But tourists and opportunists are making inroads into the area, and the balance of nature is making a dangerous shift. Translated by Peter Bush.

    Through her story, Fuentes writes the journal of the Mexican twentieth century, supporting his novel with facts and characters that define the shape of today's Mexico.

    Alfredo Molano isn’t a novelist or poet, but rather a sociologist who realizes that ‘the way to understand wasn’t to study people but to listen to them.’ The testimonies that Molano collects are a point of departure for a work that knows how to relate, like few others can, Colombia’s pain in a language that has more colors than the rainbow.”—Eduardo Galeano, author of Upside Down and Open Veins of Latin America“The people whose stories Molano tells are not social activists. They do not provide political or structural explanations of their lives; they do not tell stories of coming to consciousness. Yet, together, their stories add up to a powerful analysis of today’s Colombia and should indeed inspire US readers to challenge the US policies that continue to kill, impoverish and displace the people of Colombia.”—From the foreword by Aviva ChomskyHere in their own words are the stories of the desterrados, or “dispossessed”—the thousands of Colombians displaced by years of war and state-backed terrorism, funded in part through US aid to the Colombian government.These gripping stories show the human face of those who suffer the effects of the US “Plan Colombia” and of a state that serves the interests of wealthy landlords instead of the poor.Acclaimed journalist Alfredo Molano is a columnist for the newspaper El Espectador in Colombia. He is a visiting scholar at Stanford University. He is the author of Loyal Soldiers in the Cocaine Kingdom: Tales of Drugs, Mules, and Gunmen.

    Parable, paradox, anecdote, dream, and autobiography blend into an exuberant world view and affirmation of human possibility.

    

     It’s one of the great, unexpected turnaround stories in modern history: Just a decade ago, Colombia was regarded as a “failed state,” besieged by megalomaniacal drug kingpins, ruthless terrorist groups, and abominable poverty. But since 2002, it has been dramatically transformed into a far more peaceful, stable modern democracy with a promising future. Now, the man who led the transformation, former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe Velez, offers the untold story of how, at enormous personal risk, he refused to accept Colombia’s perilous status quo.Extremely captivating, No Lost Causes reveals how President Uribe severely weakened the neo-terrorist group, the FARC, which held Colombia captive and caused the brutal murder of his father. It relates the gripping account of how President Uribe staged the daring (and bloodless) jungle rescue of Ingrid Betancourt in 2008, and eventually restored the rule of law across the country. It also explores practical lessons of hands-on management—relevant to both political and business leaders—and provides a thrilling behind-the-scenes look at newsmaking U.S. foreign affairs and never before discussed details and dealings with various world leaders.Unlike any other presidential memoir, No Lost Causes is not only a compelling story of leadership, but an epic, heart-racing account of how bravery and hope gave a failing nation a brighter future.

    His novels Sangre Y Arena (Blood and Sand) and Los Cuatro Jinetes del Apocalipsis (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) are his most popular novels, while his Valencian novels such as La Barraca and Ca as Y Barro are valued by scholars.

    Ines welcomes it in fact. Because Ines, so skinny and quiet, so hesitant, so small, has a very big wish to experience Wonderful, Terrible and Extraordinary things. A personal, secret and private monster is just what she was looking for. However, life with a monster is never easy... and Ines seems determined not to leave her side.

    But her perfect career and marriage start to unravel when her husband of twenty years suddenly leaves her for another woman. Devastated, Blanca is forced to question the life she once had and how well she truly knows herself. She leaves Madrid for San Francisco, where she becomes entrenched in the history of an enigmatic Spanish writer who died decades earlier. The more Blanca discovers about this man, the more she is enthralled by the ill-fated loves, half truths, and silent ambitions that haunted his life. With lush, imaginative prose and unforgettable characters, "The Heart Has Its Reasons "is a journey of the soul that takes readers from Spain to California, between the thorny past and all-too-real present. It is a story about the thrill of creating one's life anew.

    A 23-year old, beautiful, innocent and sweet girl with a messed up past that follows her wherever she goes. Her mother died when she was only 16 leaving her under her new abusive stepfather's care. Rose used to believe in love but after her crazy ex and abusive father came into her life things changed for the better and worst.Damon William. A 26-year old, cold-hearted, handsome, and arrogant man who is the CEO of the Blackwoods company and a billionaire. Damon doesn't believe in love due to a tragic past with his parents, however, he is a big player and won't give any women a second glance.What will happen when Rose comes running into Damon's life? Will she be able to change him and break down his walls? And will Damon help her move on from her past and make her look forward in life?

