1 comments about Paraguay Map (Travel Reference Map).

1. Took me all around the country - only backside is navigating the greater Asuncion area. For this I needed another map.

No comments about The Deep South: Smithsonian Guides (Smithsonian Guides to Historic America).

No comments about Trinidad and Tobago: Terrific and Tranquil.

No comments about An Eye for the Tropics: Tourism, Photography, and Framing the Caribbean Picturesque (Objects/Histories).

No comments about Tarpon Springs (FL) (Images of America).

1 comments about Life In The Argentine Republic In The Days Of The Tyrants: Or Civilization And Barbarism (1868).

1. Sarmiento analizes in this book the oppressive political regime that Juan Manuel de Rosas impossed over the Province of Buenos Aires during the first years of the independent-from-Spanish-rule Argentine Republic (then Confederation). He writes this book in his Chilean exile and publishes it by means of short articles in a prestigous Chilean newspaper during the 1830s and 1840s.

   In this book, a classic of early Latin American History and Literature, Sarmiento *deconstructs*, to abuse of modern terminology, the life and works of Facundo Quiroga, a tyrant of the inland provinces of Argentina, so that we can better understand the true extent, the true abomination being carried out by the other despot, Rosas, in a Buenos Aires proud of its European heritage.

   Sarmiento describes the way of life -highly influenced by late Spanish colonial tradition- and the almost unreal landscape of the Argentine Pampas (plains). In that landscape and traditions is born Quiroga, the wild gaucho who is to terrify its own people when he becomes an adult. Sarmiento analizes the society's pathologies that make possible for Quiroga to become the head of a tyrannical regime.

   His method to approach Rosas via Quiroga is, I believe, very effective. Now it is easier to understand how Rosas regime can become a reality on New World soil just a decade after Independence. Rosas, born in a rich family of *hacendados* with strong Spanish tradition and with landholdings close to Buenos Aires of the 1820s, shares with Quiroga an explosive combination of hate for anything that reminds him of his incivility with an appeal that the isolated people of the Pampas can not resist, the appeal of a man who is the best horse-rider, the best knife-fighter and the best friend of the gaucho. Nothing reminds Rosas more of his rudeness than nearby booming Buenos Aires.

   The rest of the book lists the atrocities, offensive to any civilized person, commited by Rosas once he gains by mean of terrorist practice the *sum of power* over the city; Sarmiento also discusses what freedom means for a society and for the individuals.

   Summarizing, this book, which paved the way to a more democratic Argentina, is an example of the power of words to fight oppression, and a *manual* to detect before-it-is-too-late the dangers that keep assaulting democratic life in any society at any time.

2 comments about Cuba Classics: A Celebration of Vintage American Automobiles.

1. Chris Baker is the preeminent travel writer covering Cuba today. His guidebooks for National Geographic Traveler and Moon Publishing are biblical Baedekers for anyone traveling to the island. "Mi Moto Fidel," his book-length journey around the island on a BMW motorcycle, reads like a Hemingwayan novel -- and has garnered prestigious writing awards. Now, with "Cuba Classics," Baker has taken his already impressive act to a new level, displaying his skill as a photographer, which is nothing short of artistry. His stunning photographs of vintage American autos -- so plentiful in Cuba -- are not only wonderful depictions of cars not seen in the U.S. for decades, but are the subjects of photos that demonstrate a photographer's instinctively artistic command of format, color, tone, and lighting. Settings for the autos often speak to the greater issue of the Cuban landscape, both urban and rural. It's a must book for car buffs, for anyone interested in photographic artistry, for anyone enamoured of beautiful writing. As a long-time fan of Baker's journalism, I have found myself asking what else could he possibly do to present another aspect of this island country he knows and loves? "Cuba Classics" is the latest answer to that question. Kudos.



2. Yes, we've all seen great photos of classic cars in Cuba--but this book will make you swoon. Your knees will buckle, and you will become feverish with desire to get yourself to Cuba as soon as possible. Magnificent.

No comments about Viaje del Cuzco a Belén en el Gran Pará (Viajes).

No comments about Argentina Desde El Aire, Agua y Tierra.

1 comments about Patagonia: Natural History, Prehistory and Ethnography at the Uttermost End of the Earth (Princeton Paperbacks).

1. A short review in the magazine _Nature_ (9 Oct 97, p 557) has a cool picture and says "gripping read and lavishly illustrated." END