Book Description
Ecuador is the third-largest foreign supplier of crude oil to the western United States. As the source of this oil, the Ecuadorian Amazon has borne the far-reaching social and environmental consequences of a growing U.S. demand for petroleum and the dynamics of economic globalization it necessitates. Crude Chronicles traces the emergence during the 1990s of a highly organized indigenous movement and its struggles against a U.S. oil company and Ecuadorian neoliberal policies. Against the backdrop of mounting government attempts to privatize and liberalize the national economy, Suzana Sawyer shows how neoliberal reforms in Ecuador led to a crisis of governance, accountability, and representation that spurred one of twentieth-century Latin America’s strongest indigenous movements.
Through her rich ethnography of indigenous marches, demonstrations, occupations, and negotiations, Sawyer tracks the growing sophistication of indigenous politics as Indians subverted, re-deployed, and, at times, capitulated to the dictates and desires of a transnational neoliberal logic. At the same time, she follows the multiple maneuvers and discourses that the multinational corporation and the Ecuadorian state used to circumscribe and contain indigenous opposition. Ultimately, Sawyer reveals that indigenous struggles over land and oil operations in Ecuador were as much about reconfiguring national and transnational inequalityâthat is, rupturing the silence around racial injustice, exacting spaces of accountability, and rewriting narratives of national belongingâas they were about the material use and extraction of rain-forest resources.
Customer Reviews:
Globalization on the ground in Amazonia.......2007-05-31
This is one of the best books on indigenous politics that has been written. The author's 20 years of experience in the Ecuadoran Amazonia show in the depth of her narrative and in her careful and accessible use of Foucault to draw out the complexities of indigenous identity, conceptions of nation and nationalism, and the impact of global forces. It is also beautifully written. Clearly, a labor of love and conviction by a scholar who has spent hours listening to indigenous activists , oil company officials, state officials, NGO workers, academics, and, most importantly native Ecuadorans of widely diverse political views and fashioned a wonderful book. If you are interested in all the complex political issues surrounding globalization as seen from the Amazon, you don't need a Ph.D to find this a great read
Book Description
Con su habitual lucidez, Oppenheimer analiza la realidad actual y de los próximos años en América Latina, a la luz del ejemplo de los llamados países emergentes de los últimos años: China, Irlanda, Polonia, República Checa, entre otros. El autor busca descubrir quién presenta un panorama realista de los próximos veinte años y quién está contando “cuentos chinos”. Por un lado, los informes de la CNI (centro de estudios de la CIA a largo plazo) y de un alemán del Parlamento Europeo experto en A. Latina (Linkohr) que pintan un panorama desolador para la región; por el otro, los discursos optimistas de los gobernantes de estos países (Chávez, Fox, Kirchner) y de instituciones como la CEPAL. Para ello, recorre los países emergentes durante tres años y entrevista a los actores más relevantes del futuro latinoamericano (desde Rumsfeld y Roger Noriega hasta Evo Morales pasando por Fernando Henrique Cardoso y los presidentes de México, Argentina, Perú, Colombia, Venezuela y Chile, además de gente común, como ascensoristas chinos o taxistas polacos). Sus conclusiones son reveladoras, ya que si bien los informes antes mencionados resultan acertados como diagnósticos del presente, el autor se muestra asombrado por la rapidez con que ciertos países de características previas muy similares a las nuestras pudieron pasar de la pobreza y la desesperanza a la riqueza y el dinamismo. Es, definitivamente, un libro para desactivar prejuicios.
Customer Reviews:
Impactante Realidad.......2007-09-24
Muy pocos libros me han presentado una vision tan real de la situacion Latinoameriaca como lo logra Oppenheimer en este libro. Soy de Costa Rica y estamos a 2 semanas de el primer referendum de la historia del pais el cual definira su futuro con CAFTA-DR. Que manera de presentarme la impactante realidad en la que vivimos los Latinoamericanos. Es triste lo retrogodos y cerrados que son algunos gobernantes que aplauden cosas absurdas como que Venezuela celebre por cerrar sus McDonalds y al mismo tiempo China festeja porque va abrir cientos de estos alrededor de todo el pais. China se pone de rodillas por mas inversion extranjera y en comparacion, algunas influencias politicas las espantan por estos lados del mundo. El comercio y la apertura hacia la globalizacion no son opciones, son la unica alternativa.
