World History: Latin America & Central America History Books

8 MEN AND A DUCK: An Improbable Voyage in a Reed Boat to Easter Island
by Nick Thorpe. B&W photo section. Condition: NEW 2002 Free Press hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first printing. Content: When British travel writer and all-around thrill seeker Thorpe was traveling the wilds of Bolivia by bus, he passed the time by eavesdropping on a Frenchman talking to an Australian about a boat made of reeds. The conversation seemed more interesting than your average cross-cultural traveler exchange, so Thorpe listened intently as the Frenchman talked about legendary voyager Thor Heyerdahl and about continuing his legacy, about building this reed boat in Huatajata and sailing to Easter Island in it just eight men and a duck. Thorpe's enthusiasm for this insanity was such that he had to get involved. And not just as a documentarian: an original crew member dropped out, Thorpe dropped in and soon the journalist found himself making sails. The resulting narrative is witty, sad and as brave and daft as those who sail. Thorpe's British self-deprecation and eye for detail legitimize his passing comments on his fellow crew members, providing comic relief in an often claustrophobic text. A master of tension, Thorpe mingles storms, bruised egos, paranoia, food shortages, botched launchings, lamented loved ones and utterly inept seamanship into a tale of triumph against the odds. In Thorpe's hands, a travelogue becomes a comedy of errors, a farce, a Latinate epic and a picaresque tale. It's a warm, wonderful book, a story of enthusiasm superseding expertise in which Fate smiles favorably. [1 copy available]
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ALIVE: The Story of the Andes Survivors
by Piers Paul Read. B&W photo section. Maps. Condition: Very good 1975 Avon MMPB first printing. Spine crease with small edgewear. Interior clean with light tanning to page edges. Content: Time has not diminished the drama of the tale of the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains. Of the forty five people on the plane at the time of the crash, sixteen came down from the mountain about seventy days later with a saga of survival not easily forgotten. True story of courage, determination to survive, and cannibalism during their long ordeal. Read the book; see the movie. It's a story that will be with you forever.
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ALONG THE INCA ROAD; A Woman's Journey Into An Ancient Empire
by Karin Muller (Hitchhiking Vietnam). Two color photo sections. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 2000 Adventure Press (National Geographic) Trade Paperback, no printing given. The Cover does show some edge wear (shelf wear) with a diagonal "near-crease" bottom back cover corner. The interior is clean & tight. Thin binder's glue string down spine. Content: Hoping to embark on a "hero's journey," Muller makes the most of a National Geographic grant to explore the ancient Inca Highway that runs through the Andes. Explaining her intention, Muller writes that heroes "are not the strongest nor the bravest, nor even the most deserving. But they all share one trait: They are traveling into the unknown." In this spirit, Muller travels over 3,000 miles through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile for "six unscheduled months to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my wayAto spend time with farmers plowing their fields and cross the high plains with a llama caravan." Muller's enthusiasm and interest are unflagging whether in the midst of a dangerous political protest in Quito or undergoing a traditional guinea-pig healing session elsewhere in Ecuador. ("A razor blade materialized and the animal was slit from chin to tail, its skin pulled off like a glove.") While Muller admits difficulty in abiding by some cultural practices encountered - "the trouble was my own upbringing," she admits, "the only real religion in my family was science" - she proves fearless and open-hearted, loath to pass up any experience. Muller even goes out of her way to join a physically and emotionally grueling patrol to remove land mines in the Cordillera mountain range, never complaining that what was said to be a "demonstration" was actually a field of live mines. "That night I dreamt of wandering through a field of exquisite purple flowers," she writes. "I leaned down to pluck one and vaporized." Muller weaves substantial bits of South American history, geography and current events throughout the text, a fitting tribute to an extraordinary odyssey. [1 copy available]
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ARTS & CRAFTS OF SOUTH AMERICA
by Lucy Davies & Mo Fini. Color & B&W photos illustrate. Condition: NEW 1995 Chronicle Books softcover, first thus, first printing. Content: Covers ancient and modern art in South America with acurate history to accompany. "Davies and Fini, who run the TUMI Latin American Arts and Crafts Centers and reside in England, have taken on the gargantuan task of covering native arts, past and present, for all of South America in this slender volume. Simplistic and uncritical, their text is most successful when descibing contemporary artisans, traditional motifs, and techniques. Chapters investigate textiles and costumes, jewelry and metalwork, basketry, hats and bags, and pottery. Illustrations, particularly the 169 color photos, help to enliven the text, while a reference section offers advice on collecting, sources, a glossary, and a short bibliography." Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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ASSAULT ON PARADISE: Social Change in a Brazilian Village
