South America Books

I read this book after my first trip to Cuzco. I deeply regret that I did not read it prior to my trip. While some will undoubtedly find it a bit technical at times, it is concise, easily readable, highly informative, and often fascinating. Chapter 12, "The Mummies of the Royal Inca," was one of the most interesting bits of reading I've enjoyed in some time. I very highly recommend this book.

This is a must read if you are going down to Cuzco. Good up to date history of the area.

This is a reprint of a book published in the 19th century. A source book for all other books on the Adena and the Hopewell. A Must have.

Ancient Monuments (more familiarly known as "Squire and Davis") is the undisputed primary reference source on Indian mounds in the eastern US till the mid-1800s. While there were a few others (such as Caleb Atwater's book), Squire and Davis offers the grandest illustrations of what remained of the unbelievable civilizations that inhabited this continent. Even as they published in 1848, hundreds of mounds were being plowed into oblivion; so few are still extant that theirs is the only guide to what was lost. The text is enjoyable on many levels, and can be forgiven for any lapses of scientific accuracy. They trekked over Ohio at a time when we weren't even sure who made the mounds, so everything they recorded is gold. The engineering prowess, the sheer magnificence and scale of some of the works, is astounding.

Excellent story and photographs of a real little boy's life in the rain forest. Particularly useful for teachers to integrate science, social studies, even a math component, as students may calculate the amount of sap needed for a 90 pound ball of rubber, etc. I also liked the facing pages of historical information. For younger children, the focus can simply be on Antonio's own story. Older students may read more details of the historical struggle to gain economic independence and preserve the forest. The historical background and the dangers of daily life are recounted in a matter-of-fact manner, giving a realistic and yet over all positive view of the lives of people who are conserving the beauty of the forest and their way of life. I am delighted to find this book is still available! A colleague who searched for it typed "Rainforest" as one word, and found nothing. "Antonio's Rain Forest" really is something. I highly recommend it.

Antonio's Rain Forest is an outstanding contribution to anyschool or community library collection on nature, ecology, and livingin the Amazon rainforest for young readers. Beautiful photographs by Edward Parker showcase this picturebook adaptation of Anna Lewington's original text. Children are informed of the economic value and history of the rainforest and its rubber plantations as 8 year old Antonio Jose describes the life and work of his family who make a simple living from their surroundings. Portuguese words are provided with pronunciation guides. Highly recommended.

This book covers the vast geographical contrasts and natural wonders of Argentina..

The author presents through his photographs many truly outstanding and simply stunning landscapes which are well captured and composed. Argentina has go to be one of the MOST geographically beautiful countries in the world and this book clearly illustrates that. Highly recommended !

very complete... gorgeous pictures, excelent prints, argentina, what more can i say?

This is by far the best text devoted to the history of Arlington national cemetery I've seen. It begins with a detailed hisory of how the Washington-Lee family aquired the property, and the government seizure during the Civil war.. The property was used as a burial ground in part to prevent Robert E. Lee family from returning. The book goes on to list numerous notables now buried there and includes a brief but informative biography of each, most have pictures of the gravesite. Finally the book lists the many memorials inside and around the cemetery and the offical requirements for burial at Arlington.. A Fascinating book, I've read it several times and find something new every time I pick it up. Well worth purchasing for the history buff, or the casual tourist who wants to learn more about our most important national shrine.

I first found this book in it's first edition in 1994 after a trip to D.C. After picking it up from the library, I really wished that I had it when I was in D.C. I read it from cover to cover and learned so much about Arlington. I picked up the second edition during a visit to ANC in September, 2001. Every grave marker and memorial of renown is mentioned and the history behind the larger monuments is very good. It would be really nice if color pictures accompanied the text. I hope that Mr. Peters continues to update the book every now and then.

I read this book a few months before moving to Surry county from California. It has given me a lot of sobering yet uplifting perspective. Since moving here, I have met the author, and a few of the people mentioned in the book. It has been a wonderful experience.

I am researching my family ancestry and because I was born in Surry County and still have many relatives still living there, I am very anxious to read and add a copy of this book to my family library!

Thank you Dr. Scales Thompson for putting this precious time of events on paper and making it available to the public.

Rozita Smith

"Honest, straightforward and audacious" is how the author describes Che Guevara, the Argentine who along with Fidel Castro led the Cuban revolution to victory. Such description is the polar opposite of the dishonest, double-speaking and cowardly character of imperialist leaders in Che's time: Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, as well as today: Bush, Clinton and Bush. Some of who used their wealth and privileges to evade the fire of war. All of who glibly sent young people off to slaughter others or be killed while trying to protect the interests of the ruling rich.

