South America Books

gave this book to my mom as a b-day gift, per her request and she loves it. the pictures are beautiful and it was a great armchair travel!

"Markawasi: Peru's Inexplicable Stone Forest" by Kathy Doore is an impressive compendium of more than four hundred full-color and informatively captioned photographs, illustrations and maps showcasing the 'sacred mountain' country of Peru. This unique photo guidebook is more than just a collection of interesting images as the author has arranged for an engaging and informative two-page Foreword by Peter E. Schneider, followed by an extended Preface, an Introduction, and historical background to Peru's Markawasi Stone Forest complete with a map and hiking routes. The rest of this elegant 176-page coffee table book is devoted to 'Temples of Light and Shadow' (showcasing specific elements of interest); then 'Superbatolite Circompacifigue'; 'Faces & Sculptures'; 'Sons of the Ray'; 'Fiesta del Agua'; 'How to Go!' (with festivals, village life and outfitting for the mesa); 'Nature's Gift' (medicinal plants of the mesa); and 'Voices of the Mesa'. Of special note is the bibliographic list of suggested reading for further study. Perfect as a preparational reading for onsite visitors and an ideal browse for armchair travelers with an interest in something 'off the beaten path', this superbly written, organized and presented compendium is very highly recommended for personal, academic, and community library collections.

Kathy Doore is an exceptional human being who has lived years beyond her age. The book is truly a legacy and affirmation of the depth of her perception about the light and energy of Markawasi and Peru in general.
We are blessed to have Kathy living in this time warp. I am delighted that I own being one of her best friends. To know her is to understand her genius and dedication...
May we all be blessed by this profound work of brilliance and love for a country that owns our soul.

Patricia

In this stunning book Kathy Doore has put together a gift fit for everyone.
If your interest is photography, graphics, sculpture, painting,
anthropology, history, mysticism, story telling, South America, Peru,
geology, Hiking, traveling or book collecting, I am sure that you will love this book. There's even a travel guide on how to get to this far-out sculpture garden up in the Andes.
It's one of the coolest and hippest books I've seen in a long time. The reading material is super interesting. If you prefer you can just flip through the pages full of awesome pictures and beautiful illustrations. I highly recommend it.

I found Markawasi to be completely inspiring. A must read for any seasoned traveler, or dreamer who has yet to embark upon a journey of discovery. This book combines both an impressive expanse of research as well as another element, missing in so many guidebooks: the human element. The author combines a notable array of research, practical traveler's advice, as well as a richly woven tapestry of human experience and personal revelation. This book encourages not just a physical trek to this spot, but also a spiritual quest in order to explore the mysteries of this ancient culture. Complete with amazing photography, colorful descriptions of life in San Pedro de Casta, and inspiring stories of personal growth, the author allows a glimpse into her own connection to this place of profound depth. The author's own revelations provide a token of authenticity, we as readers, can begin to unravel and understand why this place holds such importance to so many, and this helps to break down the barrier between author and audience. Overall, an incredibly well thought out creation. Be prepared for an experience in reading this book. Definitely a testament to the transformative power of travel and exploration.

Noticia de un secuestro is one of Gabriel Garcia Marquez most dry books in terms of the literary style used. It could be because the theme does not allow for much variety but just an honest recount of the truth. The book gives the reader a realistic view of daily Colombian life, a country that has struggled with guerrilla warfare and drug trafficking for the past forty years and more. The protagonists of the book are the victims of the kidnappers and throughout the book we learn about the cruel reality of these people who have changed the life of many Colombians by use of violence and cruel killings without mercy. I think the book was well written with revealing details of how the victims feel (mentally and physically) and how their families suffer when they are forced to negotiate with the drug dealers etc. for the safe return of their family members. Also, we clearly see the role that the government plays in the rescue process. The style used by the author is very journalistic, thus making the book and story very dry in comparison to his other literary works. However, perhaps this style was chosen simply because this is the reality of Colombias daily crisis. The book is excellent, has much eye-opening information and is a wonderful read if you wish to learn more about the socio-economic problems of this great South American country. Arriba Colombia.

This book is really interesting, because tell us the political and social problems of one of the most important countries in latinamerica: Colombia.

One of the best books I've ever read about Colombia and its problems.

Noticia de un secuestro

Para: Gloria Leticia Fernández, en Cali.

Noticia de un secuestro de Gabriel garcía Márquez es un libro que se deja leer y que presenta y representa la narrativa en su forma más pura. Con un estilo periodístico claro y directo el Gabo nos hace penetrar en lo más hondo de las vidas de los secuestrados y nos hace sentir sus horrores de la manera más sutil, pues en ningún momento se centra su atención en los crímenes o torturas sino en la vida en común de captores y capturados, y los esfuerzos del gobierno y de sus familias para liberarlos. Una cosa parece cierta y es que la realidad supera siempre a la ficción y este relato de la vida real lo demuestra por lo novelesco que a veces nos parece y lo increíble de las cosas que pasan en Colombia sacudido como esta por el trafico de drogas, las guerrillas y las constantes luchas internas. Aun así sus habitantes aun viven y trabajan, tratan de forjarse un futuro y muchos luchan por el bienestar de su pueblo. El libro esta narrado de forma magistral como un gran reportaje en que el autor se abstiene de intervenir y es simplemente un narrador de hechos contados por otras personas. Nunca nos deja ver el Gabo sus sentimientos ni estropea la obra con rebuscados sentimentalismos que hubieran hecho de este libro un dramón insoportable. Nota: en Colombia se produjeron mas de tres mil secuestros el año pasado y la practica llamada pesca milagrosa ( asaltar gente en las carreteras sin saber bien quienes son para luego de depurarlos pedir rescate toma fuerza). Los cuerpos elite no dan abasto y el país tiene un índice de peligrosidad muy alto. Espero que mi amiga gloria que se encuentra en Cali este bien y si estas leyendo este articulo, sepa que tiene un amigo en uepa.com y que me puede escribir. Espero que este todo bien en su amada Cali y que la paz llegue pronto a Colombia, que los latinos podamos unirnos en un interés común y hacia objetivos nuevos, que todo el mundo deje de halar para donde más le conviene y que al final podamos progresar en paz.