La competitividad es la salida.......2007-09-11
Excelente libro! La sociedad latinoamerciana ha preferido seguir los líderes populistas que le ofrecen una vida "fácil". Bajo esta doctrina, los gobiernos ayudan a la gente mientras siga siendo pobre. No hay planes económicos concretos y cuando los llega a haber, cambian los gobiernos y a volver a empezar! Aquellos que llaman el libro neoliberal no se dan cuenta que la propuesta de Oppenheimer aplica a todos los modelos políticos, siempre y cuando la economía se enfoque en la competitividad. Ha entrevistado a muchos de los actores principales del desarrollo económico mundial. Muy buen trabajo de investigación y opinión.
Espectacular, lo mejor desde la hora final de castro........2007-06-15
El libro es espectacular, lo he leido un par de veces. Tambien he leido todos los libros de este autor y creo que es lo mejor que ha sacado desde la hora final de Castro. Explica bien como cuatro paises, china, polonia, irlanda y republica checa han salido del atraso en poco tiempo, cada uno con sus propios modelos, cada modelo con sus encantos y sufrimientos. Tambien le dedica buenos capitulos a todos los paises hoy en dia gobernados por izquierdas en America Latina. Es un libro muy bien escrito, por alquien realmente conocerdor del tema. No es dificil de leer, se lo recomiendo a todo el mundo.
Muy buen libro.......2007-06-04
si bien no lo he terminado me parece un libro que todos los latinoamericanos deberian leer. Escrito de una manera sencilla sin vueltas, directa, con humor y dejando un claro mensaje, hay que despertar!!.
Verdadero abridor de ojos.......2007-05-28
A mi parecer el autor de una forma escueta, precisa y totalmente desnuda de prejuicios muestra un análisis simple de la realidad político económica del mundo moderno con estadísticas fácilmente palpables. Creo que es un texto educativo que debería ser leído por los cuadros políticos mas jóvenes de nuestros países, les ayudaría a entender que las doctrinas, teorías, pensamientos, o cualquier otro compromiso intelectual son preconcebidos y no merecen nuestra imparcialidad.
Recomiendo este libro no solo como texto educativo, es ademas ameno y disfrutable, cargado de humor.
Book Description
Sixteenth-century Spanish soldiers described Peru as a land filled with gold and silver, a place of untold wealth. 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 âLost City of the Incas,â 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 âwhite goldâ 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 heardâpeasants, 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.
Customer Reviews:
A must read for the history of Peru.......2007-10-03
This is a great book for the history of Peru. The chronological order is perfect. All the essays are wonderful to read. I think I learned more about Peru with this book than any other.
The Peru Reader: Start Early!.......2007-01-09
What a wonderfully literate collection of writings which give the traveler (actual or armchair) both the information and flavor he needs to introduce him to this complex country. I started too close to my departure for Peru to read every word, but found myself unable to decide what to skip. What seemed a boring topic turned out to be fascinating! So, start early -- the book is pretty bulky to carry on your trip.
The Peru Reader: The best Peru travelers companion.......2006-06-29
I took this book to Peru on a trip to see the great archeological sites. I was blown awqy by the information I got from this book. Not only was I informed on so many topics but introduced to several brilliant Peruvian authors. The book was so strong I wept deeply over the history of the native peoples, I was amazed at the strength to survive under the most difficult political and cultural situations. The book was so well written that all the history and politics, not my usual reading, soaked in painlesssly, actually joyfully. I wish there were such a great book to take on every trip I go on, it enhanced my trip a million times over.
Hefty, in-depth anthology .......2004-12-19
Perhaps this book's overwhelming for a newcomer. But, if you have a basic knowledge of Peru already, this over 500-page collection of stories, chapters from academic books, poems, folktales, political reportage, popular journalism and interviews, and historical and anthropological coverage satisfies the need in English for a comprehensive starter for further research and reading on many topics.
Organised into chronological order, sections progress from pre-Inca, Inca, Conquest, Post-Conquest, Colonial and Republican periods into the 19c. These intersperse scholarly investigations with narratives. Then, politics, the Shining Path, the drug wars, the urban squatters turning land into new communities, activists among the feminist, evangelical, and gay communities, liberation theology and local leadership, and life among both villages and in Lima add chapters that comprise about half of the total text.
