Latin American Primer

[Skelepede]

I've collated a list of books from recommendations of Jimbo, and NousDefionsDoc on Socnet on Latin America. I'd like to start this thread as a one-stop source for interesting, and cogent books on the region. I would like to have the books categorized by region like or area of interest such as:

Books on Colombia

ELN - Historia Contado en Dos Voces - written by Cura Perez and Gabino
ELN - Una Historia de los Origenes by Carlos Medina Gallego
Las Verdaderas Intenciones del ELN, FARC, Paramilitares. Three books by the Corporacion Observatorio Para La Paz
Confessiones - Autobiography of Carlos Castano
Latin America in the Era of the Cuban Revolution (English) by Thomas C. Wright
Camilo Torres Restrepo - Profeta Para Nuestro Tiempo by Gustavo Perez Ramirez
And
Jaime Bateman - Biografia de un revolucionario by Dario Villamizar
Killing Pablo
State Building and Conflict Resolution in Colombia 1986-1994 by HarveyF. Kline
The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself by David Bushnell
Violence in Colombia 1990-2000: Waging War and Negotiating Peace Edited by Charles Bergquist
Bandits, Peasants and Politics: The Case of La Violencia in Colombia translated by Alan Hynds
The Andean Cocaine Industry by Renseleer Lee
Red Cocaine

I'm very interested in having subject-matter experts on the region chime in with books they'd recommend on Liberation Theology, the culture, and the economy to give us a greater perspective on our respective backyard. I'm particularly interested in the recommendations of those who have spent many years in the area, and performed area studies, such as the members of 7th Group. I'm also interested in books that annotate Che Guevarra's impact on the politics of Latin American revolution, and detailed accounts of the events of La Cabana. I'm looking to seperate the wheat from the chaff as I've experienced too many accounts of Nicaragua that were nothing more than a liberal retaliation to the policies of the Reagan Adminstration, and a diservice to investigative journalism. I'm looking to make this thread a one-stop source for recommendations on quality books on LATAM so others wont have to spend countless hours filtering through threads to find good books. I'd appreciate any assistance or insight the QP's could provide in this quest.

Respectfully,
George

[Skelepede]

Books on Che Guevara:

1) Guerilla Warfare
2) A Revolutionary Life: Jon Lee Anderson
3) Companero: Jorge G. Castaneda
4) Fidel Castro: My Early Years

Books on Nicaragua:

1) The Real Contra War

[Richard]

Not LA specific but applies to SEA, AFR, and LA and a good lesson for all. Having worked with all the agencies described in the book and at all levels from ODA to embassy staff in those regions, I reread this book periodically to remind myself of how we seem destined in a "Ground Hog Day" sort of way to reinvent the proverbial diplomatic nation-building wheel described in the book. The characters may be fictionally named, but I can put a name of someone I met with the exact personality traits as every character in the book.

"The Ugly American"

Richard's $.02

[Untoward]

Originally Posted by Skelepede

I'm looking to seperate the wheat from the chaff as I've experienced too many accounts of Nicaragua that were nothing more than a liberal retaliation to the policies of the Reagan Adminstration, and a diservice to investigative journalism.

I'm very interested in this angle as well. History seems to move on with the half-truth of activist-journalists dictating hindsight with a very limited scope on military issues. I have a lot of very intelligent friends in school who buy into alot of the anti-Americanism simply because it is so difficult to find a properly qualified overview of foreign policy history and current affairs.

For instance when people want to know about SOA (WHINSEC), they are deluged with activist publications demanding the closing of the school for the actions of a handful of tyrants, with no proper perspective on the institution's adaptations in light of said incidents or the core geopolitical philosophies that underpin American interventionism vs. non-interventionism and the various applications thereof. Instead of discussing these issues wholly and intelligibly, a fallacious shortcut is made from Augusto Pinochet's actions to a judgment of U.S. security posture as a whole.

I think a large part of this problem is that we as the military are often scrutinized from the outside by academics, but it is not as frequent that we have qualified and intelligible voices from within who speak out with equal force of thought and perspective.

I'm rambling. But anyway, I look forward to the reading recommendations posted in this thread.

[echoes]

Originally Posted by Skelepede

I've collated a list of books...
on Latin America.
I'd like to start this thread as a one-stop source for interesting, and cogent books on the region. Respectfully,
George

George,

May I suggest in addition...GOTO Peru. Fly to Lima, and take a sojurn to Santa Maria, on the coast. While traveling there, view the intense poverty that the folks who work for Petro Peru and the likes, live in. (Just look out the left side of your vehicle.)

While in SM, view the living conditions, transportaion options, climate, temp, altiude, and governence. Then study the poverty levels as they pertain to each.

This may help you in your endevour, more than books.

Holly

[doctom54]

"A Witness to War: An American Doctor in El Salvador" by Dr. Charles Clements.
Be warned he is a Quaker and was a physician with the anti government forces. However, as a former USAF pilot he understands some military matters. I found it useful before my first medical mission trip into El Salvador. SF medics might find his experiences useful in a UW situation.