Mis saludos al pueblo Colombiano.

Crazzyteacher.

La verdad es que le hice el quite a este libro durante tiempo, pensando que era una especie de producto de los talleres que hace G.M. pero hace poco lo leí de una sentada y me sorprendió. No está a la altura de ninguno de sus libros de ficción y tampoco es gran periodismo, pero todo el trozo que cubre la reclusión de las mujeres y la forma que buscan para sobrevivir al encierro es notable. Lo que más molesta del libro es que no toma ningún riesgo. Es plano, ultracorregido y sobreeditado. Y además, esa tendencia a describir a todos los parientes de las secuestradas poco menos que como personajes de teleserie es desagradable: son unidimensionales, incorruptibles, incansables. No hay drama ni interés ahí, sino que en el encierro. Lástima que el libro no comenzara y terminara dentro de esas cuatro paredes. Para leer una pura vez.

I read this book years ago and it still sticks with me. As a reporter in Vietnam, Halberstam was a thorn in the side of the Johnson and Nixon administration. He was watched by Nixon's plumbers and the FBI; Nixon thought he was a subversive. What he is is an exceptionally perceptive historian. In this book he follows the growth of the media industry from newsprint to magazines, radio and television. He told the Edward R. Murrow story before anybody else and his details on Watergate are even more frightening than Woodward and Bernstein's "All the President's Men." Halberstam seems to have that unique capacity to crawl inside the heads of people like Luce who gave us Time magazine. From their perspective, and those of everyday reporters, we see the struggle to balance grasping for the truth and the glory of the headline. We begin to understand how McCarthy could rise to power by using the deadline to sneak in enuedos about people. The author does a masterful job of showing the frustration of reporters and editors and how they finally overcame McCarthy's sinister power. This is an excellent book, not only for journalist but also for those who wish to understand the power of the media in shaping our world.

Please rate this review. Thanks.

This book is big and thick and it is hard to put down. It opens the reader to the media-the reporters-the owners-the news broadcasters and the men and women behind the scenes. He tells in vivid detail how the reporters all over the world as well as covering wars are supported or not by the publications that put them there. And he vividly relates the love-hate relationship of the above people with the various presidents of the USA. I have recommended this book to everyone who will listen to me. I would go on a book tour to get people to read it.!

David Halberstam proves again what a thorough and engaging journalist/historian he was. He presents a detailed account of the rise of the great media families and individuals of the 20th century without being pedantic or tedious. Anyone who wants to understand The L.A. Times, The Washington Post, Time or CBS should start here. The book unfortunately highlights the huge loss that Halberstam's death represents.

Author David Halberstam takes us behind the scenes as he analyzes U.S. media from the 1940-1970's, showing many factors and internal squabbles that influence the medium. The author shows how a mix of professionalism, sloppiness, arrogance, and favorites affects what the media reports, plus how it reports. We see how the media sometimes kowtows to corporate sponsors, and often allows itself to be manipulated. Consider the 2004 campaign, when the media routinely filmed President Bush before cheering crowds, but never his secret service illegally detaining silent dissenters at rallies. Readers also learn about skilled leaders like Edward R. Murrow, capable if imperfect executives like William Paley (CBS) and Katherine Graham (Washington Post), and shysters like Henry Luce (TIME) that avoid truths when they don't fit the agenda.

This book arrived in 1979, before the advent of Internet and most cable news. Still its lessons remain appropriate, even if media often fails to live up to the hopes of the founding fathers and the First Amendment. Halberstam is a talented observer who capably follows George Selby, Theodore H. White, and many others with a critical eye towards the media. I gave the book just four stars because the prose is a bit thick, but this remains an important read.

Read all the other reviews for the media impacting intent which is only a small part of Halverstam's real message in spite of the title of this epoch. Halberstam's media message ranges from imformative to scarry.

But that which will stick with me forever is the way Halberstam delivers the frailty and fate of America to a mere mortal, the President of the United States. Eisenhower fiddles, Kennedy charms, Johnson screams and Nixon frightens. It took Halberstam seven years to research and write this book and after you read it you will wonder how he did it so fast, a monumental effort.

Fortunately the truth is often downright funny. Nixon's twenty eight year old publicity man making a side comment that Nixon looks like he drops down out of his closet every morning in the same rumbled suit and badly in need of a shave.

Halberstam conveys how power was for the taking and that those who had it developed it primarily in accordance with their own agendas, personal or family politics and use it and us in the process.

No matter that this is now just history ending with Watergate. Halberstam's real message is that the circumstances he describes will remain the same in any generation.

The Powers That Be may change the way you think of power and how it affects you.

I was living in Cambodia when I came across this book, following the recommendation of one of my English friends. I bought the book, opened it... and could no longer put it down! This book came as a complete eye-opener to me, on both how America had conducted its war across Indochina, but also on how Cambodia's history had/has been so intimately intermixed with Sihanouk's.

If you are into learning the backside of what we could all dub "official history", then this book's for you. You will no longer look at Kissinger, Nixon or Westmoreland with the same candid, obedient and servile eyes after reading it. Packed with previously unheard-of accounts, reports, testimonies, following a clean, highly intelligent argumentation methodology, Sideshow acts as a real bulldozer on the reader, repeatedly confronting him/her with loads of devastating illustrations of unsound decisions, hidden political actions, secret wars of influences etc. It is certainly one of the punchiest, journalism-based historical account I have ever read, whatever the subject.

It shed a completely new and intense light onto the poor -though touching- little country I was living in then, and forever changed the way I looked at politics, diplomacy and intelligence.

Shawcross gets into the minds of Kissinger and Nixon so well. His is a book to be read over and over again to see the working of the U.S. Government and how it can destroy a country. He talks about the 25 pound shark at the bottom of a swimming pool full of children -- and we understand how the USA's leaders destroyed a country. It is a lesson to be learned over and over again as we go about destroying other countries. This is one great read - worthy of the time it takes to understand it. A victory for the author over Mr. Kissinger.

