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Over a decade ago, Jorge Castañeda wrote the classic Utopia Unarmed, which offered a penetrating and comprehensive account of the Latin American left’s fate at the end of the Cold War. Since then, the left across Latin America has travelled in paths no one could have predicted. Latin American nations from Mexico to Argentina wavered for years between leftism and American-supported neoliberalism, but in recent years the left has experienced a tremendous resurgence throughout the region. However, the left is not unified, and as Castañeda, Morales, and their contributors show, it has followed two distinct paths – a more cosmopolitan style leftism, exemplified by Brazil and Chile, and a left fuelled by populist nationalism that has clear debts to Perón or Cárdenas, and is most evident in Venezuela, Mexico’s PRD, Bolivia, and Argentina. Leftovers comprehensively updates this very important story, with country and area specialists contributing.

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"This work takes Latin American film scholarship to a new level of critical, conceptual, and methodological sophistication. Zuzana Pick frames key questions through a judicious, even inspired choice of films. Her interpretations are superb. Perceptive, analytically broad-ranging, critically compelling, they set a new standard for the field." --julianne burton-carrajal, editor of cinema and social change in latin america: conversations with filmmakersDuring the 1967 festival of Latin American Cinema in Viña del Mar, Chile, a group of filmmakers who wanted to use film as an instrument of social awareness and change formed the New Latin American Cinema. Nearly three decades later, the New Cinema has produced an impressive body of films, critical essays, and manifestos that uses social theory to inform filmmaking practices. This book explores the institutional and aesthetic foundations of the New Latin American Cinema. Zuzana Pick maps out six areas of inquiry--history, authorship, gender, popular cinema, ethnicity, and exile--and explores them through detailed discussions of nearly twenty films and their makers, including Camila (María Luisa Bemberg), The Guns (Ruy Guerra), and Frida (Paul Leduc). These investigations document how the New Latin American Cinema has used film as a tool to change society, to transform national expressions, to support international differences, and to assert regional autonomy. ... Read more

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Latin American Telecommunications: Telef-nica's Conquest offers an excellent overview of the political, economic, and social factors in Spain and Latin America that have aided the miraculous transformation of the semi-public Spanish telecommunications company Telef-nica. This book is unique because it brings Telef-nica's media integration to the fore, tracing and analyzing its many assets and partnerships ... Read more

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This indispensable text reader provides a broad-ranging and thoughtfully organized feminist introduction to the ongoing controversies of development in Latin America and the Caribbean. Designed for use in a variety of college courses, the volume collects an influential group of essays first published in Latin American Perspectives. Each part is organized into thematic sections that focus on work, politics, and culture, and each includes substantive introductions that identify key issues in the scholarly literature on women and gender in the region. Demonstrating the rich, multidisciplinary nature of Latin American studies, these essays promote critical thinking about women's place and power, about theory and research strategies, and about contemporary economic, political, and social conditions. They convincingly show why women have become an increasingly important subject of research, acknowledge their gains and struggles over time, and explore the contributions that feminist theory has made toward the recognition of gender as a relevant--indeed essential--category for analyzing the political economy of development. ... Read more

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The nineteenth century was a period of peak popularity for travel to Latin America, where a new political independence was accompanied by loosened travel restrictions. Such expeditions resulted in numerous travel accounts, most by men. However, because this period was a time of significant change and exploration, a small but growing minority of female voyagers also portrayed the people and places that they encountered.

Women through Women's Eyes draws from ten insightful accounts by female visitors to Latin America in the nineteenth century. These firsthand tales bring a number of Latin American women into focus: nuns, market women, plantation workers, the wives and daughters of landowners and politicians, and even a heroine of the independence movement. Questions of family life, religion, women's labor, and education are addressed, in addition to the interrelationships of men and women within the structure of Latin American societies.

Women through Women's Eyes is a perceptive look at Latin American women from various walks of life during this period. Within these pages, the reader catches lengthy glimpses of the women on both sides of the travel accounts-author and subject-and thereby may examine them all and their societies close-up.

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Customer Reviews (1)

Not all of the women were from Latin America
I would have thought that this book- and the title that it had would mean that the women that wrote the stories were actually from Latin America-and not from the United States- it is very deceptive and not a very good book anyway.The stories did not blend together very well and did not give a good guideline of the history of the 19th century. ... Read more

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This new book provides a first-hand, grassroots look at life in Cuba, including very vivid descriptions of its people and places. Real Life in Castro's Cuba illuminates the human face of Cuba, which over the years has largely been hidden in the shadow of Fidel Castro.