by Conrad Phillip Kottak. B&W photos illustrate. Condition: UNREAD c. 1983 Random House Trade Paperback, revised ediiton, 5th printing. Small edgewear. Content: The text chronicles the rapid social and economic change in Arembepe, a Brazilian coastal fishing village, where the author conducted anthropological fieldwork from 1962 to the present. This revision brings his research up to date with events that have occurred in this community in the 1990's, focusing primarily on the impact of modernization, technology and mass media. While this book is, by necessity, dated to some degree, it is still fascinating reading. Questions welcome [1 copy available]
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THE BEAR AND HIS SONS: Masculinity in Spanish and Mexican Folktales
by James M. Taggart. B&W illustrations. Condition: UNREAD 1998 Univ. of Texas Press Trade paperback, no printing given. Pale shelf wear to front cover near fore edge. Interior perfect. Content: James Taggart contrasts how two men--a Spaniard and an Aztec-speaking Mexican--tell such tales as "The Bear's Son." He explores how their stories present different ways of being a man in their respective cultures. He also focuses on how fathers reproduce different forms of masculinity in their sons, showing how fathers who care for their infant sons teach them a relational masculinity based on a connected view of human relationships. Questions welcome. [1 copy left]
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THE BURIED MIRROR: Reflections on Spain and the New World
by Carlos Fuentes. Four B&W and color photo sections. Companion to the TV mini-series. Condition: UNREAD 1992 Houghton Mifflin large soft cover, first printing. Four color and B&W photo sections. Content: Fuentes has used the occasion of the quincentennial of Columbus's voyage to the New World to reflect on the Latin American experience in this tie-in to the BBC series of the same name aired on the Discovery Channel on April, 1992. The theme of his thoughtful essay is the accommodation of cultures--Spain unique in the Old World in bringing together Christians, Moors, and Jews and the New World intermingling the blood and cultures of Spaniards, Indians, and blacks. It is the unavoidable encounter with the Other that has shaped the New World experience: "When we exclude, we betray ourselves," counsels Fuentes. "When we include, we find ourselves." Spanish America's predicament is that it inherited from Spain neither institutions nor attitudes necessary for full partnership in the modern capitalist world. Latin America remains derivative in culture and economy. Every page in this lapidary essay offers profound insight into the Spanish American psyche. [1 copy available]
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THE BURNING SEASON: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest
by Andrew Revkin. B&W photo section. Condition: UNREAD 1990 Houghton Mifflin hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first printing. Content: Chico Mendes was a young man who died for what he believed in--the salvation of the Amazon rain forest and its inhabitants from the hands of the predatory ranchers who are despoiling those forests. He died in December, 1988 at the hands of those very ranchers, and left a legacy behind him, which, as well as the story of his life, is presented in this intriguing book. More than biography, this book describes the recent political and environmental issues facing Brazil and the impact of these issues on the people of the Amazon region. As such, it is a commentary on some of the crucial issues of the day, such as environmental politics, literacy, and problems of third-world countries. Written in a clear, easy-to-read style, on a subject right out of the newspaper headlines and with a heroic young man at its center. [1 copy available]
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COLONIAL LATIN AMERICA
by Mark A. Burkholder and Lyman L. Johnson. Wonderful B&W photos and era drawings. Condition: Good only, 1990 Oxford Univ. Press Trade Paperback, 5th printing. Pale vertical crease front cover with highlighting on many pages up to page 127 - and then it stops. Content: In this lively and very readable history, two eminent historians provide a concise yet comprehensive study of the Iberian colonies in the New World from the pre-conquest background through European exploration, conquest, and colonization, to the wars of independence in the early nineteenth century. This book examines the Spanish and Portuguese empires in the Americas, and analyzes demographic change, labor systems, the colonial economies, and trade, while featuring a unique study of society, family, and daily life in the region. After a special section that provides a thorough treatment of the final century of colonial rule, the authors, in a concluding chapter, discuss independence, the colonial legacy, and the myriad problems that faced the newly formed nations. Numerous photographs and maps lend immediacy to the narrative, and biographical examples of both conquerer and conquered illustrate colonial life. Written in clear and engaging prose. [1 copy available.]
