Simón Bolívar once inspired a continent to rise from its serfdom and throw off the shackles of Spanish rule, setting the course for independence, freedom and equality. ¡Viva South America! sets out to discover if that dream lives on. Is it fair to describe a land as 'independent' while poverty still enslaves millions, where violence lurks in the shadows and where lawlessness gnaws away at progress? Did the Liberators fail? Or are leaders such as Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Bolivia's Evo Morales resurrecting those long-ago ideals? Armed with a reporter's notebook and an open mind, the author hits the road in search of answers. With the ghost of Bolívar as guide, the quest takes the reader off the tourist trail and into the weird and wonderful worlds of South American culture and society. By stepping into people's homes and into inmates' prison cells, by climbing onto dance floors and over road blocks, Oliver Balch unearths untold stories from the front line of South America's contemporary fight for freedom.

If you're planning a trip to Colombia, you probably know already that guidebooks on this country have left a lot to be desired. Recognizing the need for a reliable travel guide to Colombia, V!VA sent a team of writers, and they came back with the best guidebook yet. From the pearl beaches of San Andrs Island and the emerald jungles of the Amazon to the stunning Guajira deserts and the enigmatic mangroves of the Pacific, this book offers information on all you need to know, including: * hotel, restaurant and activities listings for every budget; * shopping in markets and workshops for the nation's best artisan crafts; * coverage on almost two dozen National Parks Sanctuaries; * border crossing information, to Panam, Venezuela, Per, Brazil and Ecuador; * an extensive bibliography to keep informed and help make your journey safe. Whether for business, a family vacation or a gap-year adventure, V!VA Travel Guide to Colombia is the guidebook for all travelers.

Through the dedicated intervention of LULAC and other Mexican American activist groups, the understanding of civil rights in America was vastly expanded in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Mexican Americans gained federal remedies for discrimination based not simply on racial but also on cultural and linguistic disadvantages. Generally considered one of the more conservative ethnic political organizations, LULAC had traditionally espoused nonconfrontational tactics and had insisted on the identification of Mexican Americans as "white." But by 1966, the changing civil rights environment, new federal policies that protected minority groups, and rising militancy among Mexican American youth led LULAC to seek federal protections for Mexican Americans as a distinct minority. In that year, LULAC joined other Mexican American groups in staging a walkout during meetings with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Albuquerque. In this book, Craig A. Kaplowitz draws on primary sources, at both national and local levels, to understand the federal policy arena in which the identity issues and power politics of LULAC were played out. At the national level, he focuses on presidential policies and politics, since civil rights has been preeminently a presidential issue. He also examines the internal tensions between LULAC members? ethnic allegiances and their identity as American citizens, which led to LULAC?s attempt to be identified as white while, paradoxically, claiming policy benefits from the fact that Mexican Americans were treated as if they were non-white. This compelling study offers an important bridge between the history of social movements and the history of policy development. It also provides new insight into an important group on America?s multicultural stage.

Offering a wide-ranging selection of case studies, this book evaluates women's political, social and economic involvement in Third World countries. It explores both specific experiences of women as well as common themes such as identity, empowerment and the conflict between tradition and modernity.

Simon Bolivar freed no fewer than what were to become six countries—a vast domain some 800,000 square miles in extent—from Spanish colonial rule in savage wars against the then-mightiest military machine on earth. The ferocity of his leadership and fighting earned him the grudging nickname “the devil” from his enemies. His astonishing resilience in the face of military defeat and seemingly hopeless odds, as well his equestrian feat of riding tens of thousands of miles across what remains one of the most inhospitable territories on earth, earned him the name Culo de Hierro—Iron Ass—among his soldiers. It was one of the most spectacular military campaigns in history, fought against the backdrop of the Andean mountains, through immense flooded savannahs, jungles, and shimmering deserts. Indeed the war itself was medieval—fought under warlords across huge spaces by horsemen with lances, and infantry with knives and machetes (as well as muskets). It was the last warriors’ war. Although the creator of the northern half of Latin America, Bolivar inspired the whole continent and still does today. This is Robert Harvey’s astonishing, gripping, and beautifully researched biography of one of South America’s most cherished heroes and one of the world’s most accomplished military leaders, by any standard.