This book has managed to live on, which is perhaps unfortunate - historically speaking, it's far more relevant to contemporary geopolitics than it should be.

In any case, SIDESHOW has managed to stand as one of the better books on Cambodia, and America's involvement in Cambodia (Elizabeth Becker's WHEN THE WAR WAS OVER is a must-read as well). One could debate Shawcross' perspectives, but his research is meticulous and has withstood many attacks, and his depiction of the machiavellian darkness that can creep into foreign policy is chilling and ruthless, and - for better of worse - makes for hypnotic reading, all the more frightening as it's drawn straight from history, research, the Freedom of Information act.

Now more than ever, this is essential reading.

-David Alston

On Junior Day, 2006, I would recommend SIDESHOW by William Shawcross. It contains information about the twentieth century that could be applied to situations that America faces in the world in 2006. The global superpower naturally thinks that everything will be resolved by the application of hyperpower, as Japan suffered a humiliating defeat at the end of World War II when it discovered that the United States was not just fighting a war against Japan, it would nuke their cities to bring about whatever result it wanted. When American troops openly invaded parts of Cambodia, Congress responded by imposing limits which were still in place on April 30, 1973:

"The justification for bombing Cambodia had been to protect Americans in Vietnam. Since October 1970 the Congress had included in every military appropriation bill a proviso expressly forbidding bombing in Cambodia except for that purpose. By the end of March 1973 there were no American troops left in Indochina. Still the bombing of Cambodia increased. The administration now based its case on Article 20 of the Paris Agreement. Rogers now claimed that American withdrawal from Vietnam did not affect the situation in Cambodia, and that Article 20 legalized the bombing `until such time as a ceasefire could be brought into effect.' " (p. 277).

One of the strange things about the invasion of Cambodia was that Nixon made an announcement on April 30, 1970 which attempted to keep all previous secret activities secret:

Ignoring Menu, Nixon began with the lie that the United States had "scrupulously respected" Cambodia's neutrality for the last five years and had not "moved against" the sanctuaries. This falsehood was repeated by Kissinger in his background briefings to the press. That same evening he told reporters that the Communists had been using Cambodia for five years but, "As long as Sihanouk was in power in Cambodia we had to weigh the benefits in long-range historical terms of Cambodian neutrality as against any temporary military advantages and we made no efforts during the first fifteen months of this administration to move against the sanctuary." The next day he said of Sihanouk's rule, "We had no incentive to change it. We made no effort to change it. We were surprised by the development. One reason why we showed such great restraint against the base areas was in order not to change this situation." (p. 146).
In his announcement of the invasion, Nixon stated that his action was taken "not for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia, but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam"; he would give aid to Cambodia, but only to enable it "to defend its neutrality and not for the purpose of making it an active belligerent on one side or the other." (p. 146).

Currently Iran has a militia of five million, and if Iran were to officially enter a war in Iraq as a result of bombings by Israel, as urged by Vice President Cheney, to remove Iran's nuclear capabilities, even if a bomb based on plans provided by the CIA wouldn't work, Iran has other ways it could strike back. Being subatomic is very much like Cambodia was in 1970, but we shall soon see what issues are about to be submitted to the UN security council, and if it helps or hurts. A blockade created by Iran so American supplies might have more trouble reaching Kuwait and Iraq; oil exports from the region could end; American dollars could fall; the interest on bonds could rise so high that the U.S. government couldn't balance a budget; and some of the world's banks might then be alarmed.

SIDESHOW by William Shawcross is the only book I have in which I can look up Lon Nil in the index. Lon Nil might well be Cambodia's forgotten man. His brother, Lon Nol, declared himself Chief of State as well as Prime Minister and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces when he dissolved the Assembly in October 1971 and assumed emergency rule. (p. 229). In December 1971, an American psychiatrist in the U.S. Army found "his close associates indicate his mental faculties have deteriorated markedly as a result of his February 1971 stroke" (p. 208). On April 1, 1975, at the urging of his brother Lon Non, Lon Nol took half a million dollars and moved to Hawaii. (pp. 357-358). But for me, the best picture of events in Cambodia is the final page of Chapter 8, The Coup, in March 1970, when Lon Nol overthrew Sihanouk, using the hostility of the urban elite and military officers to Sihanouk to justify a power grab by a former Minister of Defense who "had been the principal scourge of the Vietnamese Communists while privately profiting from the thriving covert business that they brought through Sihanoukville." (p. 113). Sihanouk responded by forming a government recognized by Peking on May 5, 1970, shortly after the American invasion announced by Nixon. Sihanouk had flown from Moscow to China on March 18, 1970, but Lon Nil was still in Cambodia:

Rioting broke out in several provinces; opposition was strongest in the market town of Kompong Cham, Cambodia's second city, fifty miles northeast of Phnom Penh. After Sihanouk's radio broadcast, the town filled with peasants, fishermen and rice farmers from the neighborhood. The townspeople refused the government's orders to remove the Prince's portrait, and they burned down the house of the new governor whom Lon Nol had appointed. Demonstrators gathered in buses and trucks to march on Phnom Penh. They were halted by an army roadblock, and after that . . . About ninety people were killed or wounded. (pp. 126-127).

The most vivid display of anger against Lon Nol occurred, again in Kompong Cham, when peasants seized his brother Lon Nil, killed him and tore his liver from his stomach. The trophy was taken into a Chinese restaurant, where the owner was ordered to cook and slice it. Morsels were handed to everyone in the streets around. (p. 127).

Really bad decisions made by the Nixon administration toward Indochina and the Vietnam War are now fairly obvious. However, we must remember how difficult this type of investigation would have been back when Shawcross did his intensive research back in the late 70s. Here Shawcross builds a very hard-to-dismiss case against Nixon and Henry Kissinger, in terms of how their problematic military and diplomatic strategies at least indirectly led to the hideous destruction of Cambodia (in fact, one of Nixon's documented strategies was to make the Communists think he was a madman, assuming they'd get scared and give up).