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CRAZY FEBRUARY: Death and Life in the Mayan Highlands of Mexico (Historical Fiction)
by Carter Wilson. Condition: Gently pre-read c. 1977 University of California Press Trade Paperback, 5th printing. Some highlighting with light edge wear. Appears unread. Content: Reviewer: "Wilson's Crazy February is perhaps the best example of anthro-fiction that I've read, and gives a much clearer idea of life in Chiapas than most anthro nonfiction. Crazy February gives the reader an acute sense of what it is really like to live there. I'd also recommend Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga as another wonderful example." [1 copy available]
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CULTIVATING CRISIS: The Human Cost of Pesticides in Latin America
by Douglas L. Murray. B&W photos, maps, & charts illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1994 University of Texas hardcover (no DJ), first edition. Content: Since World War II, the Green Revolution has boosted agricultural production in Latin America and other parts of the Third World, with money, technical assistance, and other forms of aid from United States development agencies. But the Green Revolution came at a high price -- massive pesticide dependence that has caused serious socioeconomic and public health problems and widespread environmental damage. In this study, Douglas Murray draws on ten years of field research to tell the stories of international development strategies, pesticide problems, and agrarian change in Latin America. Interwoven with his considerations of economic and geopolitical dimensions are the human consequences for individual farmers and rural communities. This highly interdisciplinary study, integrating the perspectives of sociology, ecology, economics, political science, and public health, adds an important voice to the debate on opportunities for and obstacles to more lasting and sustainable development in the Third World. [1 copy available]
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A FAVORED PLACE: San Juan River Wetlands, Central Veracruz, A.D. 500 to the Present
by Alfred H. Siemens. B&W photos, charts, drawings, and maps illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1998 UT Press (Austin) hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), no printing given. Content: The wetlands of the San Juan Basin in Central Veracruz, Mexico, were a favored place for their ancient inhabitants. Around the fifth century A.D., Prehispanic people built an extensive network of canals and raised fields along the margins of lakes and rivers that allowed for almost year-round intensive agriculture. Alfred Siemens' discovery of the remaining traces of this ancient agricultural system in the 1970s led him to uncover fifteen centuries of land-use history in the region. This book contains a full record of his findings. Siemens' research contributes to knowledge in several fields. It adds a significant environmental dimension to our understanding of the Mesoamerican-European encounter in the sixteenth and succeeding centuries. And it offers a model of an ancient agricultural system that could still be used to aid in the subsistence of marginalized rural people in many tropical lowland areas. Amplified with original air oblique photography, maps, and tables, and enriched with data from both archaeology and colonial archives, this book is an authoritative historical geography of a wetland landscape. Or, in the author's more modest words, "In unbuttoned moments, it seems to me that what I have here is a biography of a swamp." [1 copy available]
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DRUM & CANDLE: First-Hand Experiences and Accounts of Braxilian Voodoo and Spiritism
by David St. Clair. B&W photo section plus B&W charts and drawings illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1971 Doubleday hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition stated. Problem is the DJ - edge wear with tiny nics and rubbings along the front & back spine - and, price-clipped to boot. Content: Reviewer: The first couple of pages of David. St. Clair's book read like a critical review of Brazilian religion and spirituality. He asks questions about the educational background of practitioners, about superstitions, poverty, African influences...he starts this book as a critic, not as a "believer". What follows is a man's amazing journey through various Brazilian traditions - Spiritusm, Candomble, Umbanda and Quimbanda and not to forget "spirit healing" which in Brazil is sometimes not associated with any other practice! David. St. Clair writes in a clear and honest way. He is not afraid to ask himself in the course if this book many times "is this really happening?" Whan you have finished the book, you will see that David. St. Clair's atitude towards Brazilians and Brazilian spirituality has completelly changed. He accepts it, makes use of it, embrases it and - judging from the end of the book - might even practize it! Don't scream "Ignorance" if you have not read this book but are only put off by the titel. It is excellent, entertaining, refreshing and genuine - unlike some "modern day experts" who are now writing about the subject!" Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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A GUIDE TO THE CARNIVORES OF CENTRAL AMERICA: Natural History, Ecology, & Conservation
by Carlos L. De La Rosa and Claudia C. Nocke. Wonderful B&W drawings of the animals & maps. Condition: NEW 2000 University of Texas Press Trade Papaerback, first edition, first printing. Content: Carnivores such as pumas, jaguars, and ocelots have roamed the neotropical forests of Central America for millennia. Enshrined in the myths of the ancient Maya, they still inspire awe in the region's current inhabitants, as well as in the ecotourists and researchers who come to experience Central America's diverse and increasingly endangered natural environment. This book is one of the first field guides dedicated to the carnivores of Central America. It describes the four indigenous families -- wild cats, raccoons and their relatives, skunks and their relatives, and wild canids -- and their individual species that live in the region. The authors introduce each species by recounting a first-person encounter with it, followed by concise explanations of its taxonomy, scientific name, English and Spanish common names, habitat, natural history, and conservation status. Range maps show the animal's past and current distribution, while Claudia Nocke's black-and-white drawings portray it visually. The concluding chapter looks to the carnivores' future, including threats posed by habitat destruction and other human activities, and describes some current conservation programs. Designed for citizens of and visitors to Central America, as well as specialists, this book offers an excellent introduction to a group of fascinating, threatened, and still imperfectly understood animals. Fabulous! [1 copy available]
