Best of
Latin-American

1995

Shadows of Tender Fury


Subcomandante Marcos - 1995
    Here are the words of Marcos, words that recast Mexican politics and revived rebel imaginations everywhere. They look back to the traditions of Indian resistance and the dormant ideals of the Mexican revolution; they look forward to political strategies, styles, and theories that challenge the dominance of capitalism. The Introduction by John Ross situates the Zapatistas in the context of Mexican history and the Afterword by Frank Bardacke discusses their language and politics, as well as their meaning for the U.S. left. This edition also includes an "exclusive" prologue by Subcomandante Marcos and his speech to the Zapatista's August 1994 national convention.

A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America


Steve N.G. Howell - 1995
    But he also arrived without an adequate fieldguide. Indeed, to his surprise, he found that relatively little was known (and even less written) about the myriad of bird species that inhabit the region stretching from the U.S.-Mexican border to Nicaragua. And so, after eleven years of research in northern Central America, and with theessential collaboration of Sophie Webb--a biologist and one of the most talented ornithological illustrators working today--we now have the definitive guide to birds of this fascinating region. drop rest as varied as the Laysan Albatross, the Blue-footed Booby, the Collared Trogon, even the rareGuadalupe Storm-Petrel. A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America is astonishingly comprehensive, covering the identification, status, and distribution of all 1,070 birds species known from Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, and western Nicaragua. No other book approaches the thoroughnessof this unique field guide. Beautifully illustrated with seventy-one color plates and thirty-nine black and white drawings, the guide shows 750 species and includes many plumages never before depicted. Of special interest are illustrations of some of the most notoriously difficult groups toportray, such as raptors in flight, owls, and nightjars. In addition, superb, easy-to-read maps help the traveling birder locate particular--even rare--species, and the entries describing individual birds detail their appearance, voice, habitat, behavior (including nesting and eggs), anddistribution. With the U.S. birder in mind, the guide also includes birds that can be seen north of the border, showing these American migrants on plates when they could be confused with similar Mexican species, thus enabling the birder to make quick and ready comparisons in the field. And, withreadable and fascinating presentations of the natural history of Central American birds, this guide will be welcomed not only by seasoned birders, but by any traveler exploring the rain forests, coastlines, and deserts of Mexico and the Central American isthmus. Sponsored by the distinguished Point Reyes Observatory in California, A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America is a wonderful addition to the library of birders, nature enthusiasts, and travelers alike. With its lavish illustrations, clear writing, and unprecedented range, itoffers hours of compelling reading and pleasant browsing for anyone intrigued by the colorful diversity of birds and the wild, largely unspoiled world next door.

The Adventures of Maqroll: Four Novellas : Amirbar/the Tramp Steamer's Last Port of Call/Abdul Bashur, Dreamer of Ships/Triptych on Sea and Land


Álvaro Mutis - 1995
    

Rasero


Francisco Rebolledo - 1995
    He is a peculiar hero—bald since birth, intellectually and sexually precocious as a child, as a man passionate and warmhearted. He is also orgasmically clairvoyant, given at the moment of carnal release to apocalyptic visions of a world that he comes to recognize as the future. As he tries to reconcile the sanguine promises of the Enlightenment with the chilling prophecies of his visions, he comes to know virtually every important figure of his time: Diderot, Voltaire, Madame de Pompadour, Boucher, Lavoisier, the young Mozart, Hume, Rousseau, Robespierre, and Goya. But it is his love for a beautiful young widow from Mexico that transforms him and ultimately moves Rasero toward the wisdom he has long sought. In his prodigious first novel, Francisco Rebolledo brings to life a heady mix of eighteenth-century politics, desire, philosophy, science, and art, showing us in this vanished world, with all its contradictions and sorrows, a troubled counterpart to our own.

Neruda's Garden: An Anthology of Odes


Pablo Neruda - 1995
    The poems are gathered from Odas elementales (Elemental Odes), 1954; Nuevas odas elementals (New Elemental Odes), 1956; Tercer libro de odas, (Third Book of Odes), 1957; and Navegaciones y regresos (Voyages and Homecomings), 1959. This anthology is the most complete selection of Neruda's work to appear in English, in an excellent bilingual format featuring translations by Maria Jacketti, an expert of Pablo Neruda's work.

The Peru Reader: History, Culture, Politics


Orin Starn - 1995
    Nineteenth-century travelers wrote of soaring Andean peaks plunging into luxuriant Amazonian canyons of orchids, pythons, and jaguars. The early-twentieth-century American adventurer Hiram Bingham told of the raging rivers and the wild jungles he traversed on his way to rediscovering the “Lost City of the Incas,” Machu Picchu. Seventy years later, news crews from ABC and CBS traveled to Peru to report on merciless terrorists, starving peasants, and Colombian drug runners in the “white gold” rush of the coca trade. As often as not, Peru has been portrayed in broad extremes: as the land of the richest treasures, the bloodiest conquest, the most poignant ballads, and the most violent revolutionaries. This revised and updated second edition of the bestselling Peru Reader offers a deeper understanding of the complex country that lies behind these claims.Unparalleled in scope, the volume covers Peru’s history from its extraordinary pre-Columbian civilizations to its citizens’ twenty-first-century struggles to achieve dignity and justice in a multicultural nation where Andean, African, Amazonian, Asian, and European traditions meet. The collection presents a vast array of essays, folklore, historical documents, poetry, songs, short stories, autobiographical accounts, and photographs. Works by contemporary Peruvian intellectuals and politicians appear alongside accounts of those whose voices are less often heard—peasants, street vendors, maids, Amazonian Indians, and African-Peruvians. Including some of the most insightful pieces of Western journalism and scholarship about Peru, the selections provide the traveler and specialist alike with a thorough introduction to the country’s astonishing past and challenging present.

Long March to Freedom: Tom Hargrove's Own Story of His Kidnapping by Colombian Narco-Guerrillas


Thomas R. Hargrove - 1995
    Hargrove describes one of the most terrible ordeals a human being can endure. Written on checks, in notebooks, and on scraps of paper while the author was held captive, Long March to Freedom is Tom Hargrove's diary, a searing story of a hostage experience.

Frida Kahlo


Frank Milner - 1995
    Art historian Frank Milner traces the potent mixture of personal history, cultural inheritance, political commitment and sheer self-conscious myth-making that permeates Kahlo's work, and argues that any attempt to subsume her painting within a particular tradition is doomed to a unique artistic phenomenon.

Legends Series: Leyendas latinoamericanas (Leyendas)


Genevieve Barlow - 1995
    This reader is softcover, 6" 9," and 178 pages in length.