Central America Books

Every student of Latin American literature should read this book, which is the most compelling critical perspective in the field today.

This is a fascinating reshaping of the academic discussion [or to use the current jargon, "discourse"]on Latin American literature. To read Gonzalez Echevarria is to be dazzled by erudition and his true passion for Latin American letters and culture. Aficionados of Latin American literature who study this work will undoubtedly be humbled by Gonzalez Echevarria's scholarly stamina and provoked by his insights.

The insights themselves are worth careful consideration. Distancing himself from the traditional, chronological approach to Latin American narrative, and expressly by-passing a few "milestone works" that are perhaps less significant to the development of Latin American letters than is traditionally posited (e.g "Amalia", "Maria"), Gonzalez argues that the greatest shapers of Latin American narrative have been a few key works that in form and rhetoric embody the trends of the "hegemonic discourse" that dominated Latin America at different periods in the region's history. During the colonial era, Gonzalez argues, the predominant form of writing in the region was the legal document. Correspondingly, he argues, the salient literary texts of the period took on the forms, rhetoric and tones of legal discourse (e.g Bernal Diaz' "Historia Verdadera de La Conquista de Nueva Espana," El Inca Garcialaso's "Commentarios Reales,"). During the 19th Century--his so-called 2nd Conquest of Latin America--the "hegemonic discourse" was scientific observation; more specifically, the travel writings of Europeans and Americans who viewed Latin American flora, fauna, and customs through a scientific lense. Correspondingly, Gonzalez argues, the salient Latin American works of the period (e.g. Sarmiento's "Facundo," or Euclides da Cunha's "Os sertoes")seek to define phenomena in their respective societies while using the structures, form and rhetoric of the predominant scientific-travel writing. In the 20th Century, he argues, works are shaped by the concerns and observations made by anthropology and ethnography. Here he cites Gallego's "Dona Barbara" and Carpentier's "Los Pasos Perdidos", as well as Miguel Barnet's testimonial novels.

Gonzalez suggests that thematically Latin American narrative has consistantly sought the region's cultural legitimacy and ownership of a mythic origin, a source of Latin America's true identity. This search for a mythic origin has generally been conducted through the hegemonic discourses that he describes. Gonzalez illustrates his point through key modern works by Borges, Carpentier, and Garcia Marquez--works which he shows are entirely conscious of the shifts in hegemonic discourse and the search for origins/identity.

The work is generally a joy to read, and makes the lone, lay reader long for an animated discussion of Gonzalez' ideas around a seminar table. There are times, however, when the author lapses into the worst forms of academic obfuscation and post-modern excess, and when he does so he undermines the goodwill that his work engenders. A case in point-- in a discussion of Facundo, Gonzalez states: "What Sarmiento has found in his voyage of discovery and self-discovery is a present origin, one that speaks through him, hollowing out the voice of his scientific language. His authority will not be attained by it, but by the tragic sacrifice of his protagonist, which he re-enacts in the text. This tragic fusion is a reflection of the linear time introduced by the evolution of nature, which brings everything to an end, inexorably, so that it will be reborn in a different guise." This passage, while not representative of the whole book, is simply preposterous, wound as it is in obscurity and the solipsism of contemporary academic criticism. Passages such as this are particularly frustrating given that, in this instance, Sarmiento's "protagonist" is a historical figure, and the notion that Sarmiento is "reenacting" Facundo's fate is entirely a construction of the critic. Such analysis plays well in academia, but it is entirely removed from probable "authorial intent." [And yes, I acknowledge that the concept of "authorial intent" is now considered antiquated and naive in literary circles. But historians who have studied Facundo would be maddened by this passage.] In other works (i.e. "Celestina's Brood"), Gonzalez has argued that the Baroque is the most suitable mode for Latin American cultural expression. Perhaps in keeping with this conclusion, he himself occasionally engages in "gongorismo" that, while arguably culturally consistant, adds little to a sense of understanding.

Ultimately, however, these lapses are only intermittent, and they do not spoil the insightful treasures and the intellectual thrills that Gonzalez provides. This book is a joy.

