Caribbean Books

Like its provocative cover --Basquiat's "Arroz con Pollo"-- this book is a rare combination of "the raw" and "the cooked." It navigates a treacherous and booby-trapped passage through the entire 20th century to the birth of a distinct Boricuan literary tradition!

Boricua Literature highlights the literary creativity of Puerto Ricans living in the mainland United States. The author focuses on recuperating "minor literature" by Boricua writers who often fall and disappear into the cracks between disciplinary boundaries and too-rigidly defined cultural and political spaces. She offers useful insights into contemporary cultural studies, focusing especially on gender and race.

Reading Boricua Literature introduced me to several remarkable literary figures, and the approach in the book was a colorful quilt of critical concepts. The way the author challenges political orthodoxies and literary canons without dismissing scholarly rigor is edifying. Sanchez-Gonzalez' style reminds one of Zora Neale Hurston's famous phrase "going a piece of the way with them," i.e. not "all the way" uncritically.

Each chapter spends a good deal of time reframing and re-negotiating theories and identities with sharp feminist and critical race questions. The author bestows on Luisa Capetillo --a turn of the 20th Century anarcho-feminist writer-activist-- the position of The founder of Boricua Literary tradition. In another chapter, Sanchez-Gonzalez recuperates children's stories written by Pure Belpre, a librarian at the New York Public Library, whose work on behalf of children remains alive in libraries throughout the U.S. today. One chapter is on Salsa lyrics and performances by Boricuas at the end of the 20th century where tropes in performance theory are utilized for analysis of lyrics. At the same time, the book focuses on more canonical figures such as Arturo Schomburg and William Carlos Williams. Sanchez-Gonzalez argues that scholars have often erased the Boricua formative experiences of these major intellectuals. Shomburg is known for his great achievements in establishing the most prestigious archives of Black history in New York. Moreover, William Carlos Williams is rarely read or studied as a Latino or Boricua poet. Anyone who knows James Clifford's admirable essay "Pure Products go Crazy," in Predicament of Culture, will be very surprised to read Sanchez's critique leveled against Clifford in this book! Students and writers of other diasporic communities in the United States, whose distinct literary and cultural production --performances, poetry, music, and fiction-- have not received proper attention as a discrete area, will find this book invaluable. It is well crafted, theoretically dense, yet impassioned and non-elitist.

But for the most part, it is satisfying to read a critical history of the not-so "minor literature" --indeed formidable literature-- of diasporic Puerto Rican artists and intellectuals. Their role in shaping the literary history of United States is not appreciated, and their works are still viable today. Boricua Literature re-acquaints us with these neglected writers-artists so we can better catch their drift!

I have always been enraptured by the work of Botero; I love his oddly-proportioned people whose immense, weighty bodies often teeter on tiny feet. Botero's off-kilter figures engaged in the horrors of Abu Ghraib make his work in this book even more compelling, disturbing and engaging.

Fernando Botero, one of the most admired artists on earth...is Colombia's official "Master of Volume." His distinctive figures...rotund and swollen to monumental proportions articulates his consciousness of tradition. Botero blends this unique "figurative rotund and swollen style" with gentle satirical observations of human beings. To this end, "Botero: Donations to the Museo Nacional," is Botero's heartfelt artistic documentation of the tragic tradition of violence in his native land...Colombia.

Colombia is in the midst of a bloody 58-year civil war. Well-armed guerrillas, paramilitary death squads, drug traffickers, kidnappers, sophisticated money forgers, emerald smugglers, common criminals and an armed forces with a long tradition of human rights violations have assaulted the sensibilities of the people of Colombia to the point that...death is a common companion. Consequently, Botero took it upon his artistic shoulders to document the suffering of the people of Colombia.

The result...a masterpiece. Botero captures the bullets flying...the bloated dead bodies in the rivers..the march of death with coffins...the horrible violence to women in Colombia...the regular injustice...the people praying to be saved...the suffering of children...his intense artwork of Colombia's civil war communicates far better than television or cable broadcasters or journalists or non-fiction authors who try to report the overwhelming violence in Colombia. Botero has done his nation a great service. He has dedicated the time to document the dark and sinister violence of his nation so the world can see how so many suffer. Highly recommended.