Real Life in Castro's Cuba is written by Catherine Moses, who lived and worked in Cuba as a press secretary and spokesperson for the United States from 1995 to 1996. This compelling, compassionate portrait contains personal observations about the Cubans' struggles, triumphs, hopes, and daily compromises to survive. The Cuban population lives with a deteriorating infrastructure, forcing many hardships on the people, including a scarcity of food, fuel, clothing, medicines, and other basic needs.

The author's detailed cultural account of Cuba introduces the reader to everyday Cubans from party officials to dissidents to everyone in between. It shows how Cuba's socialist system works and gives reasons why Fidel Castro is still in power. Real Life in Castro's Cuba also describes the significant role of religion and spirituality in the life of Cubans. Although Moses expresses regret over the state of U.S.-Cuban relations, the purpose of the book is not to choose up sides. Instead, the book is designed simply to introduce readers to real life in Cuba.

The book's unique approach allows an intimate picture of life in a faded Marxist regime. As the author writes, _Cuba is a curious mixture of Spanish Caribbean, socialist ideals gone awry, memories of what was, and a desperate need to survive._

This fascinating new book will appeal to all readers who are interested in getting a closer look at what life is like in Cuba today.

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Customer Reviews (14)

Moses' Real Life in Castro's Cuba
Written by Catherine Moses, who served for two years at the United States Interest Section in Havana in the mid-nineties, this book provides a close and realistic first-hand look at life in Cuba, including detailed descriptions of everyday life of average people during that period. Just under 200 pages, it's short, sweet, and to the point. It contains personal observations about the Cubans' daily struggle to survive, and portrays the hardships on the people, including a scarcity of food, clothing, medicines, and other basic needs. From the start of the book, Moses discusses the cult of personality toward the Castro brothers and the fear for the police state responsible for the harshest and most oppressive justice system in the Americas. The total control of the state over the economy is discussed and the employment of over-regulated underpaid professionals, prostitution, and the start up of the small paladar restaurants are covered. Moses shows the failure of Cuba's political-economic system and discusses reasons why the Castro brothers are still in power. The author's warm hearted powers of observation and her compassionate concern for Cubans on a human level are admirable. As a matter of fact, this book by Moses is recommended in my own book about Memories from the Land of the Intolerant Tyrant (available from Blue Note Books) as one of the best describing life in Cuba.

none
A really great book with lots of insight into the day-to-day going ons of REAL Cuban people.Moses does an excellent job of incorporating the social, cultural, and political feelings of Cuba into the mix.

More Boring US Perspective
Borrrrring.If you want to read more of the US view of the Cuban Revolution (according to her, and the US, it's horrible in every way and has nothing to admire), this is the book for you.If you want something objective, go elsewhere.The author worked for the US Government, so her position of subjectivity is somewhat understandable.But, you'd expect somebody who spent significant time in Cuba to actually have something positive to say about the Revolution (health care? education?).You don't need to buy this book to hear about how "awful" Cuba is...just listen to the government's endless boring monologue.Save your money and go to Cuba yourself.Form your own opinion.This book is no help to a greater understanding of Cuba.It only helps confirm a long (and highly inaccurate) negative view of Cuba promoted by the US government.

Remember folks - Moses lived it - you didn't!!!!
I appreciate the reviewers who understand the book for what it is - not a political piece but a piece from the heart. The snobbery displayed by some of the reviewers just serves to further show the naivete of most Americans with regards to Cuba, or other foreign cultures, for that matter.If you are Cuban, or of Cuban decent, as I am, the accounts in this book are glimpses into the lives of the friends and relatives you left behind or perhaps have only met through stories. The accounts are glimpses into the suffering that you or your parents encountered first hand. If you are not Cuban, the book is a real look at the suffering and joys of a people who are merely 90 miles away.Read it - if nothing else, to learn something about someone else.

Yes, although she does not take a strong political stance, Moses speaks of the Revolution with a view that mirrors the U.S. view.Why wouldn't she? The U.S. view is that the Revolution has been bad for Cuba and the Cubans - and it has been.You don't have to be a State Department employee to have that opinion - you simply have to experience it's effects first-hand - as she did.