I always knew this area of the Southwest was beautiful, based on my limited firsthand experience. Reading this guidebook makes me want to go back and explore more of the places I missed. Mr. White's use of the language evokes not only the beauty of the area but offers fascinating bits of information about the geology and origins of the places described. Guidebooks are used to guide, obviously, but this one, thanks to Mr. White, also illuminates and entertains. Mr. Huey's photography is first-rate. Highly recommended.

This is one of a series of books provided by National Geographic featuring the famous and lesser-known, less traveled parks in the United States. The series is divided into regions and provides invaluable information about accommodations, trails, activities, optimal times of travel, etc. Don't plan a trip without perusing these books!

National Geographic did a wonderful job with this map. Very attention to detail not only in the topographic map itself, but it's also loaded with pictures & information regarding the regions of the country. There's also a smaller map of Panama City, but not as detail as the rest of the map. Very colorful - expected for National Geographic anyway. Even main highways are included. Very well put together; it definetly complements their travel book. Highly recommended!!!

Es un buen mapa para el viejero, muy buenos colores y material resistente a la humedad.

This is the best book to sit down and read about places to visit and stay in Ecuador. I like the Lonely Planet series and they are updated sources of information but if you have ever found yourself wanting to know more about the places mentioned this is your book. For example in the New Key to Ecuador there are 15 full pages of text on just the region of the lower Napo River.

The New Key also has green ratings for lodging and the reasons for the differences in ratings are explained for each lodge or hotel evaluated.

When I visited Ecuador I found that this book had given an excellent overview of the places I was able to visit and had very accurate information. The only problem now as of this writing is that the book has not been updated. I would still highly recommend this but would use the internet to verify contact numbers of lodges and for any changes from the time of publication.

I'm living in Ecuador for a year and have almost every guidebook (there are many)published. If I could narrow it down to two, it would be this one and the Footprint Guide. If only one, this would be it. What's remarkable about this book is that it cares almost as much about the quality of food and accomodations as it does about wilderness trips. It's descriptions of restaurants are excellent and it's practical information about such things as the location of rental car agencies is as up to date as it can be. It also has a remarkable index which includes places, hotels and restaurants all in separate categories. With the other guide books, it takes much longer to find something for the second time. When you read a description of a place or an old hacienda to stay in, you really trust that the authors have actually been there. The authors know and love Ecuador. Perhaps if you're looking for only student prices, this is not the best book, but for the adventurous over 30, this is it!!

Beautiful book full of poignant and wonderful photographs of Nicaragua. Unforgettable, shows the country from everyday like to after ravages of war and weather.

William F. Gentile has created a masterpiece with his collection of photographs from Nicaragua. Gentile shows the viewer tender and emotionally driven pictures of a people in an impoverished country trying to survive through the Sandanista and Contra war the United States helped to create. Amid shattered dreams and pain brought on, we also see aspirations of hope and happiness. Examples include wounded and dead soldiers being brought home, a housewife cooking dinner while the jungle behind her burns, and a young boy witnessing a dead soldier. There is also a baseball team carrying guns instead of bats, the affects of a town destroyed by a hurricane, and a Sandanista policeman kissing his family goodbye before he heads to work. As a hopeful photojournalist, I believe this book should not only be used as a reference to all photographers and journalists but shown for historical purposes.

I really liked this book. It's good for sixth graders who have Nicaragua as a project. It was this book that got my grade up. I would give this book ***** and the author ***** stars.

I really liked this book. It's good for sixth graders who have Nicaragua as a project. It was this book that got my grade up. I would give this book ***** and the author ***** stars.

Excellent research source for students, scholars and journalists, this chronology lets the Contra vs. Sandinista conflict, and the U.S. response to it, unfold as it really happened. Much of the story is told through quotes from contemporary sources, allowing the reader to watch the conflict (and its resolution) unfold as the events occurred. Thorough footnoting also permits readers to access the original sources, making the book especially useful for researchers, writers and students.

