testimonio personal es lleno de emoción, perspectiva, y descripción fascinante. Leer este libro es una experiencia rica sobre el tema clásico de sobrevivir, y vivir de nuevo.

Nota: esta versión en castellano es traducción. El autor escribió el libro en ingles con el apoyo de un periodista norteamericano.

As a native English speaker who enjoys reading a lot in Spanish, I was not prepared to be blown away as I was by Nando Parrado's personal story.

Parrado has endeared himself to multitudes in North and South America, perhaps all over the world, with his personal account of this familiar story.

To call the book inspirational is an understatement, but it is difficult to find fitting remarks. It is certainly one of the best Spanish non-fiction books available for sale in the continental U.S.

Nando Parrado ha plasmado en su libro una serie de experiencias que realzan el espiritu humano y el deseo de vivir, aun en las mas extremas circunstancias.

Muy agil en su narrativa, Parrado nos lleva otra vez a revivir las circunstancias que estos muchachos tuvieron que atravezar, y los intimos sentimientos que nunca podrian revelarse en una pelicula.

Excellent. Conocer la historia contada por uno de sus protagonistas y la experiencia de ese grupo en situaciones extremas como las que vivieron, me hicieron reflexionar mucho. Fácil de leer, lo tienes que comentar cada rato. Es una libro que hay que leerlo.

Unlike many works that Alan Lomax had has hand in, this book is great reading, if nothing more. I am not known to be a fan of Alan Lomax and his father as my review of _The Land Where the Blues Began_ attests, but at least Lomax realized what a treasure Jelly Roll Morton was and interviewed him and also had Morton create hours and hours of singing and piano music.


This book offers a digest of hours and hours of interviews with Morton in the late 1930s when Morton was living in Washington. It is supplemented by some very useful interviews Lomax did with New Orleans musicians and their families in the late 1940s. The New Orleans interviews provide very useful direct source material about the social and culture and professional milieu that both Creole and Black musicians in New Orleans Sprang from. A recently written criticial review by a real scholar at the close of the book explains the great limitations of Lomax's selections and writngs here.


Lomax apparently knew little about the real history and processes of New Orleans jazz and life, so that a lot of questions that someone interest in Morton's impact on music are not asked, not just in what Lomax selected to put in this book, but in the larger transcripts of Lomax's interviews and in the monologues Morton dictated to a stenographer as part of this project. Lomax's tendency is to seek out non-musical issue his stereotypical images of Blues and Jazz musicians call forth. This is quite unfortunate because to the end of his life, Morton had a very sophsiticated and articulate understanding of music and was capable of serious discussion of jazz and blues in formal musical terminology. He was a person who seriously thought about music most of the time when he was not playing it.

Recently scholars with new information drawn from new discoveries of Morton's personal archives, correspondence, and musical library as well as the range of interviews with other musicians tend to verify much of what as thought of after these intervews as bragadoccio. Morton probably was the first person to produce written compositions that were Jazz as opposed to rag time. He was certainly playing and writing down blues compositions before Handy. Even the greatest of early Jazz Pianists like James P. Johnson affirmed that both in the days before WWI and in the 1920s Morton outplayed all the great Jazz Pianists.

The examination and performance of the music that Morton wrote in the late 1930s indicates that Morton had not only mastered composition and band arrangement in a style that would have surpassed the most surpassed swing of his day but had written orchestral pieces that prefigured the modal Jazz that Coltrane and others presented in the 1950s. These and other compositions indicate that whatever the fortunes of his public performances, Morton was a serious composer whose skills continued to advance even in his last years when his health collapsed.

Yet flagged by failing health, Morton was never able to organize an orchestra that could have played these pieces. He had been told that he could have lived ten or fifteen more years had he given up performing music, but he wanted to make his music more than he wanted to live.

Finally, Morton WAS cheated out of millions of dollars in royalties by the music industry, especially by the Melrose Brothers and by ASCAP. He was one of the first musicians to challange the way the Mafia-connected music publishers simply robbed musicians of their compositions or did not pay them. Unlike some musicians who suffered quietly or WC Handy who was one of the token Blacks ASCAP paraded around to hide its racism, Morton launched a public campaign in Downbeat and other Jazz magazines that exposed the crimes of ASCAP and music publishers like Melrose.