Incidentally, to imply, as one reviewer did, that Cuba's economy should be likened to that of other Latin American countries rather than to that of the U.S. is ludicrous.The economy and life-style of pre-revoluntionary Cuba was much more similar to that of the the U.S. than to that of any Latin American country, and therefore, it stands to reason that we should continue to compare it that way.If we have two apples and one becomes rotten, so that it's peel is brown and it has shruken to the size of a kiwi, we continue to compare it to the edible apple, we do not suddenly begin to compare it tokiwi simply because it "looks like one."

What's the Message?
Dry and poorly organized, this book is little more than a series of disjointed ramblings loosely divided into chapters.Ms. Moses apparently wrote down her remembrances as they randomly popped into her head, but she never went back and edited them to put them into any semblance of order.Back and forth she goes, in one sentence telling how the Cubans are oppressed, in the next telling how they are resourceful and able to make do with the very little they have, how they see no hope, then that they see the light at the end of the tunnel.What she relates is so generalized that one could easily substitute the name of any oppressed group of people for "Cuba" and be telling their story with equal (in)articulation.

Especially irritating is the fact that she mentions numerous individuals, and whether a revered patriot or her kindly next-door neighbor, she describes each in terms as mundane and pointless as skin tone and intelligence level, attributes some blasé word or phrase to him or her meant to be clever or all-knowing, then rarely mentions that person again.Worse, her final statement about that person is often something to the effect of, "I'm not sure whatever became of him."

Referring again to the book's generalities, most readers will already know that the Cubans are an oppressed people; that they live in a police state that (like every police state) follows their every move and metes out punishment to those who do not toe the line; that they (like all oppressed peoples) are conflicted by a love for their homeland and the idea of chucking it all for another place and a better existence.Again, in my estimation these are commonsensical, everyday notions.It is not necessary to have lived in Cuba to understand them.And although there has to be a wealth of knowledge available from someone who has lived there, it is to be found in some other book.This one does nothing to impart the Cubans' unique plight, and after reading it, the reader will know little more about Cuba than he or she probably already does. ... Read more

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Examines the dramatic changes within Mexican society, politics, and journalism that transformed an authoritarian media institution into many conflicting styles of journalism with very different implications for deepening democracy in the country. From the Zapatista rebellion to the political bribery scandals that rocked the nation, Hughes's investigation presents a groundbreaking model of the sociopolitical transformation of a media institution within a new democracy, and the rise and subsequent stagnation of citizen-focused journalism after that democracy was established. ... Read more

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Documenting a Media Revolution
Documenting a media revolution
BY KELLY ARTHUR GARRETT/THE HERALD MEXICO
El Universal
Lunes 14 de agosto de 2006
Miami Herald, página 1


The Mexican news media is enjoying its moment in the sun. That moment started with the first stirrings of these endless 2006 elections, and it's still in full flower. Even if you take your Mexico news in English, what you read and watch - what you know - is influenced by an energized national press that has risen to this particular occasion (that is, the snarled election) with massive, multi-perspective coverage of a watershed event in this country's history.

It wasn't always thus, as Sallie Hughes reminds us in her thorough, insightful and very timely study of Mexican journalism's transition from lapdog to watchdog titled "Newsrooms in Conflict: Journalism and the Democratization of Mexico."

Read the rest of the review --

http://www.mexiconews.com.mx/miami/vi_8.html
... Read more

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A collection of new essays by recognized experts from around the world on various aspects of the new disciplin of Latin American cultural studies. Essays are grouped in five distinct but interconnected sections focusing respectively on: the theory of Latin American cultural studies, the icons of culture, culture as a commodity, culture as a site of resistance and everyday cultural practices. The essays are written in jargon free English (all Spanish terms have been translated into English), and are supplemented by a concluding section with suggestions for further reading. ... Read more

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Over the last decade, visibility and sexuality have become a major theme in Spanish and Cuban cinema, literature and art. Vision Machines explores this development in the light of contemporary history and recent theoretical accounts of sight by writers including Paul Virilio, Gianni Vattimo and Teresa de Lauretis. The very visible women of Almodovar's cinema are Paul Julian Smith's first subject. He shows how, in his early Dark Habits, lesbianizes the look, putting women's pleasure at the centre of the frame, and then examines Almodovar's recent film, Kika, where the conflict between cinema and video is played out in the bodies of women: good, bad and ugly. Moving the focus to Cuba, Smith discussed the reception in Europe and North America of Nestor Almendro's remarkable documentary on gays in Cuba, Improper Conduct, and traces the trial of visibility to which effeminate men were exposed. He compares Amendor's work with the autobiography of exile novelist Reinaldo Arenas, which revels in graphic sex, and also looks at the first Cuban film with a gay theme, Gutierrez Alea's Strawberry and Chocolate.Smith returns to Spain to consider the response of artists and intellectuals to the public invisibility of AIDS in a country with one of the highest rates of HIV transmission in the Eurpean Union. Drawing on Anglo-American debates on the representation of AIDS, he concentrates on the one major intervention by Spanish scholars and artists, Love and Rage, and on the only figure in any medium to address AIDS in his aesthetic practice, the conceptual artist and video-maker Pepe Espaliu. He concludes with a fascinating account of Julio Medem's pathbreaking film from 1993, The Red Squirrel, which has opened up a new approach to two formerly taboo subjects: Basque nationalism and female sexuality. ... Read more