During the earlier years of the war, Cambodia was a relatively tranquil nation that was trying to remain neutral. But the country was being used as a hideout by North Vietnamese soldiers, leading to bombing by the Americans. Here Shawcross shows how Nixon and Kissinger made use of political trickery and overhyped threats to keep the bombing going to an extent that was far more destructive than necessary. As a bonus, this book also documents the wire-tapping paranoia and unconstitutional shenanigans in the Nixon White House. Shawcross is especially tough on Kissinger, finding that he disregarded the integrity and safety of Cambodia (which he had only ever visited for four hours), in favor of short-term political advantages and unyielding ideology. The relentless bombing destabilized Cambodian society, leading indirectly to the hideous genocide and societal destruction enacted by the Khmer Rouge a few years later. It is difficult to argue with Shawcross' heavily researched conclusions, and the hellish wholesale collapse of Cambodia (of a type never before seen in modern history) becomes all the more poignant as a result.

Be sure to get an edition of this book from 1986 or after, in which Shawcross adds materials from the political firefight that the book ignited. Kissinger was obviously upset and went to great lengths, through articles written by his lackey Peter Rodman, to try and disprove Shawcross' assertions. If your copy of this book contains these articles, you'll be quite bemused by Rodman's evasive, dissembling, and downright condescending rebuttal attempts, which are easily shot down by Shawcross. This war of words in itself proves that Kissinger had, and always will have, a lot to answer for. [~doomsdayer520~]

Famous Hispanic novelist writes broad brush cultural and political history of the connection between Spain and Spanish America--the "New World" of the subtitle.

He shows how the three threads of Spanish history in 1492--feudalism fighting toward central monarchy, Christianized Europe fighting against the Islamic outpost on the Iberian peninsula, and the three peoples of the Book--Jews, Christians, and Muslims--fighting for survival and cultural footholds in the rebirth of knowledge in the Rennaisance--played out on the projected Utopia of the "New" World.

Good high-level framework for studying South and Central American history.

Reading this book, helped me see how close to each other we all are. How the Islamic culture and arts are part of the Hispanic world. For instance, a great percent of the words that we use in Spanish derived from the Arabic language. It's a great read!!

This book is the English translation of El Espejo Enterrado, by Mexican writer and diplomat Carlos Fuentes. It consists of 399 pages divided into 5 parts and 18 chapters which describe the history of the Spanish speaking people from their Cretan and Greek roots, through their development during the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Imperial Period, all the way to modern Spain and South America.

The book also includes 5 two page tables titled The Monarchs of Spain and showing detailed genealogical information on the families that ruled Spain from 970 ad to the beginning of the 20th century (not included in the Spanish version published by Taurus-Bolsillo 1992), as well as a large number of beautiful black and white and color illustrations (also not included the Spanish version published by Taurus-Bolsillo 1992). I missed such information, when reading the Spanish version, particularly the illustrations, because the author refers to them in the text, often with very detailed descriptions.

The book ends with the credits, acknowledgements, and index.

El Espejo Enterrado is listed as an essay, although it probably should be classified as a history book. Yet it is more than that, because Carlos Fuentes is more than an essayer or a historian. He is a multifaceted artist who sees and describes reality in a more comprehensive as well as captivating manner than the average essayer or historian would. Hence he does not just give the description of the events that shaped the history of the Spanish speaking people, he makes them interesting, he makes the reader want to learn more. For example, by discussing the individuals whose thoughts and actions influenced the decisions of the Spanish speaking people (e.g., Jean Jacques Rousseau and Napoleon); by relating the major world events from which those related to the Spanish speaking people developed (e.g., the Renaissance, the French Revolution, the American Revolution); or by describing the works of some of the major Spanish speaking artists (e.g., Don Quixote, La Vida Es Sueno, Las Meninas, La Maja Desnuda). Hence with this book, you will learn more than the history of the Spanish speaking people, you will meet some of the great thinkers of the Western world, you will be reminded of the history of the Western world, you will learn about the products of the most illuminated minds of the Spanish speaking world. You will also discover about many word origins, (how many among you reading this review know the meaning of the word Saragoza, the origin of the name Malinche, the identity of the woman from whom California got its name, the reason why the Mexicans call the turkey guacolote). And you will acquire an awful lot of useful information which would otherwise not be easily available all in one book, for example, the real significance of Goya's painting Saturn Devouring his Children".

If you are educated in the history and artistic expressions of the Western World and interested in Spain and South America, you will not be able to put this book down until you come to the end. In actual fact, you will probably wish that you never came to the end.

This book is absolutely spellbinding and captivating in it's presentation that is both an excellent narrative and artistic with imagery to further enhance the experience. The editorial review here at Amazon by Kirkus Reviews is a good synopsis to get a good idea about the books contents. Also there are many sample pages available for your perusal. From a readers perspective this book is one to cherish after the reading experience is over. Carlos Fuentes presents the subject of Spain and it's influence on the new world with clarity and makes his points with the precision of a sugeon, clean and accurate. Beginning with the ancient imagery of the bull found in caves in Spain Fuentes begins his analysis showing how this imagery continues in the arts and culture in such diverse domains as the works of Goya and Picasso, advertisements for brandy and of course the Spanish spectacle of bullfighting. He picks and chooses his historical path, weaving through the centuries concluding with the the growth of Hispanic USA. The book is full oh historical facts, little known bits of information abound as Fuentes draws analogies that stimulate the mind, stimulating the reader to conclude further inferences. The book reminds me of Bronowski's "The Ascent of Man" only on a smaller scope, from a perspective that makes connections between Spain and Latin America as oppossed to the whole of humanity. The "mother" countries influence is expounded upon as only Fuentes can, his use of language is powerful, insightful and revealing all the while showing his keen intelligence and sharp eye for details. The accompanying artwork throughout the book is fantastic and helps the reader to further understand the subject. A moving narrative is delivered by Fuentes and I highly suggest this book to anyone interested in the history of Spain and it's long lasting influence in the Americas. A natural outcome of reading this book is to further explore one of the many topics introduced. Included is a complete lineage of Spanish succession detailing the various ruling families and marriages that created the kings and queens of Spain. Aslo there is an outstanding suggested bibliography. This is a superb book that stimulates the mind while you read and beyond.