Most rewarding for me were the chronicles by the Incas after the Conquest, John Hemming's chapter on Atahualpa and Pizarro, folktales bookending the text from early and Amazon peoples, Steve J. Stern's analysis of post-Conquest creolisation and its discontents, Manuel Cordova's tale of life a century ago after he was abducted by Amazon indians, and the fascinating account by Catherine J. Allen from her The Hold Life Has all about coca-leaf ritual bonding. Anyone who associates coca only with cola or crack might learn a lot from this anthropological description of how chemicals sustain fellowship, and also force gatherings to acknowledge etiquette and social class distinctions--even under the influence!
The literary offerings, poems, novel excerpts, and stories, are less intriguing, but worthwhile. I sense some of these--as with the Vargas Llosa chapter from his novel Conversations in the Cathedral--were a bit wrenched out of a more rewarding context.
I wish the past ten years, the downfall of Fujimori and the attempt by Toledo to stabilise a tottering state, could have been included in an updated edition, which could also look at the fate of Guzmán and his Shining Path cohorts. Life in the diaspora--a million Peruvians live abroad--would also be enlightening. But, until these hypothetical additions, this is a promising book for anyone curious about Perú. As the back jacket asserts, there's nothing like this in English--or Spanish.
Also recommended: Robin Kirk's The Monkey's Paw for 1980s/early 90s Peru; Gustavo Gorriti's history, translated by Kirk, on the Shining Path, and Vargas Llosa's memoir of running for president, Fish Out of Water; his novelisation of Guzman, The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta; his mystery novel also set in this period, Death in the Andes.
This is a great book if you are intrested in Peru.......1998-10-24
This book tells about it all from all sorts of people from the conquiers to the Indeans plus the shing path and the Presedint
Book Description
This new and thoroughly revised edition of Nicaragua details the country's unique history, culture, social reality, economics, foreign relations, and politics. Its historical coverage considers Nicaragua from before independence as well as during the nationalist liberal era, the US marine occupation, the Somoza dictatorship, the Sandinista regime, and the conservative restoration following 1990. The Fourth Edition documents how the more enduring reality of this Central American country may not be the Sandinista Revolution but the historical and ongoing interventions by which the United States - the "eagle" to the north - continues to shape Nicaraguan political, economic, and social life. The new edition also includes a fully updated annotated bibliography. Praise for the third edition:
Customer Reviews:
Accessible, well written overview of Nicaragua's history and failed attempts to free itself from U.S. imperialism .......2006-08-01
The leader of the U.S. trained and equipped National Guard Anastasio Somoza Garcia seized power in Nicaragua in 1936. He was an S.O.B., but he was our S.O.B. as Franklin Roosevelt immortally said privately in 1939 when Somoza visited him in Washington D.C. Somoza wanted the National Guard officers and enlisted men to enrich themselves in mafia-style rackets such as prostitution, according to Walker, so they would be dependent on him for their self-enrichment and would thus constitute a force immune from popular discontent. Somoza Garcia's son Luis succeeded him after his assassination in 1956. Luis set up a lot of bureaucracies supposedly devoted to social services and economic planning, but these were in reality mainly used as a vehicle to funnel U.S. aid money to the Somoza family and its cronies. Walker cites the particularly blatant case of how the government used U.S. aid money after an earthquake in December 1972 completely destroyed Managua.
Anastasio Somoza Debayle Jr. took over as president from his brother in 1967. Anastasio Jr. reinstated a "state of siege" and sent the National Guard into the Countryside, where the (FSLN) Sandinistas were involved in stimulating peasant activism, after a December 1974 successful hostage taking operation by the Sandinistas. The Guard proceeded to rape and kill and pillage thousands. Many American Catholic clerical and lay workers witnessed these actions and the U.S. congress was moved to hold hearings.
In 1977, President Carter suspended military aid to Somoza in order to force him to relax somewhat his censorship of the press, thinking that the U.S. could afford for Somoza to do so without the status quo in Nicaragua being disrupted. However, in early 1978, after increasing massacres of civilians in the tens of thousands by the National Guard Carter resumed economic and military aid to Somoza. The uprising had begun in early 1978 after the assassination of newspaper editor Pedro Joaquin Chamarro. The Carter administration, in conjunction with the Organization of American States, eventually tried to enforce its policy of "Somocismo sin Somoza"....
