South America Books

This is a comprehensive review of the troubled relationship between United Fruit, bananas, and Colombia. Putting aside preconceived notions, Bucheli convincingly shows a more complex relationship than what the conventional wisdom usually holds. The book accurately captures the political and economic environment in Colombia's 20th Century and makes a persuasive case to avoid falling into the "blame the evil corporation" trap.

This book is an enlightening reading on this controversial chapter of 20th century Latin American history.

Excellent history of how fruit producers discovered a product, encouraged a reluctant public to eat it, and exerted an enormous amount of control in US foreign policy in Central / South America. Explains a lot about why the Central / South American governments and people were controlled by a few fruit producers by way of the US government, to include the US military. Good foundation reading for anyone interested in the history and / or political science of the area.

This book tracks the operations of United Fruit in Colombia over the century but does so within a framework of changing American market demand for bananas. Because the author pays so much attention to the actions of United Fruit's stockholders, this book sets precedent in the historiography of the company in Latin America. For this reason, the book will be of interest to anyone who is attentive of the role of American direct investment over the 20th century.

The United Fruit Company has long been maligned as an imperial bastion of American business interests, quick to exploit its workers and slow to return profits to where it extracts its commodity. This has view has had a longer view in Colombia than in other Latin American countries following the 1928 massacre of striking United Fruit workers by the Colombian troops. Gabriel Garcia exaggerated the details of this violence for his One Hundred Years of Solitude, and few others have believed that the company did more good than harm.

The author works hard to complicate this negative picture by showing that many workers today feel nostalgia for the days gone by when the company ran schools and hospitals and sold cheap luxury goods in its store. In the 1960s, the company divested of many of its operations of its Magdalena plantation and switched over to the Uruba plantation, but used a system of contracting to buy bananas from independent growers. The company did not have to provide social and health services nor did it have to negotiate as much with workers and the government. But the big blow against El Pulpo [the octopus, a common nickname for UFCo] came when processed food (ie., Gerber's baby food) diminished demand for bananas. The ways that UFCo transformed itself to cope with the new market landscape is laid out in detail.

This book is certain to stir controversy with those who believe that the Dollar Banana companies like Chiquita (United Fruit renamed) continue a very long tradition of giving their workers a bad bargain. Since unprofitable worker demands were part of the reason why United Fruit divested and switched to contracting, the author implies that the company had no other choice. But the race for the cheapest bananas by the three most powerful multinational banana corporations have created little incentive to offer improvements in living and working conditions for its producers. Most American consumers prefer to pay a few cents less per banana rather than buying from a more expensive product whose company offers livable wages and a clean environment where bananas are produced. This has long been the case and Chiquita knows it.

With these criticims aside, this book will be off interest to business historians and college classrooms considering the role of American business in Latin American lives. Workers continue to strike in Colombia and the company continues to threaten to leave Colombia entirely. To those interested in these current struggles, this book will provide an excellent backdrop and reminder that none of it is new.

I've read this book 3 times and I'm going to re-read it again. It's just perfect.

This is one of Gerald Durrell's best and funniest books. WHY is it out of print?!!

This book is a delightful true account of a naturalist's trip to South America in 1954. He is collecting animals for British zoos and in many cases he seems to be making some of the first discoveries of the intimate lives of his charges (what they eat, how best to house them, their temperaments, etc.). In the course their 6 month adventure, Gerald and his wife, Jacquie, must deal with numerous non-animal problems, such a revolution in Argentina, a crazed carpenter cage builder, and the eccentric habits of their temporary housekeeper, who also happens to be the local madam. Durrell's descriptions of the animals and the countryside are alternately beautiful and hilarious. This is a book to read aloud. It really is wonderful. :-)

AFter a trip to Miami, I had to purchase this book so I could make some of the food. Very yummy recipes & easy to follow instructions. I recommend highly.

This is the quintessential cookbook in that every time I make something from it EVERYBODY and his mother wants the recipe (which I don't dare give out -- if they want it, they can buy the book)!

Rafael is a secret waiting to be exposed -- hopefully on cable television with his own cooking show one day. Check out his other books from Chronicle -- they're not as well written (but don't blame the chef), but they make great companions to this spectacular volume.

Deliciously inventive stuff

This book of captivating images and relevant descriptions was like going back in history. I have fond memories of Boynton Beach from the early 1980's and now I have new appreciation for the community and its history. I especially enjoyed the chapter on farming and the images from the early 1900's.

This beautiful book's pictures - from funny to quirky to insightful - really work well to humanize history and give legends like "The Barefoot Mailman" to the orgins of the yearly holiday parade faces, names and dates.

Some of the pictures even have handwritten notations on them, again serving to connect the reader to the history. The captions that accompany each picture helps to solidify the significance of the photograph, and is kept brief enough to keep the reader skimming page after page.