The countries of Latin America have collectively had a long and tortured history; starting with the wars between the great native empires, the arrival of Columbus and the Spaniards, and finally US imperialism throughout the 20th century. Now, at the dawn of the 21st century, Latin Americans are more conscious than ever of their past, the contributions both native and European to it, and the state of their current economies, societies and culture. Part of this awakening and collective consciousness is the rise of prominant authors born and raised within the Hispanic world. One of these is Carlos Fuentes from Mexico, who in this book examines the origins and evolution of Latin American peoples, countries, and cultures. Paying attention to the influences from Spain, Portugal, France, various current and ancient native tribes, and now the US, this book shows how modern Hispanic culture came together in ways often violent, haphazard and chaotic. Rarely was one person in charge of this process; rare are the works that dominated this evolution. Outside of the Catholic Church, Latin America knows no equivalent of Sun Tzu's Art of War, Homer's epic poems, or the US Constitution. The author then tries to distill what is best about Latin American culture, and in doing so, points a way forward for Hispanics throughout the Western Hemisphere. Overall, a great book to understand this region of the world, its past, its present, and its probable future.

Enjoyed reading this book. I had family who survived Camille in Nelson County, spent several weeks there during the summers visiting during my youth and remember vividly going there as soon as we were allowed in to see the damage. This book did an excellent job describing the storm, the aftermath and how it changed the lives of so many people who lived in that area.

Once you pick this book up, you won't want to put it down until you've read the very last page and the dust cover notes as well. As a reader all too familiar with the wrath and destruction of hurricanes, I found the historical facts eerily accurate and the human drama so tense that the reader is drawn into the story as if sucked into the vortex of the storm itself. Category 5 is gripping and powerful like a well-written novel and not the true account of devastation and suffering that it is -- without the dry, clinical approach of a mere assessment of storm damage. The human element is often invisible when looking at the overall picture. Howard and Zebrowski take us to ground zero to examine the personal lives of those affected and no reader can ever put those images out of his or her mind. Excellent read!

Tom Aswell
Baton Rouge, LA.

"Category 5" is excellent reading. The plot, with many interesting facts, keeps the reader spellbound. It is difficult to stop reading once you start! Many long hours of research had to be done for this fact filled book. The racial feelings in Louisanna, corupt polititions, and the "state of the art" science of 1969, all combine to make this book all come together for one of the best books I have ever read!

The authors of this book were putting the finishing touches on it when Katrina made landfall in generally the same area as Camille. They went back and added a chapter but for the most part the book was left to stand on its own in light of the more recent disaster and it stood up quite well. All through the book there are obvious parallels between the two storms and especially the response that came in their aftermath. It is to be hoped that government officials took the lessons of Katrina to heart in a much more effective way than they did the lessons of Camille and that when the next major hurricane devastates a costal area the outside response will be far more effective.

One of the few things that did improve in the years between the hurricanes was the ability of forecasters to predict the track of the storm and to get the word out. In 1969 radar tracking and computer models were in their infancy and up until shortly before landfall forecasters were sure that Camille would strike Florida. Once they did realize that it was headed for Mississippi they had trouble getting the word out and had it not been for the foresight of local officials the death toll would have been much higher. These authors take the meteorological aspects of this story and present them in a remarkably easy to understand way and do so to the extent that the reader will almost be able to feel the angst of forecasters as they try to figure out just what Camille is up to. These Hurricane Center people are remarkable.

These authors do an excellent job of relating how local authorities had taken to heart the lessons learned from hurricane Audrey in 1957 and the precautions that they had taken because of those lessons. It is not hard to see in this narrative that state and federal authorities were far behind the local authorities in preparedness for Camille and that the same was true all those years later when Katrina came ashore. This is not however just a story about the failure of government though, it is also very much a story of the people who were the victims of this great storm. This is a story of the heroism of and resilience of people who were hit with the worst that nature has to offer.

These authors do a marvelous job of relating the stories of individuals and families who were in the path of the monster Camille. Through the reminiscences of those who survived the authors tell the stories of families ripped apart and of whole families who just vanished. They tell the true story of the much publicized collapse of the Richelieu apartments in Pass Christian, they tell the story of a group of men out for a sail who end up weathering the storm near the mouth of the Mississippi as their boat breaks up around them, they tell the story of people who sought refuge in local churches only to find the large old building disintegrating around them and they tell the story of quiet communities in Virginia where the people went to bed with no warning at all that many of them would be washed away before dawn. Through it all the survivors immediately turned their attention toward helping each other once the storm had passed and these survivors, many of them wounded or in mourning themselves immediately began rescue efforts that saved untold numbers of people. It is the heart and soul of these people that is the true story to be found in this book and these authors have truly done these people justice in this highly readable account of one of the great disasters in American history.

This book, the story of 1969's Hurricane Camille, is a breezy (yes, that word APPLIES) read which interweaves several plotlines -- the powerful force of a Cat 5 hurricane, the lives it touched and the tragedies which occurred, the will to survive, the peculiar and corrupt qualities of Louisiana politics, the ongoing civil rights movement of the time, and the surprisingly primitive nature of weather forecasting in the late 1960's.
As a person who once moved out of a city in part due to the fact that the local cable company DIDN'T carry The Weather Channel, I expected to enjoy the stormy aspects of the book. I did not expect the history and politics of the time to carry this story down unexpected avenues. It was a pleasant surprise.
I recommend it without hesitation.

In "The Condor Years", Jonh Dinges does a wonderful job documenting US complicity in overthrowing the democratically elected Popular Unity government in Chile and instituting Operation Condor, a network of right-wing military dictatorships in Latin America's six southernmost countries with the aim of crushing popular movements for economic democracy, social justice and political freedom. As such, it is an essential text for activists and scholars interested in human rights, civil liberties, union organizing, political repression in the Americas, corporate globalization and peace. The book also delves into the role that pro-business, reactionary Cuban exiles played in hunting down Chilean dissidents living in the US. Given current events in Colombia, Iraq and elsewhere, this is an urgent and frightening book!