    One kiss changed everything. My name is Madison Kavanaugh and I grew up in a small, modern-day kingdom in the Mediterranean Sea. My life in Coradova was better than any fairytale -- until I fell in love with my best friend, and the one person I couldn't have. Crown Prince Alexander. Now I'm forced to fight a love I can't give into. But with every look, every touch, I fall deeper for the prince who holds my heart.Amid a political storm of intrigue and mystery, I will risk everything for Alexander. Even my life.If you like the royal aspect of Kiera Cass' The Selection and the romantic mysteries of Colleen Coble, you'll love this sweet and swoon-worthy royal romance. Pick up HEART OF MINE today, and discover the Mediterranean kingdom of love, mystery, and happily-ever-afters..._____________________________(Note: Heart of Mine is a standalone novel in The Royals of Coradova series, a collection of sweet contemporary royal romances. While you can read them in any order, it is more fun to read them in sequence.)

    After all, there must be a reason she keeps chasing after the wrong men, making toe-curling blunders at work and generally failing to keep her life on track. Egged on by her friends, she signs up for the talking cure: a year of therapy with the frosty Dr J. Along the way, she catches sight of the holy grail of true love in the shape of the gorgeous Dr McDreamy. But will Lorna find her own happy ending? With support (and not a little exasperation) from her friends and long-suffering sister, some serious setting-the-world-to-rights sessions involving too many bottles of wine, and the help of her inscrutable shrink, Lorna feels she might be getting her life together. Revealing, intimate and highly entertaining, Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is a must-read for any woman who loves the idea of being in love and worries about settling for second best.

    Written shortly after a decade of civil conflict, it is an indispensable source for understanding politics and society in nineteenth-century Chile.The hero of the story is Martin Rivas, an impoverished but ambitious youngster from the northern mining region of Chile, who is entrusted by his late father to the household of a wealthy and influential member of the Santiago elite. While living there, he falls in love with his guardian's daughter. The tale of their tortuous but ultimately successful love affair represents the author's desire for reconciliation between Chile's antagonistic regional and class interests. Indeed, many critics have interpreted Martin Rivas as a blueprint for national unity that emphasizes consensus over conflict. In addition to providing commentary about the mores of Chilean society, Blest Gana documents the enormous gap that existed between the rich and poor classes. An invaluable text for its portrayal of contemporary social, political, and class conditions, Martin Rivas illustrates the enriching influence that romanticism had on nineteenth-century Chilean literature.

    It won’t be the last. He’s now arrived in Galicia. It’s where Álvaro died. It’s where the case has already been quickly closed as a tragic accident. It’s also where Álvaro hid his secrets.The man to whom Manuel was married for fifteen years was not the unassuming man he knew.Álvaro’s trail leads Manuel deep into one of Spain’s most powerful and guarded families. Behind the walls of their forbidding estate, Manuel is nothing but an unwelcome and dangerous intruder. Then he finds two allies: a stubbornly suspicious police lieutenant and Álvaro’s old friend—and private confessor—from seminary school. Together they’re collecting the pieces of Álvaro’s past, his double life, and his mysterious death.But in the shadows of nobility and privilege, Manuel is about to unravel a web of corruption and deception that could be as fatal a trap for him as it was for the man he loved.

    Stripped of his driver’s license and feeling impotent as he nears thirty-five, he leads a dull, lonely life, chatting occasionally with the waitresses of a local restaurant or walking the streets of Cuernavaca. Once a quiet town known for its lush gardens and swimming pools, the “City of Eternal Spring” is now plagued by robberies, kidnappings, and the other myriad forms of violence bred by drug trafficking.At first, Eduardo seems unable to connect. He movingly reads the words of Dostoyevsky, Henry James, Daphne du Maurier, and more, but doesn’t truly understand them. His eccentric listeners—including two brothers, one mute, who moves his lips while the other acts as ventriloquist; deaf parents raising children they don’t know are hearing; and a beautiful, wheelchair-bound mezzo soprano—sense his detachment. Then Eduardo comes across a poem his father had copied by the Mexican poet Isabel Fraire, and it affects him as no literature has before.Through these fascinating characters, like the practical, quick-witted Celeste, who intuitively grasps poetry even though she never learned to read, Fabio Morábito shows how art can help us rediscover meaning in a corrupt, unequal society.