Until the mid 1940s, ASCAP which collected royalties for compositions from record producers, radio, night clubs, and other places where music was played had a racist setup. Few Black members were admitted although royalties were collected for their music. Morton carried out a public and legal campaign for years to be admitted to ASCAP even though it was collecting millions for the large number of his compositions that had become great hits in the swing era, like the King Porter Stomp that became a standard that any competent string band cut its teeth on.

Once inside ASCAP, he found ASCAP distributed its royalties not based on the money different songs brought royalties but on what a board of ASCAP leaders decided was the cultural worth of different kinds of music. Thus while Broadway and classical writers were getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalty payments, Morton received under 200 dollars each of the two years he was living and a member of ASCAP. Morton protested and exposed this publically in the last years of his life and attempted to gather other victims of this system in a law suit. While he was dying and unable to carry on this struggle, his protests and the information he gathered led to congressional investigations in the 1940s that forced an end to discrimination in ASCAP in regard to membership and forced it to distribute royalties based on the sales of the music, not on its "value."

The issue of braggadocio also comes here from the fact that Lomax supplied Morton with a bottle of whiskey for each Interview. Morton was not an alcholic, but those who have studied the transcripts have noted that Morton grew more inaccurate, abrasive, and unreliable longer into the interviews as the booze took effect.

This fits into Alan Lomax's consistent pattern of trying to make sources, particularly Black sources fit into the stereotypes he had about them. Lomax who took many photographs of his folk sources, for example, would force people who preferred being photographed in the Sunday Best, to appear in old work clothes. While Leadbelly actually favored the finest suits and imposed a dress code on Sonny Terry and Brownie MCGhee when they roomed at his New York Home (suits and ties as musicians are professionals and get a case, not a sack for the instrument) Lomax forced him to perform in prison garb or overalls. Lomax also created the fiction that singing and the intercession of his father John Lomax had some relationship with Leadbelly being released fromthe Louisiana penitentary when Leadbelly was released as part of program that automatically reduced prison sentences due to depression-caused cutbacks.

Lomax wanted precisely to convey a picture of Morton filled with whiskey, smokey rooms, and so forth, when Morton was one of the biggest stars of music between 1917 and 1930, performing in some of the most sophisticated venues and a particular favorite with Hollywood film stars of the period.

Despite these criticisms, I urge anyone interested in finding out not only about Jelly Roll Morton, but about the origins of Jazz in New Orleans and the entertainment industry in the earkly 20th Century to read this book. A good supplement, or perhaps a better place to start would be _Jelly's Blues: The Life, Music, and Redemption of Jelly Roll Morton_ by Howard Reich. This can be followed by _Dead Man Blues: Jelly Roll Morton Way Out West by Phil Pastras_.

In spite of Jelly's bragadocio and the author's lack of Jazz background (Lomax was a folklorist) it's a very interesting book. Jelly must have felt injusticed when, in the late thirties, Benny Goodman was earning lots of money with "King Porter's Stomp". But the truth is that, exactly like King Oliver, he was outpaced by the revolution started by Satchmo.

I have always been a fan of Jelly Roll Morton, and I've always looked for books about him. This is by far the best. I loved it. I wish they would re-issue it

Alan Lomax interviewed Jelly Roll while doing an extensive set of recordings shortly before Morton's death. He followed up with a number of interviews with people who knew Jelly Roll. Lomax did a fabulous job of keeping himself out of the way while letting the often colorful information from the interviews tell the story of Jelly's part in the birth of jazz, a story with triumphs, massive ego and ultimate decline. I read a library copy and am buying a copy for a present.

This is one of the rare books for it can be enjoyed by just about anyone who picks it up. Its the amazing account of the life of Jelly Roll Morton, one of the best jazz pianists of all time. Though a braggart and troubled man, he created some of the very best pieces of jazz. The book goes into his life from his childhood and his time working at Storyville to the very troubled end in the early forties. You learn about his family, his troubled relationships with Anita and Mabel and how he went from being wildly successful to dying virtually forgotten. Voodoo, New Orleans, jazz and Creole culture, its all here.

Written with flair and never boring, Mr. Jelly Roll is a book that you will read more than once. Its a look at a legend and a glimpse into a world we can only know of through books and music. Get this if you want a good read and a look at Mr. Morton's life. A true classic.

I interviewed Jacqueline Duheme when she was promoting this exquisite book, and one thing remains in my mind that she said about "The Grand Dame, Jacqueline" - that she could have been a painting woman!!!