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HISTORY AND SOCIETY IN CENTRAL AMERICA
(Interpretación del Desarrollo Social Centroamericano)
by Edelberto Torres Rivas. Translated by Douglass Sullivan-Gonzalez. B&W charts. Condition: UNREAD 1993 University of Texas Press (Latin America Series) Trade Paperback, first edition (actually a First Thus since it was first published in Chile as Interpretación del desarrollo social centroamericano). Content: The first attempt at an integrated analysis of modern Central America's socioeconomic structure, Torres Rivas's work traces the social development of Central America from independence (1871) up to the 1960s. Using a dependency framework, but not limited by it, Torres Rivas describes the various divisions of Central American society and their evolution within the liberal development model that has been so much a part of the past century of Central American economic history. The book is compelling in its explanation of the relationship between foreign and native elements in the social development of the region. Torres Rivas describes and analyzes the resulting long-term problems this development has posed for Central America. With a new chapter added for the English edition, History and Society in Central America remains vital for readers interested in the region. [2 copies available]
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THE HUMAN TRADITION IN LATIN AMERICA: The Nineteenth Century
edited by Judith Ewell and William H. Beezley. Condition: UNREAD 1989 SR Books Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: Essays and histories of movements in Latin America as well as the leaders of those movements. Questions welcome [1 copy available]
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INCAS AND OTHER MEN: Travels in the Andes
by George Woodcock. B&W maps and photo section. Condition: Good only, gently pre-read 1959 Faber & Faber (London) Trade Paperback, no printing given. Edge wear with spine & hinge crease. Interior clean & tight. Content: This is a snapshot of the Andean Inca descendants as detailed during Woodcock's trip through the Andes in the mid-1950s. Woodcock relates the cultures are they were then (and are today) weaving ancient civilizaton with the press of modern culture & technology. Fascinating. Questions welcome [1 copy available]
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INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN CENTRAL AMERICA, CHIAPAS & YUCATAN
by John L. Stephens. Intro by Michael Schmidt. B&W drawings (by the Author). Condition: This book is a mixed-condition book. UNREAD, but not perfect, c. 1988 Century Trade Paperback. Cover: edge wear with a tag removal mark bottom front near hinge (see the scan). This was an unshelved ex-library book with markings. Interior clean & tight. Content: Originally published in 1841. At two o'clock, under a brilliant moonlight, and with a single guide, we started for the Pacific. The road was level and wooded. We passed a trapiche or sugar-mill, worked by oxen, and before daylight reached the village of Masagua, four leagues distant, built in a clearing cut out of the woods, at the entrance of which we stopped under a grove of orange-trees, and by the light of the moon filled our pockets and alforgas with the shining fruit. Daylight broke upon us in a forest of gigantic trees, from seventy-five to a hundred feet high, and from twenty to twenty-five feet in circumference, with creepers winding around their trunks and hanging from the branches. The road was merely a path through the forest, formed by cutting away shrubs and branches. The freshness of the morning was delightful. -from Chapter XIII As a Special Ambassador to Central America in 1839, American diplomat and writer JOHN LLOYD STEPHENS (1805-1852) witnessed civil war, explored Mayan ruins, and even bought a city for $50. He turned his real-life adventures in the jungles and villages of that fabled land into this classic of travel literature. Originally published in two volumes in 1841-and followed up by 1843's Incidents of Travel in Yucatan (also available from Cosimo)-Stephen's enthralling exploits introduced American and European readers to the mysteries of the Maya sites. Complemented by beautiful illustrations by English artist and architect FREDERICK CATHERWOOD (1799-1854), also included in this new edition, Stephens' evocative prose reads like the best adventure fiction, and continues to delight readers today. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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JOURNAL OF A RESIDENCE AMONG THE NEGROES IN THE WEST INDIES
by Matthew Lewis. Cover painting: Slaves Fell the Ripe Sugar, Antique, 1823 by William Clark. Condition: NEW 2005 Nonsuch Trade Paperback, no printing given. . Content: This book was first published posthumously in 1834 (although the publisher states publication date as 1845). It describes the author's visits to his estate on the island in 1815-1817, after the abolition of the slave trade but before emancipation. The author himself was an opponent of slavery, although he did not campaign for its abolition, instead working to improve conditions for the 400 slaves who worked on his estate, which made him unpopular with other plantation owners. Written in an engaging and witty style, Lewis' journal provides a fascinating account of life on a Jamaican sugar plantation during the period when the abolition of slavery in the British Empire was an important political issue. Lewis was born in London in 1775. A diplomat for a brief period and later an MP, he was best-known for The Monk, a Gothic novel in the style of Ann Radcliffe, although far more sexually explicit. In 1812 he inherited the family estate in Jamaica, which he visited twice, writing this book . On his second visit he caught yellow fever and died on the way back to England in 1818 and was buried at sea. Questions welcome [1 copy available]
