Latino History

Here are 154 poems performed by by the wonderful Sir John Gielgud in this Shakepseare collection of the Sonnets.

Shakespeare's sonnets deal with such themes as the passage of time, love, beauty, and mortality. All but two of the poems were first published in a 1609 quarto entitled Shake-Speares Sonnets: Never before imprinted.

This timely book provides a balanced, deeply knowledgeable introduction to Cuba since 1492. Tracing the island's history over 500 years, the authors provide an incisive overview for anyone interested in exploring beyond the enduring stereotypes.

Have you ever thought about visiting South America but just don’t know which country to choose first? Would you like to know more about the heart of South America, the country called Paraguay? The country of Paraguay, though small and often overlooked when considering South America, is a country that boasts of beautiful sights and indigenous people. With its location placing it at almost the centermost position within South America, Paraguay is often referred to by the locals as the “Heart of South America”.

Just before the dawn of the new millennium, a curator at a New Jersey museum of natural history receives an unusual invitation from a celebrated fashion designer. She shares the curator’s fascination with the hidden forms of the animal kingdom - with camouflage and subterfuge - and she proposes that they collaborate on an exhibition, the form of which itself remains largely obscure, even as they enter into a strange relationship marked by evasion and elision.

In The Life of Cicero, Plutarch details the priceless contributions Cicero made to Roman society. He translated the works of Greek philosophers into Latin, gained acclaim as an orator and lawyer, and was elected to office. Politics ultimately got the better of him, however, and his life ended in assassination while in exile. Cicero’s ideas live on through his body of work, but to learn about the man himself, Plutarch’s biography is an excellent starting point.

When the San José mine collapsed outside of Copiapó, Chile, in August 2010, it trapped thirty-three miners beneath thousands of feet of rock for a record-breaking sixty-nine days. After the disaster, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Héctor Tobar received exclusive access to the miners and their tales, and in Deep Down Dark, he brings them to haunting, visceral life. We learn what it was like to be imprisoned inside a mountain, understand the horror of being slowly consumed by hunger, and experience the awe of working in such a place-underground passages filled with danger.

This hybrid collection of short crónicas, journalism, and personal essays on systemic violence in contemporary Mexico and along the US-Mexico border draws together literary theory and historical analysis to outline how neoliberalism, corruption, and drug trafficking - culminating in the misnamed “war on drugs” - has shaped Mexico. Working from and against this political context, Cristina Rivera Garza posits that collective grief is an act of resistance against state violence and that writing is a powerful mode of seeking social justice and embodying resilience.

In this compelling, behind-the-scenes account, former top CIA officer and Cuba expert Brian Latell examines the extraordinary Castro brothers and the impending dynastic succession of Fidel's younger brother, Raul. Exploring the brothers' remarkable relationship, he reveals how Fidel and Raul have collaborated, divided responsibilities, and resolved disagreements for more than 46 years, a challenge to the notion that the little-known Raul has been an insignificant player.

One of America's most influential Hispanics - Maria on Sesame Street - delivers a beautifully wrought coming-of-age memoir. Set in the 1970s in the Bronx, this is the story of a girl with a dream. When listeners meet young Sonia, she is a child living amid the squalor of a boisterous home that is filled with noisy relatives and nosy neighbors. Each day she is glued to the TV screen that blots out the painful realities of her existence and also illuminates the possibilities that lie ahead.

Las batallas de una generación que formaron el presente "Esto es y no es una novela, porque la ficción a veces se desliza en sus páginas. Es también una crónica autobiográfica que arranca con un niño de cuatro años vestido con una chamarra amarilla, que pasa por un joven al que le disparan un 10 de junio y que termina en un hombre de setenta años que conversa con López Obrador sobre los posibles futuros de los libros en México. Pero es mucho más que eso, porque además es la crónica de una generación de militantes de izquierda mexicanos"

Con el propósito de que públicos amplios se acerquen a aspectos fundamentales de las luchas por los derechos de las mujeres, este libro narra el largo periplo de las feministas en América Latina. En un extraordinario esfuerzo de síntesis, se revisan propuestas y acciones emprendidas por una variedad de colectivos de mujeres: desde la formulación de los primeros feminismos hasta la experiencia inédita de nuestros días, cuando los reclamos de las mujeres nutren masivas expresiones populares, como nunca antes había ocurrido.

El Greco visits the Sistine Chapel and is appalled by Michelangelo's bodies. The mystery of Rothko's refusal to finish murals for the Seagram Building in New York is blended with the story of a hospital in which a prostitute walks the halls while the narrator's husband receives chemotherapy. Alfred de Dreux visits Gericault's workshop; Gustave Courbet's devilish seascapes incite viewers "to have sex, or to eat an apple"; Picasso organizes a cruel banquet in Rousseau's honor.... All of these fascinating episodes in art history interact with the narrator's life in Buenos Aires.

Discover the untold story of Brazil, a land where the Amazon's lush beauty meets the bustling energy of sprawling cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. From the dawn of ancient indigenous civilizations to the arrival of Portuguese explorers, Brazil's history is one of breathtaking contrasts. Dive deep into the cultural mosaic of Afro-Brazilian, Indigenous, and European influences that have shaped this vibrant country, and explore the complexities of its colonial past, the horrors of slavery, and its struggle for independence.

If not for an unlikely alliance among a bespectacled cowboy, a former Confederate general, and a millionaire newspaper publisher, the Spanish-American War might never have been. How these three outsize characters—Theodore Roosevelt, Joseph “Fighting Joe” Wheeler, and William Randolph Hearst—helped ignite the war that established the United States’ offshore empire is the rousing tale that Matthew Bernstein tells in Team of Giants.

All They Will Call You is the harrowing account of "the worst airplane disaster in California's history", which claimed the lives of 32 passengers, including 28 Mexican citizens - farmworkers who were being deported by the US government. Outraged that media reports omitted only the names of the Mexican passengers, American folk icon Woody Guthrie penned a poem that went on to become one of the most important protest songs of the 20th century.

The book reveals the universal and cosmic love of the Red Road. The Red Road is the philosophy/worldview/religion of the native Indian tribes/pueblos of North and South America. This worldview promotes integration with Mother Earth and the cosmos to achieve harmony within eternally evolving existence. Using the Chicano as an example, the book explores the human lifetime as a cosmic being with eternal cycles of reincarnation and integration. This cosmic journey is examined from the perspective of the Red Road.

The bloody story of the rise of paramilitaries in Colombia, told through three characters—a fearless activist, a dogged journalist, and a relentless investigator—whose lives intersected in the midst of unspeakable terror.

The twenty-first century began optimistically in Latin America. Left-leaning leaders armed with programs to reduce poverty and reclaim national wealth were seeing results—but as the aughts gave way to the teens, they began to fall like dominos. Where did the dreams of this "pink tide" go? Look no further than the original culprits of Latin American disenfranchisement: resource-rich land and unscrupulous extraction.

The Tango War by Mary Jo McConahay fills an important gap in World War II history. Beginning in the '30s, both sides were well aware of the need to control not just the hearts and minds but also the resources of Latin America. The fight was often dirty: Residents were captured to exchange for US prisoners of war and rival spy networks shadowed each other across the continent. At all times, it was a Tango War, in which each side closely shadowed the other's steps.

A major work on the history of Mexicans in Texas and the relations between Mexicans and Anglos.