As an ardent admirer of Mrs. Kennedy for the past 40 years, I have read every book on her that I could get my hands on. "Mrs. Kennedy Goes Abroad" is a refreshing change from the repetitive narratives and recycled photos that are the mainstay of so many other books about her life. Ms. Duheme's illustrations are elegant and sumptuous but also embrace a childlike purity and simplicity which capture the essence of Mrs. Kennedy's persona and mystique. The commentary has the simple charm of a beautifully written children's book. It is obvious why Mrs. Kennedy chose Ms. Duheme to accompany her on her more memorable trips abroad as First Lady. A truly enchanting book.

Mrs. Kennedy Goes Abroad is an adorable little book filled with colorful Fauvist-like illustrations. Anyone who likes Laura Stoddart's simple-chic illustrations for Kate Spade will probably enjoy it. Fans of the recent exhibition at the Met that highlighted Jackie's White House clothes may appreciate it too. The commentary is kept to a minimum and black and white photos from Mrs. Kennedy's travels are included, but the focus is on French artist Duheme's amusing miniature paintings that capture Jackie in all those great pink sleeveless dresses and crisp suits in Paris, India, London and Italy.

As a side note: Duheme and Jacqueline Kennedy became friends who shared similar painting styles, and Duheme was invited to Cape Cod to give the First Lady an art lesson.

This book has wonderful pictures that captures the "facts" from actual photographs and transforms them into scenes of "fantasy". I really enjoyed the background information that accompanies each picture. A real treat of Jackie fans.

"Mrs. Kennedy Goes Abroad" is a beautiful book. The illustrations are lovely to look at, and the book is fun to read. A good choice for anyone to add to their library; especially recommended for those interested in the Kennedys and Jackie in particular. Evokes the fun mood of Jackie's scrapbook written with her sister Lee, "One Special Summer".

My Little Island is a delightful book which I first read to my daughter when she was 4 years old. The story is wonderful and the illustrations are captivating. We read it again and again many nights as it became one of our favorite books. Soon my daughter began reading it by herself. She is 6 years old now and still remembers the names of all the beautiful trees in the story. I would highly recommmend this book to the parents of any 4 to 6 year old child whom I am sure would enjoy this book as much as we do.

Both my parents worked when I was kid. My younger sister and I used to stay at home and play. Every mid-afternoon we would stop playing and run to turn on MPT (PBS) and watch Reading Rainbow. We were never disappointed-- even the theme song pleased us and we would sing and dance to it. MY LITTLE ISLAND was one of my favorite episodes-- I have not read or seen this book in 12 years yet I remember so much from it: seeing the island overhead, looking exactly like a large swimming turtle, the market scene (the clothes and fruit compete with each other, both are so delicious to look at), and the night fishing. This is a beutiful book-- beautifully written, beautifully illustrated. Read it only once and I guarantee neither you or the one whom it is read to will forget it.

I like the pictures in this book. The book made me wonder what goat-water stew and guavas are. I wonder if people still live on Montserrat since the volcano erupted. I wish I could go there to swim, fish, and visit the market. I am 6 1/2 years old.

This book is absolutely beautiful. The illustrations are incredibly colorful and true to life in the islands. The volcano that has erupted and buried Montserrat is mentioned and show in the book, and though Monteserrat is now buried under ash and not at all like the paintings in the book, your child does not have to know the details. My three year old loves this story and pictures. He is familiar with Carnival and many of the "island" fruits and vegetables mentioned in the book. If you live outside the Caribbean, you could go to an island marketplace with your child and actually find and eat these delicacies. Overall, this is a wonderful story about a boy and his best friend who travel to Montserrat for an all-too-short vacation. Again, for you statesiders who have not been to the Caribbean with your kids, you will have to explain some of the pictures; however, this is what imaginations are for. Enjoy the book. Highly recommended.

It's important to note that recent events have added poignancy to Lessac's tribute to her home island. This charming book is a record of an island practically destroyed by a recent volcanic eruption. "My Little Island" is the island of Montserrat, three-quarters of which lies buried under layers of volcanic ash. All the colors and the activity of the people portrayed here are fond memories. What a wonderful opportunity to talk to children about the things they would cherish about their own homes. And what a joyous appreciation of a lifestyle also typical of other Leeward islands.