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JUDAS AT THE JOCKEY CLUB and Other Episodes of Porfirian Mexico
by William H. Beezley. B&W photos and drawings illustrate. Condition: NEW 1989 University of Nebraska Trade Paperback, sixth printing. Content: During the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, from 1876 to 1911, Mexico underwent modernization, producing a fierce struggle between the traditional and the new and exacerbating class antagonisms. William H. Beezley's absorbing social history of the Porfirian era, Judas at the Jockey Club, examines a broad range of topics from sports to technology as well as the traditional Easter-time Judas burnings that became a primary focus of the strife during these years. Questions welcome [1 copy available]
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MARKHAM IN PERU: The Travels of Clements R. Markham, 1852 - 1853
by Charles R. Markham. Edited by Peter Blanchard. B&W maps and illustrations from Markham's journal. Condition: NEW 1991 University of Texas Press Trade Paperback, first edition, first printing. Tiny edge wear. Content: Clements Markham had his own ideas about what his life's work should be. In 1852, Marhkam left his father's choice, the British Navy, and set out for Peru to study the ruins of the Inca empire. His ten-month sojourn in Peru produced this journal, one of the few surviving accounts of Peru at mid-nineteenth century, and launched Markham on a career that led ultimately to the presidency of the Royal Geographical Society. His journal captures Peru in transition from the colonial past to the modern ear. He was one of the first English travelers to visit Cuzco and he also witnessed the waning of slavery on the great cotton and sugar plantations as modern machinery and Chinese coolie labor were introduced. He visited with all classes of society, from the Indian peasants, who still lived much as their Inca ancestors had done, to the Spanish-descended elites, whose Europeanized lifestyle was underwritten by fortunes made in the guano industry. Fascinating! Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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MEXICAN JOURNAL: The Conquerors Conquered
by Selden Rodman. Condition: UNREAD 1968 So. Illinois University Press trade paperback, second printing. Very light tanning to white cover edges with tiny edgewear. Interior clean & tight with no tanning that I can see. Also, NO photos. Content: Part history and part travel book. Rodman traveled Mexico in the early 1950s - visiting the ancient historical sites and visiting with the leaders of the day from great artists to revolutionaries. A wonderful snapshot of this period in Mexican history. [1 copy available]
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MEXICAN REVOLUTION Genesis under Madero
by Charles C. Cumberland. B&W maps. Condition: Gently pre-read 1974 University of Texas Press Trade Paperback, second printing. Light tanning to white cover edges (but none on interior pages), highlighting first 20 pages only. Content: First puboished in 1952, Cumberland's study of the early years of the Mexican Revolution has long been recognized as a classic in its field. He traces the overthrow of the Diaz dictatorship, the role of Madero as the catalyst of the revolution, and the defeat of madero by counterrevolutionary movement.. Provocative and readable. [1 copy available]
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MEXICO: THE DAY OF THE DEAD
compiled & edited by Chloe Sayer. Designed by Julian Rothstein. B&W drawings with color art & photos. Condition: Gently pre-read 1990 Shambhala small hardcover (4.75" x 6.75", 96 pages) with its DJ missing. No edition given. Content: In Mexico, on November 2, All Souls's Day, the dead are granted celestial permission to visit friends and relatives on earth, and the entire country is given over to fiesta. For Mexicans, such rituals support their half-humorous conviction that death is a part of life. 16 pages of color illustrations. Was part of a boxed set at one time. [1 copy available]
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MYTHS AND DREAMS: Exploring the Cultural Legacies of Florida and the Caribbean
by Jay I. Kislak Foundation, Inc. B&W era photos, drawings, art Condition: NEW 2000-2002 Kislak Foundation large coft cover, no printing given. Content: Book published in association with Florida museums exhibitions. Contents: Myths & Dreams: Exploring the Cultural Legacies of Florida 7 Caribbean; When Worlds Collided: Native Peoples Caribbean & Florida Early Colonial Period; Dreams of Empire: Legacies of Contact; Passage to New Eden: Tourism in Florida; Personal REflection, Florida: Last 500 Years. Also Intro, contributors, etc. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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NORTHCOAST HONDURAS: Tropical Karma and Other Stories
by Guillermo Yuscaran. Cover Art By Rafael Molina. B&W Drawings By Author. Condition: UNREAD 1993 Nuevo Sol Trade Paperback, no edition given. Light rubbings front cover fore edge with light edgeear. Interior clean & tight. Content: While not history, this is an excellent look into Honduran life. ". . . a potent and versatile blend of drama, humor, reality and fantasy . . . exploring the depths and the fascination of Northcoast - Bay Island culture, as well as the roots of the author's "gringo" rites of passage. . ." Most of the stories here were previously printed in magazines. 8 short stories including "Half an Iguana." By the author of Blue Pariah. Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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ON THE TRAIL OF THE ARAWAKS
by Fred Olsen. Foreword by George Kubleer. Intro essay by Irving Rouse. B&W photos and drawings (of artifacts) with a color photo section. Condition: PLEASE READ / UNREAD, but not perfect, 1974 Univ. of Oklahoma Trade Paperback, stated first edition, but there is a hardcover edition. Problems: shelf wear rubbings along front hinge with light edge wear and a pale diagonal crease bottom front cover bottom corner. Interior clean & tight. Content: In 1492, Columbus set foot on a small Caribbean island called by the natives Guanahani and which he promptly renamed San Salvador. He called the people who greeted him Indians, but today we know they were Arawaks. In less than 100 years after Columbus' invasion, there was not a single Arawak left alive, victims of the white man's greed and diseases. Olsen, while on vacation in Antigua (an island Columbus never visited), discovered much about the Arawak civilization - one he determined was one of the most advanced New World civilizations, next only to the Mayas and Incas. Olsen also traces the origin of the Arawaks along the Orinoco River and ancient sites along the Pacific coast from Colombia to Ecuador and Peru. Fascinating study. Questions encouraged. [1 copy available]