Walker describes how the Carter administration refused to send arms to the Sandinistas and looked the other way as the military oligarchy in Honduras allowed remnants of the National Guard, helped by trainers from the Argentine neonazi military regime, to organize the force which would become the Contras. ....
The Reaganites refused to sell arms to the Sandinistas, cut off all aid, and successfully pressured the French to end an arms deal with the Sandinistas in 1981. Increasingly, the Sandinistas were forced to rely on Soviet block arms. Walker notes that the rifles, AK-47's and tanks that the Nicaraguans received from the Soviet block were small in number and often old and decrepit. Clearly the Sandinistas were seeking military aid from the Soviet Block because the Reaganites had launched a full scale proxy terrorist war against them. The Contras deliberately attacked civilian infrastructure and murdered teachers, doctors and engineers. The attacks on oil storage and port facilities by the Contras in 1983 and 84' caused Venezuela and Mexico to suspend oil shipments--Nicaragua was then forced to turn to the Soviet block for its petroleum needs. The FSLN managed to maintain fairly extensive economic and political relations with Western Europe and capitalist countries in the third world but the U.S. media preferred to ignore this.
In the early 80's, Walker notes the Sandinistas achieved some remarkable successes. Nicaragua's infant mortality rate was reduced from 121 per 1000 in 1978 to 90 per 1000 in 1983. The Kissinger Commission report of 1984 blamed the Sandinistas because it said that Nicaragua's GDP was reduced by 38 percent from 1977 to 1983. This was deceptive, Walker notes, because that statistic had in it the last two and a half years of the rule of Somoza when the country was largely destroyed. In the years 1980-83, Walker notes, the Nicaraguan economy actually grew by an average of 7 percent, while the rest of Central America's economies declined by 14 percent.
In spite of some mild repression (not comparable to U.S. backed terror in Guatemala and El Salvador) in response to the country being under U.S. backed terrorist attack, reactionary newspapers like La Prensa were allowed to violently attack the government and receive funding from the CIA. The CIA instigated protests by the Nicaraguan opposition which attempted to provoke the Sandinistas into repressive actions, Walker quotes House Speaker Jim Wright revealing in January 1988. Meanwhile, in U.S. client states Guatemala and El Salvador newspaper offices were being blown up by the military backed death squads, and newspaper editors were left disemboweled by the side of the road. In 1984, the Sandinistas had an election which was judged free and fair by a wide variety observer delegations, including from the British parliament and House of Lords, Danish and Irish Parliaments, etc. Disruption of opposition rallies by Sandinista "turbas" only occurred about 5 times out of 250 instances according to election analysts. Walker quotes a statistic to the effect that 46 of the 48 top Contra officers had been officers in Somoza's National Guard--I think he got this from Edgar Chamarro, the former Contra spokesman.
The U.S. escalated its economic strangulation and terror attacks on Nicaragua and the latter was eventually forced to devote the majority of its budget to defense. In 1990, the Sandinistas held an election, as the 1987 constitution had mandated them to do and the Nicaraguan electorate, under the threat of continued U.S. funding of Contra terrorists if the Sandinistas won, voted in the UNO. The U.S. had achieved its goal of restoring the old Somoza era social order within Nicaragua. Walker gives an extensive discussion of the post-1990 social order. Nicaragua ranked 61st on the UN Human Development Index in 1990; it ranked 116th by 2000.
Walker gives an instructive look at how the miserable rural proletariat of Nicaragua was created by the late 19th century.
Book Description
Bordering all but two of South America’s other nations and by far Latin America’s largest country, Brazil differs linguistically, historically, and culturally from Spanish America. Its indigenous peoples share the country with descendants of Portuguese conquerors and the Africans they imported to work as slaves, along with more recent immigrants from southern Europe, Japan, the Middle East, and elsewhere. Capturing the scope of this country’s rich diversity and distinction as no other book has doneâwith over a hundred entries from a wealth of perspectivesâThe Brazil Reader offers a fascinating guide to Brazilian life, culture, and history.