This book was the most useful one I found for researching U.S.-Nicaragua relations in the 1980s. Instead of wasting pages with the authors' political opinions, like so many other books about this subject, this book simply tells us what happened in the words of contemporary sources. And, contrary to the opinion of the booklist reviewer above, who must have been an ardent and rather close-minded Sandinista apologist, the book's sources include people of every political persuasion: the Sandinistas, the Contras, the Sandinista-controlled media, the U.S. media, the official news service of Cuba, Nicaragua's independent media, La Prensa, religious, labor and peasant groups in Nicaragua and officials of the Sandinista government, Cuban government and Reagan and Bush Administrations.

The leader of the U.S. trained and equipped National Guard Anastasio Somoza Garcia seized power in Nicaragua in 1936. He was an S.O.B., but he was our S.O.B. as Franklin Roosevelt immortally said privately in 1939 when Somoza visited him in Washington D.C. Somoza wanted the National Guard officers and enlisted men to enrich themselves in mafia-style rackets such as prostitution, according to Walker, so they would be dependent on him for their self-enrichment and would thus constitute a force immune from popular discontent. Somoza Garcia's son Luis succeeded him after his assassination in 1956. Luis set up a lot of bureaucracies supposedly devoted to social services and economic planning, but these were in reality mainly used as a vehicle to funnel U.S. aid money to the Somoza family and its cronies. Walker cites the particularly blatant case of how the government used U.S. aid money after an earthquake in December 1972 completely destroyed Managua.

Anastasio Somoza Debayle Jr. took over as president from his brother in 1967. Anastasio Jr. reinstated a "state of siege" and sent the National Guard into the Countryside, where the (FSLN) Sandinistas were involved in stimulating peasant activism, after a December 1974 successful hostage taking operation by the Sandinistas. The Guard proceeded to rape and kill and pillage thousands. Many American Catholic clerical and lay workers witnessed these actions and the U.S. congress was moved to hold hearings.

In 1977, President Carter suspended military aid to Somoza in order to force him to relax somewhat his censorship of the press, thinking that the U.S. could afford for Somoza to do so without the status quo in Nicaragua being disrupted. However, in early 1978, after increasing massacres of civilians in the tens of thousands by the National Guard Carter resumed economic and military aid to Somoza. The uprising had begun in early 1978 after the assassination of newspaper editor Pedro Joaquin Chamarro. The Carter administration, in conjunction with the Organization of American States, eventually tried to enforce its policy of "Somocismo sin Somoza"....

Walker describes how the Carter administration refused to send arms to the Sandinistas and looked the other way as the military oligarchy in Honduras allowed remnants of the National Guard, helped by trainers from the Argentine neonazi military regime, to organize the force which would become the Contras. ....

The Reaganites refused to sell arms to the Sandinistas, cut off all aid, and successfully pressured the French to end an arms deal with the Sandinistas in 1981. Increasingly, the Sandinistas were forced to rely on Soviet block arms. Walker notes that the rifles, AK-47's and tanks that the Nicaraguans received from the Soviet block were small in number and often old and decrepit. Clearly the Sandinistas were seeking military aid from the Soviet Block because the Reaganites had launched a full scale proxy terrorist war against them. The Contras deliberately attacked civilian infrastructure and murdered teachers, doctors and engineers. The attacks on oil storage and port facilities by the Contras in 1983 and 84' caused Venezuela and Mexico to suspend oil shipments--Nicaragua was then forced to turn to the Soviet block for its petroleum needs. The FSLN managed to maintain fairly extensive economic and political relations with Western Europe and capitalist countries in the third world but the U.S. media preferred to ignore this.

In the early 80's, Walker notes the Sandinistas achieved some remarkable successes. Nicaragua's infant mortality rate was reduced from 121 per 1000 in 1978 to 90 per 1000 in 1983. The Kissinger Commission report of 1984 blamed the Sandinistas because it said that Nicaragua's GDP was reduced by 38 percent from 1977 to 1983. This was deceptive, Walker notes, because that statistic had in it the last two and a half years of the rule of Somoza when the country was largely destroyed. In the years 1980-83, Walker notes, the Nicaraguan economy actually grew by an average of 7 percent, while the rest of Central America's economies declined by 14 percent.