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PEOPLE OF PERU (History & Linguistics)
edited by Margatethe Sparing-Chavez. Cover photo by Dan Fast. B&W and color photos by various artists. Condition: UNREAD 1999 Summer Institute of Linguistics large soft cover, first edition. Gift inscription inside front cover by one of the photographers. Content: The People of Peru is about the indigenous people groups that did not exist in the minds of most people living in Lima two to three decades ago. Yet they inhabited the land long before Columbus discovered the New World. These people live in the highlands and lowlands, in areas that, to a great extent, can only be reached on horseback or foot or by small planes or canoes. This book describes and illustrates 52 of these language groups. It will give the reader glimpses into the history, language, customs, beliefs, values, and daily activities of the indigenous people of Peru. The book begins with the Quechua language family consisting of people groups that predominantly live in the Andes mountains and have large populations, some numbering half a million speakers or more. Then it describes language family groups that live in the lowlands, beginning with the larger ones and ending with the smaller ones and those that cannot be classified as belonging to any language family, the so-called isolates. Today, 26 years after my arrival in Peru, the public, the news media, and the government have become very aware of the indigenous population of their land and most acknowledge their presence with kindness (taken from the preface). Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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POLITICAL ARMIES: The Military and Nation Building in the Age of Democracy
edited by Kees Koonings & Dirk Kruijt. Condition: NEW 2002 Zed (UK) Trade Paperback, no printing given. Small binding error bottom cpine. Content: This is a comparative examination of the politicized armed forces of Peru, Burma, Chile, Turkey, Algeria, Ethiopia, Yugoslavia, Nigeria, and Guatemala. The volume looks at the consequences of military rule for nation building and economic development, and also addresses the effects the rise of globalization on the military, as well as the role of political armies in the consolidation of civil politics and democratic governance. The contributors provide a fascinating glimpse into the future, and make interesting connections between the role of the military and politics. Questions welcome. [2 copies available]
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RACE MIXTURE IN THE HISTORY OF LATIN AMERICA
by Magnus Morner. B&W drawings (some de Poma), photos, and charts. Condition: Acceptable condition 1967 Little Brown Trade Paperback edition, 7th printing. Rubbings both front and back covers and spine, notes and underlinings. Although the condition is poor, the information is still good. Content: This is the first comprehensive and objective account of the evolution of miscegenation and accultration in Latin America. Morner draws on a wide range of source material and unravels the incredibly complex ethnic history of the continent to fill a long-standing need in literature about Latin America. [1 copy available]
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SANDINO
by Gregorio Selser. Condition: UNREAD 1980 Monthly Press Review Trade Paperback, first printing. Lilght edge wear front cover fore edge. Light tanning to white cover edges. Content: In 1927 a guerrilla war was unleashed in the jungles and mountains of Nicaragua by a rqagged and hungry group of compatriots who grew in number from 26 to 3,000 - against 6,000 well-fed, well-trained and well-equipped U.S. Marines. For seven years the invaders were held at bay. The leader of this remarkable guerrilla band was Augusto Cesar Sandino. A mechanic and miner of peasant and Indian stock, he never lost sight of his prime objective: to rid Nicaragua of the U.S. army of occupation and the bueiness interess it was protecting. This is his story. [1 copy available]
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SONS OF THE MOON: A Journey in the Andes
by Henry Shukman. B&W photo section and maps. Condition: Gently pre-read 1989 Charles Scribner's hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first printing. Light edgewear to DJ. Content: The author, a Cambridge-educated journalist, travels by himself from Argentina through Bolivia to Peru. His purpose is to seek out the ancient Aymara and others whose history and culture predated that of the Incas, who conquered them. The trip covers some of the most isolated and harshest regions on the continent--primarily the Altiplano, the plateau between the eastern and western cordilleras of the Andes. Shukman hitches rides, walks, travels in lorries, pitches his tent, and meets people. The author has a poet's eye; his vivid descriptions of the scenery, the villages, the ruins of this unvisited and largely unknown area dance across the pages. Interweaving a little history and myth along with the sights and sounds, Shukman has succeeded in producing one of the most enjoyable travel books in years. [1 copy available]
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THE SYMBOLISM OF SUBORDINATION: Indian Identity in a Guatemalan Town
by Kay B. Warren. B&W photos illustrate. Condition: Good only, 1989 University of Texas Press Trade Paperback, first printing. Problems: some pencil underlining througout and the first 40 pages seem to have been exposed to water - no stains. Content: First published, I believe, in 1978, this book hs a new introduction by the author. In the early 1950s, a pro-orthodoxy Catholic Action congregation was established in San Andres, Guatemala, in reaction to governmental fears that peasants had become radicalized during the revolutionary decade of 1944 to 1954. This book is the groundbreaking study of this bi-ethnic community, examining how the Trixano Indians (Mayans) reacted - and have reacted historically - to the domination by Ladinos (non-Indian nationals. [1 copy available]