John Dinges first wrote about the terrorist activities of the Pinochet dictatorship as long ago as 1980 (in Assassination on Embassy Row, written with Saul Landau), but, however much one might have suspected at that time, it was impossible to support it with much documentary evidence. A great deal more is available now, in part because of the case brought by the Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón in 1998, and in part because the declassification of many US Government files in the years from 1999 onwards. Dinges has therefore returned to his subject, and has written a detailed count of the years of terror in the southern part of South America, in which numerous military dictatorships -- led by Chile, but with enthusiastic participation of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay -- conspired to murder and torture many of their own citizens, transferring them between secret prisons at their convenience.

Despite the emotional and dramatic nature of the events that he describes, and despite his clear commitment to democracy, Dinges has written a balanced book, allowing the facts to speak for themselves and refraining from the sort of exaggeration that can easily convert a good case into an incredible one. Despite the much higher profile that the Chilean dictatorship had in the European and North American press than the even more vicious ones in Argentina and Uruguay had, he recognizes that -- contrary to what most people think -- there were far fewer murders in Chile than in most of the other countries involved, around 3000 in total, compared with around ten times as mant in Argentina. At one point he talks of several orders of magnitude more in Argentina, implying several millions, but that is clearly absurd, and is probably not so much an exaggeration as a careless use of words: certainly, there is nothing in the surrounding text to suggest that this means what it literally says.

Dinges concludes his book with the words "the history of the Condor Years is not one we are condemned to repeat." Let us hope that he is right.

I think this was a very good book.It gives you an excelent report on the atrocities committed by the military in countries like Chile,Argentina and Paraguay.Mr Dinges did a great work in gathering all the information and evidence necessary to present a clear and bullet-proof case against all the parties involved.I was fascinated by all the evidence and information that clearly connects Henry Kissinger with this military goverments and the uncontested proof of his knowledge about the situation in this countries.The only thing i didnt like about this book is that sometimes it gives you the impression that you are reading a goverment report.Because, at times, the author is just giving you facts, dates and names with a certain dryness that sometimes bored me.It felt like you were lectured like in a class room.But,again, the book is full of fascinating tales and information that makes you wonder about our own goverment and the way it manages information.Good work!

This is a true story of terrorism and international terrorism patronized by the US government, then led by such honest and law-abiding statesmen as Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger (I guess Gerald Ford was also there, but permanently asleep). In this case the terrorists were not marxist revolutionaries or religious lunatics, but seven or eight South American rogue states - all of them military dictatorships and impeccable US allies. When in September 1976 the Chilean state terrorists choose Embassy Row, Washington DC, as the background for another assassination (in the person of ex-Chilean foreign minister and ex-ambassador to Washington Orlando Letelier), the US government coughed twice to cover its embarrassment, then coughed a third time, then ordered the US diplomats and secret services to cancel their almost manifest collaboration with the state terrorists, who still had plans to eliminate Ed Koch and other dangerous revolutionaries like him in the USA and Europe. These actions were canceled, but Operation Condor (the serial killings' corporate name) continued secretly at least until 1981. Some of the military have been tried and a few are still in jail now, but Operation Condor's top responsible Augusto Pinochet avoided any punishment till this day and Kissinger, though innocent and free at home, is on the run in half planet Earth.
We still don't know everything about this shocking story, but John Dinges' book The Condor Years is a great breakthrough. The only reviewer here who rates this book four stars tries to absolve the South American military dictatorships from their crimes, saying that they were fighting communism. Hitler always said the same.

The first thing we have to make clear in these types of books is who the author is and the author of this book is John Dinges. Dinges is a serious journalist who worked as the editorial director for National Public Radio for over ten years (1985 to 1996). He has worked as a foreign correspondent for Time, ABC, and most notably the Washington Post. And he is currently a Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

This book is well-researched, documented, and in it Dinges is himself extremely careful about what he states as fact and is not afraid to acknowledge when there simply is not enough documentation to make clear judgments. He frequently cites cables sent between the White House and the U.S. embassy in Santiago and as well as information from his own interviews with major players within Condor and embassy/government officials during the period.

He makes clear how important Operation Condor was in the context of South American politics such as the fact that traditional enemies like Argentina and Chile were co-operating fully for the first time in contemporary history. And, initially at least, the real fear amongst the military dictatorships of guerilla movements united under the "Revolutionary Co-ordinating Junta".

Dinges shows how DINA (the Chilean secret police) was created with U.S. support and turned from a small intelligence department to the hand of Pinochet under the leadership of Manuel Contreras. More interesting is how the book documents how operations were run in Europe headed by American-born DINA operative Michael Townley along with Italian fascists to eliminate the exiled Christian Democratic/Socialist Party opposition. All of this, of course, climaxs with the Letelier assasination in D.C.

This is perhaps the best book you will find on the subject of Operation Condor. Documents obtained by Dinges in making this book are frequently cited by institutions such as the National Security Archive at George Washington University. It deserves all five stars I am giving it.

As you read this book it seems as though you are right there with Larry and Lin as they build and sail their small boat from California through Mexico, Central America, Jamaica, up the U.S. East Coast to the Chesapeake Bay and finally to Europe. This is the 25th Anniversary edition of this book. It has been updated from the original with pictures and maps. A great book I would recommend it highly for anyone with an adventurous spirit.

Page turner - made me want to drop everything and sail. The combination of this book and Slocum's book gave me the sailing bug. Contains useful information for those that are thinking about buying a boat. As seasoned, adventurous, resourceful sailors, the Pardeys' books are useful for salties or salty-wannabes (like myself).

Now available in a brand new 25th anniversary edition, Lin and Larry Pardey's Cruising in Seraffyn now sports a new introduction, "Anyone Can Go Cruising," and a new appendix, "Affordable, Attainable Dreams." Cruising In Seraffyn is an exciting, detailed cruising guide with a 16-page spread of full-color photos, making it an adventurous reference for nautical buffs and armchair travelers alike. With its decades of sailor's wisdom and inspirational prose, Cruising In Seraffyn is very highly recommended reading for anyone interested in setting sail for pleasure.