In spite of some mild repression (not comparable to U.S. backed terror in Guatemala and El Salvador) in response to the country being under U.S. backed terrorist attack, reactionary newspapers like La Prensa were allowed to violently attack the government and receive funding from the CIA. The CIA instigated protests by the Nicaraguan opposition which attempted to provoke the Sandinistas into repressive actions, Walker quotes House Speaker Jim Wright revealing in January 1988. Meanwhile, in U.S. client states Guatemala and El Salvador newspaper offices were being blown up by the military backed death squads, and newspaper editors were left disemboweled by the side of the road. In 1984, the Sandinistas had an election which was judged free and fair by a wide variety observer delegations, including from the British parliament and House of Lords, Danish and Irish Parliaments, etc. Disruption of opposition rallies by Sandinista "turbas" only occurred about 5 times out of 250 instances according to election analysts. Walker quotes a statistic to the effect that 46 of the 48 top Contra officers had been officers in Somoza's National Guard--I think he got this from Edgar Chamarro, the former Contra spokesman.

The U.S. escalated its economic strangulation and terror attacks on Nicaragua and the latter was eventually forced to devote the majority of its budget to defense. In 1990, the Sandinistas held an election, as the 1987 constitution had mandated them to do and the Nicaraguan electorate, under the threat of continued U.S. funding of Contra terrorists if the Sandinistas won, voted in the UNO. The U.S. had achieved its goal of restoring the old Somoza era social order within Nicaragua. Walker gives an extensive discussion of the post-1990 social order. Nicaragua ranked 61st on the UN Human Development Index in 1990; it ranked 116th by 2000.
Walker gives an instructive look at how the miserable rural proletariat of Nicaragua was created by the late 19th century.

This is written in a remarkably even-handed register when you consider the outrageous (imperial?) actions of the US over the years, regarding Nicaragua. I also found the explanation of dependent economies (where most of the effort goes into goods for export rather than goods for the common good!) very enlightening. It challenged my basic beliefs of what government does and should do for, with, and by its citizenry. If you want a concise history of Nicaragua that includes treatment of all the factions involved over the years, this is it! The author has appended an extensive bibliography of English-language sources and additional reading materials that appears very thorough and helpful to going deeper into this country.

I sat down with this book and got all caught up in the intrigue. Couldn't put it down....great for a long plane ride!

I have actually had the pleasure of working with Eric on this by reading it SEVERAL times to proof and get it ready for publishing. It is one of the few books that I have read through more than once in a short period of time, and not been bored by about the third one. It is a great read - one of those that you don't want to put down until you have gotten to the end. I know that he is working on the sequel, and I personally can't wait.

North From The Mountains is the latest in "The Melungeons: History Culture, Ethnicity, and Literature" series from Mercer University Press. This groundbreaking series is the first such to extensively study the Carmel Melungeon settlement since 1950. John Kessler and Donald Ball effectively collaborate to trace the history of the Carmel Melungeon settlement from 1700 onward, and provide the reader with exhaustive firsthand information connecting the Carmel population to the Melungeons and other mixed-blood populations in the Mid-Atlantic region. With documentary evidence and facts gathered from visits to and informants of the Carmel area, North From The Mountains is a highly detailed documentary offering fascinating insight into the lifestyle and relationships of the Carmel community and recommended for students of American history and regional development.

"North from the Mountains" is a splendid read on the incresingly popular subject of Melungeon heritage. This is both an excellently written and exhaustively researched book by meticulous authors. It is a great read on Americana on the first person part of the senior author. Both men are experienced authors of scholarly papers, and their work on this book is the result of their exacting and uncomromising dedication to making as certain as possible that every last word in this book is documentable. I consider it the standard against which I will judge all other books on the subject. The Bibilography will set me off on searches for further material. It is a truly worthy book to add to any library, both personal and collegiate.