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Behind the headlines of bloody struggles in Central America lies an enormous population of the desperately poor, rendered even more powerless by illiteracy. Literacy is one of the factors in these struggles, especially where minority languages are spoken. Archer and Costello describe some of the most innovative programmes tackling the problem, showing how varied and controversial they can be. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico, Chile, Bolivia and Guatemala are all included, and for each country the authors have provided an account of the lives of those who teach and those who learn, as well as describing the different forms literacy teaching and literacy can take. Not only about literacy, the book is also a guide to the societies of one of the world's most troubled regions. David Archer works on the Latin American Desk of ActionAid and is a co-founder of the Community Education Direct Research Unit (CEDRU). Patrick Costello is a co-ordinator on the Guatemala Committee for Human Rights and a co-founder of CEDRU. ... Read more

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In the continuing U.S. debate over illegal immigration, a human face has rarely been shown. The topic has been presented as a monolithic abstraction, a creation of statistics, political rhetoric, and fear. This collection of letters between undocumented immigrants in California and their families back home reveals the other side of the story. Published for the first time in paperback, Between the Lines reveals theoften poignant human drama currently being played out along the U.S.-Mexico border.The letters, presented in Spanish and English, express powerful feelings of hope, uncertainty, and fear among the undocumented travelers as they arrive in the United States and seek work, social support and legal status. The letters from their families in Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador return feelings of hope, love, and support.Translator/editor Siems provides a powerful and lyrical introductory essay that sets the stage for the letters that follow. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

poortranslation
The letters are amazingly interesting if you are fluent in Spanish.However, the translations into English are literal and are unbelievable poor and almost humorous.The premise for the book is a good one, though it would have been much more meaningful had the translations been more accurate.I'd recommend it if you're bilingual and recommend you to skip it if you're not. ... Read more

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Produced to fill a gap in current knowledge about the state of journalism in Latin America, this timely book chronicles how recent changes toward democratization and privatization in the region have influenced mass media industries and the practice of journalism. Written as a tribute to earlier books about the development and status of Latin American news organizations, this text provides a readable overview of journalism in the area. Unlike those in previous works, these chapters are divided by issues and subject matter instead of by nations and regions. Each chapter concludes with a "spotlight" case study to illustrate the reading material. These features -- along with several easy-to- follow tables, topical examples suitable for class discussions, and a variety of sources including original interviews with media professionals -- all combine to form the most up-to-date book currently available on this constantly changing subject.
... Read more

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Foregrounding a strategy of experimental techniques which Neustadt call "(con)fusing signs," the book explores critical and political dimensions of contemporary Spanish American artistic practices that are often explained away in the vague name of postmodern fragmentation.(Con)Fusing Signs explores the techniques, consequences and purposes for this type of fragmentation. This study reassesses the much discussed "crisis of representation" through an analysis of the complexity of political critique in areas as diverse (and related) as postmodernity, military dictatorship and postcolonialism. This book explores the manner in which multimedia artists Diamela Eltit, Alejandro Jodorowsky, and Guillermo G-mez-Pe-a articulate political critiques through textual (con)fusion while paradoxically underscoring their inability to get outside of discourse. ... Read more

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Examines how recent Mexican and Spanish films act as untroubling distractions from everyday routine. ... Read more

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In Where Cultures Meet, editors Weber and Rausch have collected twenty essays that explore how the frontier experience has helped create Latin American national identities and institutions. Using 'frontier' to mean more than 'border,' Weber and Rausch regard frontiers as the geographic zones of interaction between distinct cultures. Each essay in the volume illuminates the recipro-cal influences of the 'pioneer' culture and the 'frontier' culture, as they contend with each other and their physical environment.