I loved the book, but always wished there were more photos. Now I have seen the new edition, in hard cover, published by the Pardey's. It is great. They have done it for the 25th anniversary of this book. Lots of color photos, a really updated discussion of cruising costs and a really nice story about what has happened to Seraffyn over the past 30 years. The pictures of the Pardey's new boat and Seraffyn sailing side by side are worth the $2l.95 price. Unfortunately, the book will not be on the American market until June. I got one from a friend who is a book reviewer. I was told you could wait till june and get it at ..., or you can go to the news letters on thier web site, ... and order one early.

As other folks have written, this book is lovely to read and inspiring as can be. The new edition, in its hard cover is not just a simple reprint. It is almost a whole new book - the new introduction gives grand info for sailors today, the appendix puts it all where it is for those who want to sail off in 2002. But best of all are the l6 pages of full color photos - stuff to dream about, ideas to use on your boat. Really lovely. If you have the old edition, you'll still want this one. If you've never read the first book, this is the one for you.

An excellent behind the scenes look at Cuba today. No better example of a failed yet still forced socialist state. This is not some itellectual dissection of the situation but a "person on the street" documentary. Must read for those who take democracy and free enterprise for granted and for those who even think Cuba is better now than in pre-revolution time.
As a Cuban born US citizen I applaude this book.

An excellent travel/biography book interspersed by b&w pictures of many Havana et al locations in Cuba.

The author had to flee Cuba with his family when he was 18, just months after the thake over by dictator-narcissist Castro. In '96 he visists Cuba again briefly and takes with him his camera. This is not a touristic approach to Cuba. This is the personal and nostalgic -not angry- brief comeback of a Cuban exile. And man, does he succeed in making us feel like exiles too!

Themes visited:

-How does Cuba's socialist regime make it to survive so long?
Interviewee. "It's their fault (the Americans') Castro is still here making everyone's life in Cuba hell. Time and time again they've saved Castro. How? By permitting immigration. In 1980 Cuba was ready to explode. What does the US do? They allow a hundred thousand Marielitos to emigrate. I tell you, those people were ready to kill. So Fidel lets them go ... He's a master at duping the Europeans into thinking this a democratic socialist paradise. And he is a master of repression."

-Discrimination?
"Cuban leadreship is almost exclusively white, and out of a hundred generals in the army, ninety are white, while the majority of Cubans are black. The prison population is reported to be overwhelmingly black."

-A sharp question
"I've heard this joke: 'socialism or death: what's the difference' How come I don't see antigovernment graffiti? -Because we have the most sophisticated repression in the world ... the jails are full of people they have caught doing graffiti. We still have plenty, but it gets painted over immediately."

-The US embargo
"A visit to a dollar store makes it clear to everyone that the embargo doesn't prevent Cuba from acquiring whatever American products Cuba wants or needs since they can get them fairly easily through Panama or Mexico."

"The embargo provides Castro with his last excuse why the Cuban economy is in shambles. Also, Fidel functions best when he is attacked. He becomes energized. He needs an enemy, a scapegoat. And the Helms-Burton law is to order ... the way to fight him is to hit him where his system is vulnerable. Flood Cuba with American tourists, American dollars, with ideas and information. The socialist state cannot withstand that ... If something doesn't work for forty years, you try something else."

Out of 200 people he met, only 5 still supported the revolution. And they were professors or people with privileges.

I'd like to find another good book like this, even without pictures, only updated for the 12 years that have elapsed.

The author immigrated to the Northern states and his personal view reflects: he is not so radical as the people in Miami are, he claims. If I had to live in Cuba without freedom I'd even be more "radical" than the Miami exiles. I'm sure he changed his mind a little, after his excursion on the island, because the people there think more like me.

JAN. 12, 2001

I FOUND THIS BOOK VERY EASY TO READ. IT WAS AS IF I WAS READING PART OF MY STORY, MY LIFE. IT ANSWERED MANY QUESTIONS I HAVE HAD. IT ALSO ANSWERED THE WHY OF MANY FEELINGS I HAVE. THE LAST TIME I WAS IN CUBA WAS 1953, MUCH LONGER THAN HIM. I WOULD LOVE TO BE ABLE TO GO BACK AS HE DID. MY HUSBAND AND I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IF THIS YEAR WE CAN GO BACK. WE JUST ARE NOT SURE OF HOW SAFE IT WOULD BE. WE WOULD LIKE TO GO TO SANCTI SPIRITUS, LAS VILLA, VERY FAR FROM HAVANA. I FOUND IT TO BE GREAT READING. IT WAS TOLD IN A VERY CLEAR WAY. IT EXPLAINED MANY THINGS I DID NOT UNDERSTAND. THIS BOOK CAN BE READ BY CUBAN'S AND THOSE WHO ARE NOT CUBAN'S IT IS VERY INTERESTING FOR ALL. ALSO ONE CAN APPRECIATE ALL WE HAVE.

STILL WOULD OF LIKED MORE. I WOULD OF LIKED MORE PICTURES OF THINGS HE WROTE ABOUT. HIS SUMMER HOME, WOULD OF LIKED TO SEE OTHER PICTURES OF THE HOUSE. WOULD OF BEEN GREAT, FOR HIM TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE HIS TRIP TO THE OTHER PROVINCES HAS HE HAD WANTED TO DO.

I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE IN SPANISH.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MR. MENDOZA FOR THIS BOOK. WISH HIM THE BEST, WILL BE LOOKING FOR OTHER WORK HE HAS DONE.