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TALES OF THE YANOMAMI: Daily Life in the Venezuelan Forest
by Jacques Lizot. B&W photos throughout. Condition: Pre-read 1997 Canto (Cambridge Univ. Press) Trade Paperback, reprint. Several pages have underlining and margin notes. Light tanning to page edges. Front cover shows pale impressions. A good used copy. Content: The Yanomami Indians, living in the depths of the Venezuelan forest, are one of the most interesting of the world’s tribal peoples. Jacques Lizot lived among them for over fifteen years and has written an account which allows them to speak for themselves, in stories told by Yanomami individuals. The tales are revealing in the insights they provide into the Indians’ daily experience; their shamanism, magic and sorcery; and conflict and alliance with other villages. The result is a richly evocative and intimate account - illustrated with revealing photographs of the Yanomami’s own perceptions of their world - recreating in detail the atmosphere, speech, noises, smells and images of life in the Amazon forest. [1 copy available]
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TAMBO: Life in an Andean Village ('TAMBO)
by Julia Meyerson. B&W photo section. Condition: NEW 1994 University of Texas Trade Paperback, third printing. Small edgewear. Everything else is perfect. Content: From the back cover: Perhaps the best way to sharpen one's power's of observation is to be a stranger in a strange land. Julia Meyerson was one such stranger during a year in the village of 'Tambo, Peru, where her husband was conducting anthropological fieldwork. Though sometimes overwhelmed by the differences between Quechua and North American culture, she still sought eagerly to understand the lifeways of 'Tambo and to find her place in the village. Her vivid observations, recorded in this field journal, admirably follow Henry James's advice: "Try to be one of the people upon whom nothing is lost." One of the essential Andean cultures books. [1 copy available]
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TARAHUMARA OF THE SIERRA MADRE: Beer, Ecology, and Social Organization
by John G. Kennedy. B&W photo section. Condition: Very Good 1978 AHM Publishing Trade Paperback, no edition given. On the outside, this book appears unead with a light hinge crease and tiny edgewear, BUT within the first 20 pages, thre are 7 pages that have highlighting on them. The rest of the book is unread and untouched. Very odd. Overall, very good condition. Content: Among the Tarahumara Indians of Chihuahua, Mexico, are some who have steadfastly refused to subordinate themselves either to the secular or the religious authority of the national society. The price of this intransigence has been their restriction to a remote and difficult terrain high in the western Sierra Madres. This is their story. [1 copy available]
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TIME AMONG THE MAYA: Travels in Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico
by Ronald Wright. B&W drawings. Condition: Gently pre-read, if at all, 1990 Penguin Trade paperback, first printing. Light tanning to page edges with light edge wear. Content: The Maya of Central America have been called the Greeks of the New World. In the first millennium C. E. they created the most intellectually and artistically advanced civilization of the Americas, and in ensuring centuries, as neighbouring empires fell in warfare and to the Spanish Invasion, the Maya endured, shaken but never destroyed. Wright takes us along to ancient and modern sites inhabited by Mayan Indians in Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico and concludes that the Maya are not facing extinction from the onslaught of "civilization" into their areas, but, on the contrary are surviving as they always have, by grafting new ways onto an ancient base. Spanish conquistadors found cities in America which far surpassed anything in Europe--with tall buildings and an accurate calendar. While the book offers a fine overview of Mayan civilization, it is not for the faint-hearted: It is quite scholarly. Readers interested in the calendar and the Mayan time reference will find this book valuable. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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TIMES GONE BY: Memoirs of a Man of Action (Library of Latin America)
by Vincente Perez Rosales. B&W photos. Condition: NEW 2003 Oxford University Press Trade Paperback, first printing. Content: What a life this man led - to end up a civil servant in his native Chile. These memoirs trace the wild and adventurous life of Perez Rosales from his childhood up to the 1860s. During that approximately half-century he saw and did more than a dozen ordinary men. At age eleven in Argentina he witnessed the executions of Luis and Juan Jose Carrera. From there, his activities and adventures took him on several journeys on sailing vessels around Cape Horn; to Paris, where he witnessed the July revolution of 1830; to various commercial endeavors including a distillery, the practice of medicine, and cattle smuggling; into service as an advisor to an Argentine warlord; as a miner for precious metals in the north of Chile; as participant in the California Gold Rush in 1849; as director of the government's project for German immigration and settlement in the wild south of Chile; and also as Chilean consul and immigration agent in Hamburg. Around the world, Rosales lived through many of his era's watershed moments. His exciting memoirs offer a chance to relive the rush and chaos of these times--from a much safer vantage. [1 copy available]
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UNFINISHED CONVERSATIONS: Mayas and Foreigners Between Two Wars
by Paul Sullivan. B&W era photos throughout. Lovely Catherwood painting cover art. Condition: UNREAD, but not perfect, 1990 Borzoi hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, no printing given. DJ has edgewear top back edge at flap. Interior perfect. Tanning to white flap edges. Content: This book is a mixture of the ancient and the modern. Reviewer: "This book succeeds on many levels. It is a travelogue, a history, a social study, and a prophesy. It follows the relationship of the great Mayanist, Sylvanius Morley, with the Maya of Quintana Roo. Showing both the political and personal motivations of both parties the work unfolds like a beautiful flower. It raises question both cosmological and profane. From the Mayan conception of the "end of days" to American and European political intervention in Latin American affairs this work is crucial to understanding how the Mayan maids, bartenders, taxi-drivers, et al, view us gingos as we run roughshod over the indigenous culture in places like Cancun. A bell-weather for cultural awareness and understanding." [1 copy available]