The transformative power of frontiers gives them special interest for historians and anthropologists. Delving into the frontier experience below the Rio Grande, Where Cultures Meet is an important collection for anyone seeking to understand fully Latin American history and culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

preserving identities
The question of cultural or national identity has arisen in many contexts. But what if the nations in question are small, like various Caribbean islands? Goldman looks at those with Hispanic background. We see how they have, so far anyway, managed to preserve their identities in the face of trends like globalisation, which is the ethos of a massive consumerist capitalism.

Much of the book is an analysis of regional literature. The fiction works are cited as symptomatic placemarkers of cultural identity, through the descriptions of their characters and attitudes. Other sections of the book go into the history of some regions, like Hispaniola, divided between Haiti and Dominican Republic. The most prominent example has to be Cuba, whose present government has defined itself largely by being able to resist the political and economic blandishments of American capitalism.

It appears that the islands will be able to preserve indefinitely some unique aspects that add up to cultural identities. ... Read more

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Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands: Latin America reveals the subtleties of interaction, negotiation strategies, and professional skills you need to keep poised for success in your business travels.

As Americans embark on more global business, we must understand the culture and customs behind the vast economic growth in Latin America. Learn everything you need to know about the business practices, cognitive styles, negotiation techniques, and social customs in Latin America. Give the right gift; make the right gesture.

Includes:

• Cultural IQ tests
• ÒKnow Before You GoÓ tips
• Alerts on international security issues

Countries profiled are Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Kiss bow or shake hands Latin America
I bought this for my daughter who does a lot of business travel. She never leaves home without it. Valuable resource for business travelers doing business in Latin America. ... Read more

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Bestselling language courses now with audio CDs !

From Catonese to Thai, Gaelic to Modern Persian, learning the languages of the world is attainable for any beginning student. Learners can use the Teach Yourself Language Courses at their own pace or as a supplement to formal courses. These complete courses are based on thievery latest learning methods and designed to be enjoyable and user-friendly.

Prepared by experts in the language, each course begins with the basics and gradually promotes the student to a level of smooth and confident communication, including:

• Up-to-date, graded interactive dialogues
• Graded units of culture notes, grammar, and exercises
• Step-by-step guide to pronunciation
• Practical vocabulary
• Regular and irregular verb tables
• Plenty of practice exercises and answers
• Bilingual glossary

The new editions also feature:

• Clear, uncluttered, and user-friendly layout
• Self-assessment quizzes to test progress
• Website suggestions to take language study further

Customer Reviews (4)

Great Book for learning spanish
This is a great book for beginners to intermediate Latin American Spanish learners.The book not only shows you conjugation of regular verbs but also irregular verbs in addition to unique sentence structure.In the back of the book is a summary of what you learned and serves as an excellent reference for reinforcement learning.It teaches you the past, present, and future tenses of verbs as well as other frequent ways that are used to say the latter.I'm on my 3rd book already because the first book I bought I used it so much I wore it out.My second book I lost.But the book was so good that I had to buy it again.My girlfriend speaks Spanish and I've been trying to learn it ever since we got together.I've purchase a number of books from large to small but this one is the one I refer to and use way more frequently then the others.The only thing I wished this book came with was flash cards.But besides that it is a great book.

All-in-all, quite helpful
A great idea, especially for Americans who are much more likely to go to hispanoamerica than Spain.Lots of info, but not really specific enough.One day maybe there will be a version for each country (Mexico, Agnetina, etc.)It is too easy to confuse local idioms and receive confused looks when you try to use this book as gospel.Still, it is helpful, and well-formatted.

conversations -- at last!
When I took French in college, the emphasis was on everyday conversations, not rote memorization of vocabulary and verb endings.For a long time I've looked for a Spanish book that used the conversation method, and, for me,this book is it.I find it far easier to remember Spanish words andphrases in the context of casual conversation, as in this book, rather thanfrom a lengthy vocabulary list.I do think the audio tape will help withpronunciation -- otherwise, I recommend this book heartily.

Only for the highly motivated
I bought this book (and several others) as part of a plan to learn some Spanish prior to a trip to Ecuador.

I will readily admit that I did not make it very far into this book.While I liked the fact that it teachesSpanish for the Western Hemisphere, I had real trouble trying to learn tospeak by reading.I did not buy the cassettes that are available for usewith this book.I think I would have been more successful if I had.

Thebook also moves very quickly.So if you don't want to go through 3chapters of "hi, how are you" conversation at the beginning, youmight like this book.

I eventually purchased a learn-from-tape program(Pimsleur, no book needed) that worked for my personal style. ... Read more