Complementing traditional views with fresh ones, The Brazil Reader’s
historical selections range from early colonization to the present day, with sections on imperial and republican Brazil, the days of slavery, the Vargas years, and the more recent return to democracy. They include letters, photographs, interviews, legal documents, visual art, music, poetry, fiction, reminiscences, and scholarly analyses. They also include observations by ordinary residents, both urban and rural, as well as foreign visitors and experts on Brazil. Probing beneath the surface of Brazilian realityâpast and presentâThe Reader looks at social behavior, women’s lives, architecture, literature, sexuality, popular culture, and strategies for coping with the travails of life in a country where the affluent live in walled compounds to separate themselves from the millions of Brazilians hard-pressed to find food and shelter. Contributing to a full geographic accountâfrom the Amazon to the Northeast and the Central-Southâof this country’s singular multiplicity, many pieces have been written expressly for this volume or were translated for it, having never previously been published in English.
This second book in The Latin America Readers series will interest students, specialists, travelers for both business and leisure, and those desiring an in-depth introduction to Brazilian life and culture.
Customer Reviews:
Primary Sources.......2007-01-06
An excellent collection of primary sources from Brazilian history. It strangely skips entire decades and periods which is its only shortcoming.
The Brazil Reader.......2006-02-12
I'm a capoeira instructor living in the United States. I wish all of my students would read this collection. It's a great introduction to the history, culture, and politics of Brazil. So much of life in Brazil is so different from life in the United States. So much of that difference is because of the history of each country.
This book starts at the beginning with discovery and the start of the slave trade. It continues through to modern history and politics of the country.
This book is money and time well spent.
Learn more at http://www.capsprings.com.
Short Pieces for Fun Reading.......2002-10-22
From exerpts of historical claims to letters from diplomats, from essays on slavery to descriptions of food, this book gives insights on the spirit and history of Brazil in easy to read snippets. A picture of a people emerges from original sources and non-academic evaluations that adds debth to what you will see when you go there.
I wish this book was in Portuguese.......2000-07-05
I brought this book in Los Angeles on the way back from a trip to Disney with my children. I finished it almost when I arrived home. The book has great insight and should be read by Brazilians, because it presents things as they are, not as they are supposed to be. Maybe the book will be públished in Brazil some day. I hope so.
A Unique Perspective, Generally Interesting.......2000-05-11
This book is a collection of short essays on Brazil. I found at least half to be quite interesting, though I probably skimmed about a quarter of them. Many of the essays frequently give a first hand account of life as a small farmer, favela resident or fisherman in Brazil. These essays capture and explain to the English reader the hopes, values and experiences of actual Brazilians. Most English readers gain their understanding of Brazil only second hand through academics or journalists. This book offers a fresh, reality based perspective on Brazil for English readers who haven't learned about Brazil outside of academia, the New York Times, or the beaches of Rio.
Average customer rating:
|
Indigenous Mestizos: The Politics of Race and Culture in Cuzco, Peru, 1919-1991 (Latin America Otherwise)
Marisol de la Cadena , and
Marisol de la Cadena
Manufacturer: Duke University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Peru
| South America
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| South America
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| 20th Century
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
America
| Race Relations
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Race Relations
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Cultural
| Anthropology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Anthropology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Discrimination & Racism
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Ethnic Studies
| Special Groups
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Trials of Nation Making: Liberalism, Race, and Ethnicity in the Andes, 18101910
-
The Idea of Race in Latin America: 1870-1940 (ILAS Critical Reflections on Latin America Series)
-
Muddied Waters: Race, Region, and Local History in Colombia, 1846-1948 (Latin America Otherwise)
-
To Die in this Way: Nicaraguan Indians and the Myth of Mestizaje, 1880-1965 (Latin America Otherwise)
-
From Subjects to Citizens: Honor, Gender, and Politics in Arequipa, Peru, 1780-1854
ASIN: 0822323850 |
Book Description
In the early twentieth century, Peruvian intellectuals, unlike their European counterparts, rejected biological categories of race as a basis for discrimination. But this did not eliminate social hierarchies; instead, it redefined racial categories as cultural differences, such as differences in education or manners. In Indigenous Mestizos Marisol de la Cadena traces the history of the notion of race from this turn-of-the-century definition to a hegemony of racism in Peru.
