South America category: 2208 books

The author overhears a conversation about an island called Margarita. Images of the mythical land of Margaritaville fill his head. This sets in motion a chain of events that leads him on a misadventure with his seven year-old daughter in search of that fabled land.  They take off from...

Lonely Planet: The world’s number one travel guide publisher* Lonely Planet’s Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Delve into the past in Quito’s vibrant Centro Historico,...

The Chaco War was massive territorial war between Bolivia and Paraguay, which cost almost a 100,000 lives. An old fashioned territorial dispute, the contested area was the Gran Chaco Boreal, a 100,000-square mile region of swamp, jungle and pampas with isolated fortified towns. The wilderness terrain...

The Inka empire, Tawantinsuyu, fell to Spanish invaders within a year's time (1532-1533), but Quechua, the language of the Inka, is still the primary or only language of millions of Inka descendants throughout the southern Andes. In this innovative study, Bruce Mannheim synthesizes all that is currently...

On the fortieth anniversary of revolution and rebellion in Chile, a searching history of the rise and fall of the world's first and only democratically elected Marxist president. On September 11, 1973, President Salvador Allende of Chile was deposed in a violent coup led by General Augusto...

Charles Walker examines the largest rebellion in the history of Spain's American empire, led by Latin America's most iconic revolutionary, Tupac Amaru, and his wife. It began in 1780 as a multiclass alliance against European-born usurpers but degenerated into a vicious caste war, leaving a legacy that still influences South American politics today.

In 1939, Brazil seemed a world away from the chaos overtaking Europe. Yet despite its bucolic reputation as a distant land of palm trees and pristine beaches, Brazil’s natural resources and proximity to the United States made it strategically invaluable to both the Allies and the Axis alike. As...

This edition features a linked Table of Contents and Footnotes CONTENTS (abridged list) Chapter I Early history — State of the country — Indian races — Characteristics of the different tribes — Dobrizhoffer's book — Various expeditions — Sebastian Cabot — Don Pedro de Mendoza...

In 1820, a sperm whale attacked and sunk the Whaleship Essex. 2000 miles off the coast of South America, the crew knew it would be a true feat to survive and make it to shore--any shore. It’s story became legendary; Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about it; Edgar Allen Poe incorporated details of it in...

Felix Riesenberg history of sea travel around Cape Horn. Begining with Magellan’s magnificent discovery of the strait through to the Pacific at the tip of South America. It is difficult for us to comprehend the feat this was until we note that several other explorers attempted it, but few were able...

The fascinating Bolivian president Evo Morales is vying with the brash and provocative leader of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, to be the most influential figure in South American politics today. Since coming into office four years ago, Morales has been intensely critical of the United States, speaking out...

In recent years, a growing literature has focused on how to create more effective and democratic global governance mechanisms to better tackle global challenges such as health epidemics, global hunger, Internet surveillance or the consequences of climate change. Yet there is a gap in accessible published...

Novelist, poet, playwright, and short story writer Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839–1908) is widely regarded as Brazil’s greatest writer, although his work is still too little read outside his native country. In this first comprehensive English-language examination of Machado since Helen Caldwell’s...

Paraguay’s Chaco frontier, one of the least known areas in one of the least known countries in South America, became the unexpected scene of the bloodiest international war in the Americas, the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia (1932–35).A picture postcard from the Chaco War era shows...