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A VISIT TO THE RANQUEL INDIANS ((Una excursion a los indios ranqueles)
by Lucio V. Mansilla. Translated by Eva Gillies. B&W photos, drawings illustrate. Condition: NEW 1997 University of Nebraska Press Trade Paperback, first printing. Small, pale remainder mark. Content: Cultured scion of a famous family and nephew of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas, Lucio V. Mansilla (1831-1913) undertook an "excursion" to the Argentine interior in 1870 to visit natives in areas then largely unknown. In a series of letters, Mansilla recorded invaluable ethnographic observations and perspectives on the "Indian question" and the dichotomy of civilization and barbarism. [Interesting look at the South American solutions to the "Indian Problem." Not much different than ours - unfortunately.) [1 copy available]
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THE VOYAGE OF THE VIZCAINA: The Mystery of Christopher Columbus's Last Ship
by Klaus Brinkbaumer and Clemens Hoges. Translated from the German by Annette Streck. Condition: NEW 2006 Harcourt hard cover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first US edition, first printing. Content: After his discovery of the New World, Columbus embarked on at least two more journeys to the Americas, the last of which remains shrouded in mystery. In the mid-1990s, divers discovered the wreck of a large ship just off the coast of Panama, fueling rumors that this might be the remains of one of the ships from Columbus's final voyage. Brinkbäumer and Höges, journalists at Der Spiegel and amateur divers, traveled to Nombre de Dios, about 15 miles from Portobelo, where the ship went down, to report on this groundbreaking discovery and the politics surrounding it. Part archeological account, part biography, part adventure story and part cultural history, this lively and judicious account of the political intrigues and the excitement surrounding the discovery of the ship's remains offers fascinating reading. Brinkbäumer and Höges vividly recreate Columbus's unsuccessful final voyages. Taking four ships, Columbus returned to the New World in search of more riches. Although he reached the Americas, his ships - victims of shipworms eating through the wood of the hulls - began to sink one by one. Columbus reported abandoning the Vizcaína near Portobelo. This is a cracking good tale of exploration, discovery and the politics that surround any archeological discovery. Reviewer: "This is a truly exciting read. Although the title and subtitle both suggest that the book is mainly about the Vizcaina, in fact, only about 20% of it contains discussions that directly pertain to that ship; most of these discussions deal with efforts towards determining whether the wreck that was found in the Bay of Playa Damas (Panama) is indeed the Vizcaina. Naturally, when something of such historical importance is found, some form of politics must step in to play its important frustrating role of slowing down, with utmost efficiency, any exciting archaeological progress; this case is no exception. However, the main bulk of the book is about Christopher Columbus: his life, his travels and his adventures. Also presented are fascinating outlines of current disputes as to his true origins as well as where his bones are currently located. Published in 2006, this is an English translation of a book that was originally published in German in 2004. Although the original German title seems to be more appropriate than the current English one, the translation is well done in the sense that the writing is so clear and engaging that the book is very difficult to put down. It will likely be indispensable reading for most history buffs, but it can be enjoyed by anyone. " [2 copies available]
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WATUNNA: An Orinoco Creation Cycle
by Marc de Civrieux. Edited & translated by David M. Guss. B&W maps and photo section illustrate. Condition: UNREAD 1990 North Point Press Trade Paperback, no printing given. Content: Originally published in Spanish in 1970, Watunna is the epic history and creation stories of the Makiritare, or Yekuana, people living along the northern bank of the Upper Orinoco River of Venezuela, a region of mountains and virgin forest virtually unexplored even to the present. The first English edition of this book was published in 1980 to rave reviews. This edition contains a new foreword by David Guss, as well as Mediata, a detailed myth that recounts the origins of shamanism. Fascinating! Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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THE WHITE ROCK: An Exploratin of the Inca Heartland
by Hugh Thomson. B&W photo section, several detailed B&W maps, and the end pages are decorated with a map of the Inca Empire. Condition: NEW 2003 Overlook hardcover & DJ (in mylar jacket), first edition, first printing. Remainder. Content: Part travelog, part history lesson, this narrative by documentary filmmaker Thomson (Out of India, Great Journeys: Mexico) recounts a successful expedition he led in 1982 to "refind" Llactapata, the "lost city of the Incas," and to explore other Inca sites spanning three countries. Among pages of encounters with flora, fauna, and fermented beverages, Thomson provides a good dose of Peruvian history: the Inca emperors come off as heroic defenders of the land, but we also learn that they had built their empire by subjugating other tribes, exploiting forced labor and other spoils of war. When the Spanish came, some of these conquered tribes were only too glad to help. Thomson returns in 1999 (after the Shining Path guerrilla group is gone) to visit Vilcabamba, the "last city of the Incas," where the final Inca emperor retreated before turning himself over to the Spanish Viceroy. Thomson is an impressive adventurer and an equally skilled writer. Questions welcome. [1 copy available]
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