De la Cadena’s ethnographically and historically rich study examines how indigenous citizens of the city of Cuzco have been conceived by others as well as how they have viewed themselves and places these conceptions within the struggle for political identity and representation. Demonstrating that the terms Indian and mestizo are complex, ambivalent, and influenced by social, legal, and political changes, she provides close readings of everyday concepts such as marketplace identity, religious ritual, grassroots dance, and popular culture, as well as of such common terms as respect, decency, and education. She shows how Indian has come to mean an indigenous person without economic and educational meansâone who is illiterate, impoverished, and rural. Mestizo, on the other hand, has come to refer to an urban, usually literate, and economically successful person claiming indigenous heritage and participating in indigenous cultural practices. De la Cadena argues that this version of de-Indianizationâwhich, rather than assimilation, is a complex political negotiation for a dignified identityâdoes not cancel the economic and political equalities of racism in Peru, although it has made room for some people to reclaim a decolonized Andean cultural heritage.
This highly original synthesis of diverse theoretical arguments brought to bear on a series of case studies will be of interest to scholars of cultural anthropology, postcolonialism, race and ethnicity, gender studies, and history, in addition to Latin Americanists.
Book Description
The Andean region is among the most fascinating and well-known centers of civilization. While understanding the Andes in local terms is crucial, Andean prehistory is also relevant to the comparative study of complex societies worldwide. This book addresses the need to explore the rich history of this region in a manner that is illuminating not only to Andean scholars, but also to those readers who may be less familiar with Andean prehistory and its non-Western principles of organization. Andean Archaeology has been designed explicitly for students, archaeologists, and general readers looking for an innovative and contemporary overview of this important area of archaeological study.Andean Archaeology explores the rise of civilization in the Central Andes from the time of the region's earliest inhabitants to the emergence of the Inca state many thousands of years later. The volume progresses chronologically and culturally to reveal the processes by which multiple Andean societies became increasingly complex. Comprising thirteen newly commissioned chapters written by leading archaeologists, Andean Archaeology presents the central debates in contemporary Inca and Andean archaeology. By drawing together the work of various researchers, this volume provides a multi-vocal perspective, informed by diverse theoretical frameworks and representing current thinking in the field.
Book Description
As journalist Sam Quinones convincingly demonstrates, much of Mexico was already changing before the July 2000 presidential elections which ousted the PRI and presented the world with President-elect Vincente Fox. Fox's victory marked the triumph of another Mexico, a vital, energetic, and creative Mexico tracked by Quinones for over six years.
"This side of Mexico gets very little press. . . . yet it is the best of the country. . . . people who have the spunk to imagine something else and instinctively flee the enfeebling embrace of PRI paternalism. . . . newly realistic telenovellas show the gray government censor that the country is too lively to abide his boss's dictates. . . . Some twelve million Mexicans reside year-round in the United States. . . . [so] the United States is now part of the Mexican reality and is where this other side of Mexico is often found, reinventing itself."--from the introduction.
Quinones merges keen observation with astute interviews and storytelling in his search for an authentic modern Mexico. He finds it in part in emigrants, people who use wits and imagination to strike out on their own. In poignant stories from north of the border--about Oaxacan basketball leagues in southern California and the late singing legend Chalino Sánchez whose songs of drug smugglers spurred the popularity of the narcocorrido--Quinones shows how another Mexico is reinventing itself in America today. But most of his stories are from deep inside Mexico itself. There a dynamic sector exists. It is made up of those who instinctively shunned the enfeebling embrace of the PRI's paternalism, including scrappy entrepreneurs such as the Popsicle Kings of Tocumbo and Indian migrant farmworkers who found a future in the desert of Baja California. Here, too, are true tales from ignored margins of society, including accounts of drag queens and lynchings. From the fringes of the country, Quinones suggests, emerge some of the most telling and central truths about modern Mexico and how it is changing.