Bert Ruiz

This book should be read by anyone, young or old, I first read it when I was 6 and enjoy it just as much today. A must-have for any book fan.

Brazil Body and Soul is a 600 page tome that covers Brazil's artistic history from the early 1500's until the 1990's.
The book is filled with intelligentlly detailed writing and artistically lush with photographs.
This is a book (not a skimpy museum catalog) for anyone interested in the art and culture of Brazil; or a useful reference tool for someone interested in the arts of this grand nation.
When you purchase this book, I believe you will pleasantly amazed by the arts throughout the centuries in Brazil. This is not a book for those who only want to look at photos or decorate their coffee tables; this is for those who want to expand their horizons of the Americas.

One of the best books on this topic because it not only examines Brazil's social and political problems but sees them as the legacy of past historical events and actions. The author knows Brazil intimately and conveys a sense of compassion for its people.

Armstrong expone en este ensayo corto(150pg) una reflexion y historia sobre el mito, menciona que la perdida de este en nuestra cultura moderna ha sido una gran decadencia espiritual, el pensamiento mítico y su practica ayuda al ser humano a enfrentar el vacio y los prospectos de extinción. Cuando pensamos en mito hoy en día pensamos en algo sobrenatural y fantástico, difícil de creer, algo que la razón no puede explicar, este abandono de los mitos universales y actuales han causado una gran desesperación en nuestra cultura. El mito nos enseña a ver y percibir el mundo moderno de un modo diferente; nos muestra cómo mirar en el interior de nuestro corazón y cómo ver el mundo desde una perspectiva que va más allá de nuestro propio interés. Pero la mitología sólo nos transformará si podemos seguir sus orientaciones. En esencia un mito es una guía; nos dice qué debemos hacer para enriquecer nuestra existencia. Si no lo aplicamos a nuestra propia situación y no lo convertimos en una realidad de nuestra vida, nos resultará algo tan incomprensible y ajeno como las reglas de un juego de mesa, aburridas y complicadas hasta que empezamos a jugar. Esta es una reflexión, que se ha escrito con sencillez, repasamos el pensamiento mítico desde el paleolítico hasta su decaimiento en nuestra era. Importante trabajo y muy entretenido, necesitamos el mito para que nos ayude de nuevo como a nuestros ancestros a venerarla la tierra como algo sagrado en vez de usarla meramente como un recurso.El mito no es algo que pasó sino una idea que retorna, permanece y acompaña al ser humano, su vigencia todavía se puede contemplar en el arte, literatura y pensamiento.

Fascinating this review on the History of Clay and Stones. The author really knows his "Stuff"as he describes the sources of imported stones going back to pre-Columbian celts of Jadeite travelling to Jamaica from the Central American coast. Then the "dripstone" water filters from Barbados used in every Jamaican home to clarify the drinking water!
Finally to be able to identify from whence came the masses of ballast stones in the form of bricks, paving stones and coblestones quarried in the West Country of England and filling empty ships coming out to the West Indies to take home sugar! Well done and most interesting!

A Brief Conversation And Other Stories presents thirteen vivid short stories by award-winning author Earl Lovelace. This are fictional tales which offer a down-to-earth glimpse into the daily life Trinidad denizens. Ordinary people facing the challenges of the ever-changing rhythm of their world, brought to life with Caribbean zest and style in the narration. Superb crafted literary gems, the stories comprising A Brief Conversation And Other Stories include: A Brief Conversion; The Fire Eater's Journey; The Coward; The Fire Eater's Return; Call Me 'Miss Ross" for Now; Those Heavy Cakes; George and the Bicycle Pump; Fleurs; The Midnight Robber; Joebell and America; Shoemaker Arnold; Victoria and the Blight; and The Gambler's Funeral.

This is one of Chartrand's very best. Although he is confined to the small Osprey format it contains a huge amount of information which will not be found elsewhere. The Wars in the Carribean which were extremely important at the time are saddly overlooked today. No library on Napoleonic uniforms should be without this!