This book pretty much just made me mad. The terrorist group M-19 attempted to take government workers hostage in order to get political consideration. The first time(s) is worked. The "macho" new President decided not to negotiate and a large number (unknown) of the hostages were killed. From the few witnesses left, the terrorists killed some soldiers, but no hostages. The un-identified bodies were buried and had acid poured on their graves to prevent later identification. Fortunately for the Government, an earthquake provided hundreds more bodies to dump over the killed hostages further hindering later identification.

Bottom line, I ain't ever going to Columbia and thank GOD they don't run our police forces. The President allowed the military to kill all of the terrorists and all of the hostages that couldn't get away from the army.

The author is a good investigator and writer. She's also VERY lucky to be here.

"The Palace of Justice" is a brutal story of life in Colombia. Carrigan is a tier-one journalist who lived in Colombia and used many first hand accounts to expose the flaws in the government's coverup.

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This is an utterly brilliant book.
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Ana Carrigan provides a meticulously researched and detailed
account of a climactic event in the ongoing Colombian violence.
The significance of this saga is not in its direct effects but
the insight into the workings and priorities of the Colombian
government and military revealed to us by this moment of crisis.
The author gives the critical background to the saga and covers
in detail the political maneuvering and subsequent
Orwellian "official explanation" of what really happened.
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Read this book. If it's out-of-print, harangue the publisher.

This book is truly the most complete investigation on those two intense and definitive days in recent Colombian history. Told with gripping narrative, it is hard to put down: it took me only three days to read. As a Colombian, for me it is also a source of profound sadness, because the book, through its tale, illustrates all the workings of colombian politics, with all its lies, manipulations, self-interests, and lack of any decent statemanship and generosity. Except for a few personalities, all the actors in this drama show an inmense human mediocrity, from the president of the nation on down. Also, it shows the brutality of an armed force that has always been distinguished by its corruption and incompetence in the field of battle. This book should be mandatory reading for anybody interested in Colombian politics, history and society.

A very enjoyable book about a very bloody and unfortunate event in Colombia`s recent history. As a Colombian I can vouch for the accuracy of the events the author describes. I want to congratulate the author and at the same time recommend this book to everyone.

As a recent traveler to Colombia I found this book to be a truly great reminder of my trip. The wide angle photography gives you a pespective that can only be beaten by being there. It feels like you are truly in the picture. I also like the book because it doesn't focus on one area or on one type of geography. Countyside and City are equally represented. As are the mountains, the coastal regions and the jungle.

This is honestly one of the best ever depictions of such a rich country, not only in culture, art, architecture, history and geographical variety, but in the people, the spirit, the colors and the sharp contrasts that this beautiful country has.
The photographer exposes an intimate and personal view that allows us to be inside the picture, as if living it ourselves. He has entered areas and dangerous zones to show us those existing contrasts, and has exposed us to the magnificense of this varied country. It is a perfect example of being able to see through someone else's eyes, and how beautiful it is.

perfect and beautiful. Any time you want to visit a world of difference, beauty -go to this book. I would reccomend this book to any serious cofee table book enthusiast. Weather you have been to Colombia or not, you will like it!

Probably no country in South America has a greater geographical variety than Colombia. In 2002 I spent a month exploring Colombia (although the terrorists-FARC problem seriously restricted my movement). "Panoramic Colombia" helped me to remember, vividly, what I had seen and get a glimpse the many parts of Colombia I needed to return to see.

Using a roundshot, 360 degree camera, Villegas has done a great job of showcasing the cities and natural wonders of Colombia. Each color photograph captures mountains, jungles, coastal areas, rainforests, moorlands, towns and vibrant cities. Each geographical region is delineated by a map (a nice touch). The reproduction of color is a notch below excellent. Most of the two page panoramic photos are 30 inches long, however, there are twenty photos that fold out into three pages, over 45 inches long!

"Panoramic Colombia" is an excellent introduction to Colombia. A great book for anyone who is going to visit, or who has visited, this diverse country. "Panoramic Colombia" would make a fantastic gift for anyone from Colombia or interested in this Latin American gem. Highly Recommended

We purchased the Spanish version of this book while in Colombia. It had been recommended to us by other Colombians who felt it was the best photographic representation thus far of their country. The content is spectacular in that it captures pristine landscapes, beautiful seascapes and candid events. The photo quality itself is slightly imperfect in sharpness and lighting (sometimes the faces are in shadows), but this is understandable with the use of the panoramic lens. I have mostly enjoyed the corresponding eloquent citations from authors describing their impressions of, feelings about or experiences in Colombia.