No one knows what tomorrow may bring, but one thing is for sure, we owe a debt of gratitude to Rev. Gill and Janet DeVries for a well written history. The photos and their descriptions are treasures which will be cherished by our citizens of the community for years to come.

L.Lanson, Retirement Community Social Director

This is a beautifully-produced books with haunting photogrpahs of a Brazil that has largely vanished. The focus is on people, and the photographer captures their humanity. Excellent analysis and history too.

Genevieve Naylor was a PSA photographer hired by Nelson Rockefeller to travel through Brazil and document how American's wartime allies lives and worked. Her large format, beautifully printed photos reveal the texture of life in a proud and vibrant country. The author of this book provides clear and highly insightful analysis of the historical context in which to understand and appreciate Naylor's genius.

The photographer, Genevieve Naylor, went to Brazil after working for the Associated Press and the Roosevelt administration's photographic corps. She brought to her assignment a wonderful eye for composition and an affection for the simple aspects of Brazilian life. This is a compelling book that is beautifully printed and handsomely presented. The author does an excellent job of setting the scene, too.

This was an excellent book! It is a vivid, comprehensive and sweeping biography of a most important and influential man of the early American West. At the age of twenty four, Thomas Fitzpatrick started out with Ashley's expedition of 1823 as a fur trapper going up the Missouri River. The following year he discovered South Pass, then was part owner of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. After the fur trade declined, he guided the first wagon train west over the Oregon Trail, then acted as guide to Fremont, Kearny and Abert on their expeditions. Later,he was appointed as an Indian Agent for the government and in this position he was most significant in facilitating relations with the Plains Indians. Leroy Hafen's writing is to be commended. He was an excellent author/historian. This is an easy book to read, and there is so much history to this remarkable man, Thomas Fitzpatrick.

This book is the result of a historian's dissertation on this little known now, but once well-known figure in the expansion of the west. Fitzpatrick discovered the Southern Pass, mentored Kit Carson, and is buried in the Congressional Cemetary in Washington DC. I'm not a fan of historical novels, or much of a student of history. But, this book described the way of life of the great western explorers of the 19th century in fascinating detail. Chock full of facts that I never learned in school history, this book sheds light on a poorly represented but important part of US history by tracing Fitzpatrick's life as reconstructed from historical documents and interviews with surviving ancestors. I highly recommend this book.

Most historians of the fur trade period of the old West regard Thomas Fitzpatrick as perhaps the greatest of all the Mountain Men, certainly among the top three or four along with Jedediah Smith and Jim Bridger, or perhaps Joseph Walker or Kit Carson. Hafen thinks of him as almost a god and writes glowingly of his exploits and character.

Fitzpatrick was born in Ireland (quite a few Mountain Men came from Irish or Scots-Irish descent) in 1799. He came to America by the age of 17 and was a member of Ashley's first venture up the Missouri in 1823. As a trapper he led parties into every region of the Rocky Mountain west, returning frequently at the end of the trapping season to St. Louis with that year's catch, only to return again a short time later with the supply trains for the designated rendezvous. He was owner for a while of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, which he later sold to the American Fur Company. When the fur trade fell victim to a change in hat styles, Fitzpatrick became a guide for emigrant wagon trains and in the trade that existed along the Santa Fe Trail. He injured his hand (so the story goes, Fitzpatrick never gave a full account himself) in an encounter with the Blackfeet in 1836, and it was by the name Broken Hand that the Indians ever after called him. In 1843 he was guide with Fremont on his second expedition to Oregon and California, and guided Kearny to Socorro, NM, at the beginning of the Mexican War the following year. He became Indian Agent for the Central Plains tribes and organized many councils with them (including the famous Ft. Laramie council of 1851). He died in Washington, DC, there on Indian affairs business, in 1854.

Leroy Hafen was one of the greatest of the "old school" historical writers of the old West. He was an "on sight" researcher, tramping the same ground his subjects did, seeing what they saw. His footnotes, which often identify locations of vague references found in trapper journals or clarify and correct old diary entries, are often as fascinating as the text itself. He is a thorough and careful historian; nothing gets by him without the greatest of scrutiny. His admiration for Fitzpatrick comes through loud and clear: he calls him "an epic figure - unique and incomparable." Hafen is out of the old school of narrative historians (Parkman and Lossing come to mind), and he is a joy to read. History is never so enjoyable as in the hands of these writers. It's an excellent book, informative and entertaining. Highly recommended.

Don't be fooled by the first part of the title; for this book is really about Blacks, Jews, and the Changing Face of the Ghetto. Pritchett studies Brownsville in details, but never forgets to see the bigger picture, which should be of interest for any historian or social scientist. Pritchett is very good at giving you the facts, the analysis and the feelings as well. This book is not just about a ghetto in Brooklyn, it is indeed about urban change and inequality.