Like Tony I am a cuban american who left Cuba in the early 60s for political freedom to study in the States. I came from a successful middle class family and a history of political successes and upheaval. I have always wanted to go back to re-live my youth in Havana, Tarara y Santa Maria del Mar (like Tony in Varadero) where I spent the happiest time of my youth. I have known of the misery of our people because I kept in touch, however Tony has been able to portray that misery in his wonderful black and white pictures. His writtings and dialogues are very easy to read but with a real message for everyone to understand. This is a great book for those who will like an honest and unbias portray of the cuban situation today. Tony has let these people speak out their feelings (pro and against) for the world to judge. I envy Tony for having the opportunity to return. His book has made me very sad because we are limited in our ability to help them. I cried for the younger generation unable to better themselves. Only the beauty of our land and sea remains untouched. Someday our people will be free again to make their choices and Cuba will be a wonderful place to visit. I promised myself to be in the first plane to help rebuild it.

I,too,like Mr. Mendoza, was forced to leave Havana, Cuba, as a child because of my familys' political beliefs towards Castro. I was a child of 9 in 1967, when my parents and I uprooted ourselves from our beloved land because we had been politically betrayed by someone that a whole generation felt was to be their "savior" from the dictatorial regime of Batista. In the last few years I have started to rediscover my roots. I found this book extremely educating as to what to expect to see there, if you plan to "go home for a visit". It has convinced me that I must go home again even though it won't be the same as I remember as a child. This an easy to read book, with compelling sepia tinted pictures of scenes and people Mr. Mendoza came across throuhgout his travels. I highly recommend this book.

This has been one of the most engaging works of fiction I've read recently. Beginning with a made-up country and a fictitious civil war, in simple language Alarcon takes us through what feel like real dilemmas of people involved in a time of crumbling government and rural flight. But beyond this, the story is intriguing - a radio host, a hidden history, a mysterious boy. Enough to drive the story. Unlike many other books read recenly this doesn't just start well - it keeps the momentum going through the end of the book.

I was astonished by this novel. I thought it started off a bit slow, I thought the main characters Norma and Rey a bit dull at first, and some of the main plot twists were foreseeable. But even if the main characters didn't enthrall at first, many of the secondary ones did. Adela, Trini, Rey`s father and even the ambiguous Zahir and Manau are touchingly rendered. For me, the book really started to pick up during the first full chapter in "1797" - the jungle village were key events involving Adela and and her son Victor happen. But towards the final chapters the tension builds and even Norma and Rey grow in humanity: the last chapter in particular is devastating. The at times semi journalistic style with which the wartime events are described is also very effective.

All in all, this was a fantastic book. I look forward to more by Alarcon. Readers who enjoyed this book are encouraged to try Nathan Englander's "The Ministry of Special Cases" - an equally engaging, impecabbly written and emotionally gripping novel set in somewhat similar context of Latin American political instability.

Daniel Alarcon's debut novel chronicles the lives of three people -- Rey, Norma and Victor -- in an unnamed country, probably Peru, where Alarcon was born, during the monstrous 10-year civil war in the 1980s. Norma works at a radio station where she hosts the program "Lost City Radio," which lists the names of people lost in the brutal conflict. Rey is her husband who goes missing when the police nab him for not carrying ID. Victor is a street urchin who gives a list of the missing to Norma. Alarcon's prose is very well written, terse and visionary. The chronology of the novel is nonlinear, which makes it difficult, at times, to follow what happens and when. And since the name of the country and time period are not given, the historical context of the story cannot be provided. Of course, if this novel is meant to be applicable to all such conflicts throughout the world, who needs a context? However, I wanted one, though this is not necessarily a failing in the novel. Altogether, it was refreshing reading an American novel(Alarcon was raised in Alabama and graduated from Columbia University) with little or no figures of speech, slang or cliches. The best praise I can give the novel is that it could be considered "literature." Look for more material from this very talented young man!

This is a very good book, is easy to read and catches your interest as soon as you start reading so that you cannot stop! I had to read it in a couple of days cause I needed to know what came next in the plot...
When you have lived in Peru during those years, you get the feeling of this story, it has also used an actual radio program as a model but the mastership of the author is to join all those stories and create a new one that have a little bit of multiple stories but is in itself different but very nice. I highly recommend it.

Set in an unspecified South American country, "a nation at the edge of the world, a make-believe country outside history", people are still reeling after ten years of war between the government and guerillas, their spirits broken by incessant violence, legions of the disappeared unaccounted for. In one small place of hope, the Indians in the mountains and the poor of the barrio listen with rapt attention to Lost City Radio. The voice of consolation to her devastated listeners, Norma reads lists, the endless names of the missing, hopeful that some may be reunited with their families. But in the last year of the long absence of her husband, Rey, one of the missing, Norma's advancing grief and impending hopelessness has grown burdensome, the expectations of the audience weighing on her every waking moment.

Hugely popular, Lost City Radio flourishes in spite of a repressive government, spies everywhere, questions rebuffed by officials who allow no independence of thought. The prisons are filled with the captured insurrectionists, their leaders all but buried in the smothering confines of underground cells. Norma hopes to find Rey in one of these prisons, but it is impossible to discern him in a sea of gaunt, determined faces. Other than his profession as an ethnobiologist, Norma has no idea of Rey's other interests, his life carefully compartmentalized. They met under romantic, mysterious conditions, Rey hinting at a more obscure identity. By the time they are married, Norma accepts her husband's eccentricities; but when he fails to return from the jungle village 1797 (names have been replaced by numbers), Norma has no way to track his activities or learn of his fate.

Then one day, ten years after the end of the war, his teacher delivers a young boy to the radio station, eleven-year-old Vincent from village 1787, perhaps a key to Rey's location. Certainly, as time and events unfold, Norma is confronted with the unthinkable: "She had a husband, he was dead or gone... the war had ended, or perhaps it had never begun." Norma's memories are fresh, alive with the spirits of the lost, some of the names still too dangerous to mention on the air. Wracked by loss, clinging to the child, Norma blindly navigates the present, the forbidden names whispered into the dark night. The emotional journey of a grieving wife and an innocent orphan permeate the novel, their stories shadowed by Rey's duplicitous past and devotion to his wife. This otherworldly tale of strength in the face of a confusing war speaks to the vital issues of out time. Such a scenario no longer seems the stuff of fantasy, given the human faces of these poignant characters, Alarcon's novel a grim reminder: "People disappear, they vanish. And with them the history, so that new myths replace the old." Luan Gaines/2007.