"This book expands our knowledge of modern Mexico many times over. Quinones unearths a wealth of material that has in fact gone unnoticed or been hidden."--Professor Francisco Lomelí, University of California, Santa Barbara
Customer Reviews:
Not the tourist destination, not the paradise for expats.......2007-06-04
Another reviewer pointed out that Quinones' accounts are "researched", and this is true; he's done what he needed to do to find his facts. But I would add that the overwhelming note, for me, is that the man has "been there". I heard about "True Tales" from a reviewer of Elijah Wald's "Narcocorrido", and would now agree with that reviewer that the Quinones piece on Chalino Sanchez tells us a lot more about his world than Wald's book, valuable but a bit touristy, a bit arch, and a bit academic. There is an immediacy in these chapters by Quinones, of grittiness, suffering, delusion, terror, helplessness, of all the qualities of the many Mexicans Quinones met and listened to. His description of the lynching is the most direct, realistic and frightening I've ever read; this can happen anywhere, anytime. These stories are unadorned realities of Mexico and the Border, and the entire world as well.
As Edward Abbey said, of the same country, "this is the real world, muchachos, and you are in it."
Leadership in plural in Mexico........2005-08-26
It is clear from the book there is more than one Mexico. It's not what you think. The border is a focus but hardly all. Gangs are a focus. The book raises a major question. Is Mexico changing and how?Quinones presents many portraits from gangbanger singer Chalino Sanchez to the dead women of Juarez. Each sketch adds a different and fascinating dimension to a complex perception of what Mexico is. No other book presents that plurality as well. The book is a page turner, a fast paced quick read. It is not, however, superficial but in-depth coverage. It is fascinating.
Give us more!.......2004-09-01
This book will blow your mind. Quinones is able to totally take you into worlds rarely heard about before. Who knew there was a thriving basketball hotbed in Oaxaca that has been transported to LA? The whole genre of narcocorridos (basically, traditional Mexican "country" [ranchero] music with a gangsta slant) started in LA, too.
The topics of lynchings in rural Mexico, the popularity of telenovelas at home and in Eastern Europe(?) and the religious cult at Neuva Jerusalen are all so fascinating and far beyond anything anyone has probably imagined Mexico to be.
He has an inate ability to dig up and find the most fascinating stories in the most out-of-the-way places yet also show how they often are a microcosmic reflection of how Mexican society operates in general.
The question is: When is Sam Quinones going to compile a Tales 2?
Chalino is the bomb!!!.......2003-10-09
IN MANY OF THE STATEMENTS THAT I READ I SEEN THAT MANY SAID A LOT ABOUT THE WRITTER WELL WE ALL HAVE MANY OPINIONS I PERSONALLY HAVE MY OWN OPINION I THINK IS ONE MY GREAT BOOKS THAT I HAVE TO READ IN MY FREE TIME LIKE SCHOOL OR JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE BUT JUST WANTED TO ADD THAT I LOVE CHALINO AS THE PERSON HE WAS A WHILE BACK WITH HIS MUSIC I ADMIRE HIM AS A FATHER AND I AM IN LOVE WITH HIS SON 4-SHO!!!
A must read........2002-02-07
This book is fantastic. I don't often actually buy non-fiction because I usually don't plan to re-read it. This is a rare exception. Quinones is 1st & foremost a great storyteller. You'd hardly notice that it's all true if it weren't for the fact that these tales are simply too good to be fiction. Quinones has a knack for noticing the seemingly invisible. The best example being the tale of Chalino Sanchez (who graces the cover). How could someone who completely misses the U.S. radar of popular culture become a folk hero and single-handedly create a musical genre selling millions of copies of albums in the process & then having at least 1,500 songs written about him? Quinones manages to make it sound perfectly believable. If you're anything like me you'll be mesmerized by these essays.
Book Description
The Maya Atlas was made by the forty-two Ke'kchi and Mopan Maya communities of southern Belize. The maps, text, drawings, photographs and interviews were done by Maya village researchers and cartographers elected by the communities. In their own words and with their own maps, the Maya describe their land and life, the threats to their culture and rain forest, and their desire to protect and manage their own Homeland. The Atlas is an important step in developing a Maya Homeland. The Maya researchers and cartographers made the Atlas so that their communities, young people and leaders would have a comprehensive, village-by-village, regional understanding of the state of Maya natural and human resources and their traditions of living in harmony with nature - what is being lost, and what needs to be preserved and developed. The Atlas is a window to both the ancient and modern Maya world. The Atlas will appeal to people interested in indigenous rights, environmental issues, Latin America, arts, ethnography, traditional knowledge, community-based conservation, and the New Cartography, which involves cartographers assisting local communities to map their own lands and land use.