As someone who lived not far from Brownsville in the 1950s and early '60s, I can say this is an exceptionally accurate book. It is well-written and is the best attempt I've seen yet at explaining the phenomenon of the changing urban neighborhood. Not only does Pritchett provide many well-reserached, well-thought-out answers but, just as important, he raises insightful, penetrating questions. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American urban history, particularly as it relates to New York City.

New Yorkers see constant small changes in their city, and the cumulative effect of those changes can remake the character and composition of a neighborhood almost overnight. That is what happened in Brownsville during the late 1950s and early 1960s. What had been an entirely Jewish neighborhood of sidewalk synagogues and old-world customs became an entirely black and Latino neighborhood. Pritchett captures that period of change and the various players -- community activists, business interests, government agencies and politicians -- masterfully. He tells a poignant story of idealistic neighborhood leaders who fought for integrated public housing to meet the needs of their community and were instead given massive projects built to house the city's poor who had been displaced by urban renewal. This is a great book for anyone interested in New York or urban history generally.

This is a very nice read. Soft biography of Governor Brown and descriptive overview of the times. You really cannot miss on this one.

Ethan Rarick has written a great biography of a man who was to be one of the most well known of California Governors.Edmund G. "Pat" Brown came on the political scene as DA of San Francisco County. He would follow the path of Earl Warren as State Attorney General and then Governor. Brown in 1959 became only the second Democrat elected governor in the 20th Century; Culbert L. Olson served 1939-1943. "Pat" Brown picked the right time to run for governor when US Senator William F. Knowland figured to use the California governorship as a stepping stone to run for President. Popular governor Goodwin J. "Goodie" Knight was forced by Knowland to seek his vacated Senate seat. This broke the GOP is California. Then, Knowland endorced Proposition 18 "The Right To Work Law." This lost the labor vote for the GOP totally. Brown would win in a landslide. Four years later, the governor's race in 1962, Brown defeated former Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Nixon made the famous remark to the press: " You won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore."
"Pat" Brown, in 1966 faced in a run for a 3rd term, a washed up actor from Warner Brothers, in the 1950's the host of General Electric Theatre and now the host of television's Death Valley Days. Ronald Reagan running on the platform to "Clean Up the Mess in Berkeley." Ronald Reagan defeated Pat Brown as he tried to do what Earl Warren had done be elected to a 3rd term.
Governor Brown has many accomplishments the State Water Project; Freeways and many others.
UC Berkeley, Watts and many problems of a changing time came at Governor "Pat" Brown, during his second term.
Since 1958 except for a few years during the term of Gov. Reagan; the Democrats have controled the Legislature.
In the book we see Browns fellow party members infighting famed Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty and Speaker of the Assembly Jesse "Big Daddy" Unruh. The Brown family continued with Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. 1975-1983 present Mayor of Oakland. "Pat" Brown's daughter Kathleen holding statewide office and being defeated in her bid for governor. This is a great book on a man of California Edmund G. "Pat" Brown.

First I'll disclose that the author, Ethan Rarick, is a friend of mine.
Having said that, I'd have quickly bought and read this biography whether I knew the guy or not.
Secondly, as a lifelong Californian of 50, I guess I'm exactly the right demographic for appreciating this book--Pat Brown is the first governor I can remember. Having childhood memories of the events in this book certainly made learning more about them that much more satisfying.
But what makes this book so fascinating is how drastically the political landscape changed during the years of his administration, and how the changes ruined him politically--for a while.
When elected in 1958 Brown was a forward-looking liberal with an ambitous agenda for improving California, one at which he was remarkably successful: banning racial discrimination, expanding a great university, and building a massive project to transport water unprecedented distances from wet parts of the state to dry ones.
But by the time of his loss to Ronald Reagan in 1966, time had passed Brown by. Events like the Berkeley free speech movement and Watts riots pushed middle America into a sharp right backlash. The fact that he genuinely anguished over whether to have men executed or to spare their lives, unlike successors who adopted a safe, knee-jerk, blanket pro-death approach, injured him further at a time of increasingly pro-authoritarian attitudes.
By '66, Brown seemed a hopeless relic. Damaged by a rough primary against Sam Yorty, L.A.'s racist demagogue mayor, and by his own inept scheme to sabotage the Republican primary, he was creamed by Reagan in his quest for a third term.
Yet, by the time of his death 30 years later, Brown had again become an icon, hailed as the most effective governor ever by political wannabes of both major parties.
A great personal story and an interesting slice of California history.