This 36-page pamphlet, including the excellent footnotes and photographs, is a wonderful introduction to the Cuban revolution and its foreign policy. It is made up of easy-to-read interviews with "Pombo" - Harry Villegas, brigadier general in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba who fought alongside Che during the final battles of the Cuban revolution as well as with freedom fighters in the Congo and Bolivia.

Additional reading: Cuba and the Coming American Revolution by Jack Barnes; Our History is still being written by Armando Choy; Capitalism's Long Hot Winter Has Begun by Jack Barnes.

One way to measure the Cuban Revolution is to look at the women and men it produces. This pamphlet does just that. It both tells us about Harry Villegas's amazing life and gives us a number of his insights. Villegas (also known as Pombo) joined the Revolution as a working class youth in rural Cuba. Since then, his life has been dedicated to world solidarity, frequently risking his life. Pombo served at the side of Che Guevara in Cuba, Africa, and Bolivia. After Che was executed by the CIA, Pombo led a small band of Cubans in a courageous escape from Bolivia. After that, he served in Angola as part of the Cuban force that helped defeat the invasion by apartheid South Africa. What a life! This man and his insights are a true reflection of the Cuban revolution and its incredible record of solidarity with the oppressed. While Amazon may say this book is not available from time to time, it is always available from booksfrompathfinder store listed under new and used at the top of this page.

This book constitutes an impartial view about Pinochet, who is known around the world only by the hunreds of publications written by people who backed Allende (by the way, he was elected by only by the 36% of the votes) and lead Chile to a situation that almost drove the country to civil war, as Allende's regime tried to make of Chile a new Cuba, during the years of the cold war.

Mrs Oyarzun is a very well known and respected journalist, and the translation of her book into english will be very helpful to have an independent view of the chilean marxist experiment.

Reviewing the listing of books in connection with Chile's former President Augusto Pinochet, I detect that in English there is a lack of impartial publications regarding the difficult years of the so-called "Unidad Popular" (Allende's regime), which drove to Chile's military government. In Chile there is plenty of information on all sides. We Chileans lived the critical years from the end of the sixties to 1990, and obviously for us the opinions on the figures of Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet are quite divided. This book is very interesting for Spanish-speaking readers, because it depicts several personal aspects of the personality of former President Pinochet, and has been written by one of Chile's most famous journalists. If books like this one were available in English, the true of the history of Chile would be easier to understand for foreigners.

Great review of life in Rome. Good pictures. Fun mystery for kids to solve. My girls ages 6 & 8 loved the book, especially the mystery. We have enjoyed Ardagh's History Detectives of Greece and Egypt as well.

This is a easy read, better then Usbourne.
The illusrations are great and covers important figures,
religion, government,science, sports,daily life, arts,
everything. Then it finishes with a mystery for review.
Sure to keep kids and adults interested.

I was very impressed. It was in great condition, and it took no time to be delivered!

At first I found myself a little bored reading BANANERAS, Dana Frank's total reimagination of the labor union as the engine of women's liberation in first Honduras then elsewhere south of the border, but then the sweep of her narrative began to carry me away. Not liking bananas myself, I had somehow merely lived my whole life without ever inquiring about the women who picked and packed them. Who were these women? How have they eked out meaningful existences desite isolation and backbreaking labor? How do they change history with solidarity and an unspoken feminism? For, as Dr. Frank reveals wryly, the Latin American bananeras recoil from the word "feminism" itself, treating it as though it had no meaning nor place in the vocabulary of the modern radical worker. In a way, Frank's book is the story about how a word lives even when it is judged irrelevant and in consequence unspoken.

Richly researeched, the new BANANERAS makes manifest in rich ways the geometrical growth of the new labor unions powered by women's work (though some of the locals employ Latins of several genders). Frank was there when the women met and organized; she attended some of the furit packers' conferences and showed how uneducated women managed to cope with, then translate for the benefit of others, both absent and present, hifalutin technical and political concepts such as transnational trade agreements. She showed what happens when one woman's isolation showly begins to transform, like the shards of a broken flower pot, into a multifaceted, yet striking new mosaic of terra cotta. She brings her characters to life with simple pen strokes, like Colette. Here she is, for example, introducing us to Selfa Sandoval, a Guatemalan fruit worker: "Selfa is a laughing, energetic, tough cookie, who remains powerful in her union because she works hard and fellow rank-and-file members know it." Not only do we see Sandoval herself, but we see her in context of a group of shadowy, but respectful, union members in the general population.

Friends who have studied with Dr. Frank, in the seaside town of Santa Cruz perhaps two hours south of here, have talked about her work in history as a three-pronged trident, like Neptune, ready to strike at a single second. One fork shows us that, there are no Americans, there are only "Americans." Another looks for the hope of successful social movements. And a third, and the sharpest of all, is her brain.