Customer Reviews:
The Modern Mays--an Oral History of Belize.......2007-08-31
This is visually a beautiful book and obviously a labor of love for all parties involved. Since the book has such impeccable scholarly ties to U C Berkley, the National Geographic Society, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Lannan Foundation, however, I would like to have seen a disclaimer. The Maya of southern Belize are not historians. Like other people who hand down stories because they have no written language (or in the case of the Maya, have forgotten it), the "facts" depend on the memory of the person telling the story. About half of the book describes each Maya village in southern Belize, and some of the descriptions are simply inaccurate. The village of Santa Elena, for example, was not founded by Enriques, Martin, and Marto Choc; these men (except Marto) were middle-aged when I lived in Santa Elena, and they told me that Jose Tux and Pavian Chen had settled there before they did. They called their village Rio Blanco. Only the priest called it Santa Elena. (The people who live there still call it Rio Blanco when they speak among themselves.) I was teaching school when the first "santo" was brought it, and it was not a statue of Santa Elena--she cost too much. So the statues of three lesser saints were brought in. I have photographs of the ceremony, which took place in 1964.
The history of Big Falls is similarly inaccurate. The people of Crique Sarco did not follow Don Owen-Lewis to Big Falls in order to work for him. They followed him because he had lived in Crique Sarco for many years and they were his friends. I met Manuel and Petrona Xi three years ago in Big Falls--I had first met them in Crique Sarco. Don Owen-Lewis, formerly Amer-Indian Development Officer, has never "employed" Maya workers.
Wonderful close up view of Mayan people in Belize.......2004-09-11
My experience has been as part of medical and dental support to the villages in the Toledo District since 1988. The maps are accurate and give a feeling that you are walking down the trails with the writer. This is an excellent presentation of the villagers at a level rarely seen in such a book. It is mostly written by the villagers and has their perspective. Clearly written by those that love and are proud of their traditions and culture. The book is a beautiful reflection of a beautiful and kind people.
Wonderful book!.......2003-02-23
I lived in Belize for two years and was fortunate enough to travel extensively throughout southern Belize, the Toledo district that this book brings to life so well. The time that I spent with the Mayans in the region impacted my life dramatically, to the point I wrote my own book concerning my time there ("Following Mateo" by Tom Molanphy, available through amazon.com and trafford.com). The Maya Atlas was an invaluable resource for me while trying to portray a fair picture of the Mayans of southern Toledo; in fact, it was the only book I found that focused exclusively on the Belizean Mayan lifestyle and the challenges to that lifestyle. Full of wonderful color maps and photos, this books tells the story of Belize in the words of Mayans themselves. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn about a fascinating and endangered culture.
Books:
- Decorating Is Fun!: How to be Your Own Decorator
- Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan
- DISNEY VILLAIN, THE
- Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance
- Effective Phrases For Performance Appraisals: A Guide to Successful Evaluations
- Elements of Design: Rowena Reed Kostellow and the Structure of Visual Relationships
- Female Nudes
- Figure Drawing for Fashion Design (Pepin Press Design Books)
- From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
- Global Feminisms: New Directions in Contemporary Art
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Travels in a Stone Canoe: The Return to the Wisdomkeepers
- The Citadel
- Introduction to Surface and Thin Film Processes
- Strawberry Shortcake's Ballet Recital: Sticker Stories
- Paper in Three Dimensions: Origami, Pop-ups, Sculpture, Baskets, Boxes, and More
- Site Analysis: Linking Program and Concept in Land Planning and Design
- Standard Catalog of Ferrari 1947-2003
- Touring In Wine Country: Tuscany
- Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art
- Advances In Botanical Research Volume 21: INCORPORATING ADVANCES IN PLANT PATHOLOGY
Indians, Oil, and Politics: A Recent History of Ecuador (Latin American Silhouettes)
Savages
Contesting Citizenship in Latin America: The Rise of Indigenous Movements and the Postliberal Challenge (Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics)
In Focus Ecuador: A Guide to the People, Politics and Culture (Ecuador (in Focus))
When Nature Goes Public: The Making and Unmaking of Bioprospecting in Mexico (In-formation)