This is one of the most beautiful photographic essays I have ever seen. It is so intense, it is almost too much (like the movie Moulin Rouge); but because it is a book rather than a movie, you can take it in at your own pace. The colors, excitement, and sensuality of Carnival are captured in a way that makes you glad you, too, are a member of the human race. The CD which comes with the book is a nice addition, but doesn't come close in vividness and stimulation to the photos.

Here I am living in New Orleans, the home of Mardi Gras with a passion for Carnival and happy feet that move uncontrollably when I hear a samba beat! As a photographer and ethnomusicologist, I am most appreciative of a job well done. This book with its vibrant stop action YOU ARE THERE photos of beautiful dancers in colorful feathers and minuscule sequins and beads, wild frenzied crowds, happy musicians and Rio de Janeiro excitement really takes you there! The text is fascinating too and gives insight into the people, preparation and parades that make this legendary event happen each year. Plus wait there's more, folks! This package goes beyond what most books of its kind offer-it brings you the SOUNDS of Carnival music in a rockin CD. Corny as it may sound, this IS the next best thing to being there! It's always a party here in The Big Easy and I can enjoy this book and CD during Jazz Fest as well as Mardi Gras, it is timeless. Austrian author and photographer, Helmut Teissl is an artist and I'd sure like to see what he could do with Mardi Gras! Come on down, Helmut, I'll throw ya some beads from my French Quarter balcony!

This book and CD are the next best thing to going to Carnival in Rio. Carnival is the Brazilian equivalent of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Except the scale and intensity of Carnaval dwarf Mardi Gras. Few of us will ever get to Brazil to enjoy the spectacle, but we can enjoy it from afar thanks to Helmut Teissl and his experience over 12 Carnivals.

Before praising this work further, let me put out a caution. This book contains images of bare breasts and barely covered buttocks and private parts that will offend some. If those images are troubling to you, I suggest you avoid this book. For those who are neutral on the subject, I found the displays of female anatomy to be consistent with portraying the event, rather than being present for inappropriate reasons.

One of the great strengths of this book is that it explains about the competition among the Samba clubs that is the key feature of Carnival. I learned that there are many requirements for how these are conducted. For example, there must be a group of at least 70 women over the age of 45 wearing skirts. The costumes of these women can weigh as much of 33 pounds each. That's a lot for a small woman to bear. There is also a large group of male pushers, who roll the floats ahead with hand labor. The music section that produces the Samba beat will often exceed 300, and each Samba club has its own unique Samba sound, which you can hear on the CD.

The photographs cover preparations throughout the year, as well as Carnival itself. Some of the images are of people standing, and others use a long exposure to capture the astonishing motion of the dancing. These latter images are like abstract art. In each case, the images are in vibrant color, like plumage of exotic animals in the Amazon jungle.

There is also a lot of social commentary in the photographs. In several cases, performers are wearing very expensive costumes and display smiles featuring the rotting and missing teeth of the poor. In other cases, you see expensive orthodontia in the smiles among the featured women of the Samba clubs. The costumes and the gaity seem to be pushing back against the blackness of night, the darkness of death, and the risk of damnation. In some ways, you will feel like you are watching a voodoo rite in a James Bond movie, rather than a fun parade.

After experiencing Carnival, I suggest that you think about the key rituals of our own society. What positive and not-so-positive qualities are represented? As a starting point, you might begin with Halloween and then move on to Thanksgiving. Then consider your town's Memorial Day parade. I leave it to you to choose your rituals after that. How can you and your family develop and nurture rituals that will be good for each of you and the whole family?

Feel the beat!

This novel looks at what would have happened if Brazilian voters had chosen monarchy over democracy in Brazil. That might sound farfetched, but in fact such a referendum was put before Brazilian voters in 1993. The book's protagonist, Reginaldo, is chosen to be the new monarch because he is the only Brazilian descendent of the last Brazilian emperor. Reginaldo, who works at a grocery store in a small town in Minas Gerais, is a truly un-kinglike character, something of a Brazilian Ignatius J. Reilly (see A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole). Without giving away too much of the plot, this makes for some pretty hilarious situations once Reginaldo is taken to the new capital of Rio de Janeiro. Interspersed throughout Reginaldo's story are vignettes from the life of his regal ancestor, Emperor Pedro II, giving an interesting historical perspective. This is a great book and a fun read, and should be of interest to both Brazilianists and fans of wry, somewhat offbeat humor. Since I fall into both those categories, I enjoyed this book immensely.

"Carnival King: The Last Latin Monarch" is a very good read by a new writer, Brent Alan James. It is a humorous and dramatic story with an underlying history lesson and social conscience. Even if you've never visited Brazil, you'll recognize at least one thing familiar in this book.

James's book was a lot of fun to read and an interesting look into Brazilian culture from the elites to those living in poverty. Great, engaging characters in both modern and historic Brazil, and interweaving story lines.