Latin America Politics

The United States is known as a nation of immigrants. But it is also a nation of xenophobia. Here, Erika Lee shows that an irrational fear, hatred, and hostility toward immigrants has been a defining feature of our nation from the colonial era to the Trump era. Benjamin Franklin ridiculed Germans for their "strange and foreign ways." Americans' anxiety over Irish Catholics turned xenophobia into a national political movement. Forcing us to confront this history, America for Americans explains how xenophobia works, why it has endured, and how it threatens America.

Kensington, Philadelphia, is distinguished only by its poverty. It is home to Ryan, Giancarlos, and Emmanuel, three Puerto Rican children who live among the most marginalized families in the United States. This is the story of their coming-of-age, which is beset by violence—the violence of homelessness, hunger, incarceration, stray bullets, sexual and physical assault, the hypermasculine logic of the streets, and the drug trade. In Kensington, eighteenth birthdays are not rites of passage but statistical miracles.

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.

An insightful investigation of how and why the two major political parties have failed to appeal to the Latino vote—the largest ethnic voting group in the country—and the impact it will have on American democracy and politics for decades to come.

Carlos "Calica" Ferrer relata por primera vez el viaje que compartió con su amigo Ernesto Guevara en 1953, en los meses previos a su transformación en el revolucionario Che. En este recorrido por Bolivia, Perú y Ecuador, alternan el entusiasmo viajero y las diversiones juveniles con reveladores descubrimientos sobre la realidad social y política latinoamericana.

En Pensar Medio Oriente, Maruan Soto Antaki plantea preguntas esenciales para entender el mundo árabe(¿arabe es sinónimo de islámico? ¿Es indisociable el Islam del terrorismo? ¿Qué tan profundas son las raíces de los conflictos?) Ahora, centra su atención en un ámbito más cercano: México. Para entender Medio Oriente, debíamos dirigir nuestra mirada al lenguaje, pues ahí está el corazón de la cultura árabe. En el caso de México, hay que hacer lo mismo.

Could it be that for the first time in history, the United States needs Latin America more than the other way round? Since the early 1800s, the United States regarded the region as its backyard, but in the past decade South Americas leaders have increasingly snubbed US efforts to persuade them to adopt free-market economics and sign trade agreements. While Washington has been distracted by military campaigns elsewhere, rivals such as China, Russia, and Iran have expanded their clout in Latin America.

Latinos are already the largest minority group in the United States, and experts estimate that by 2050, one out of three Americans will identify as Latino. Though their population and influence are steadily rising, stereotypes and misconceptions about Latinos remain, from the assumption that they refuse to learn English to questions of just how "American" they actually are.

En Colombia vale más un pedazo de tierra que la vida de quienes lo habitan. Desde la ciudad el conflicto se ve ajeno. El humo no nos deja ver los cadáveres y la distancia nos aleja del dolor de las víctimas. Juan Miguel Álvarez ha viajado por toda Colombia con la misión de develar historias de profundo dolor y también de reconciliación. Federico Rios lo acompañó para registrar las imágenes de esta aventura que es a veces dura y a veces esperanzadora.

As late as the 1960s, tacos were virtually unknown outside Mexico and the American Southwest. Within fifty years the United States had shipped taco shells everywhere from Alaska to Australia, Morocco to Mongolia. But how did this tasty hand-held food - and Mexican food more broadly - become so ubiquitous? In Planet Taco, Jeffrey Pilcher traces the historical origins and evolution of Mexico's national cuisine, explores its incarnation as a Mexican American fast-food, shows how surfers became global pioneers of Mexican food, and how Corona beer conquered the world.

Desde Morena, Porfirio Muñoz Ledo es la mayor voz crítica de Andrés Manuel López Obrador. En los últimos meses, la distancia entre ambos se ha incrementado. La voz de Muñoz Ledo—el principal representante de la socialdemocracia en México—se ha ido afilando, y cada día cobra una relevancia mayor para entender qué ocurre en el movimiento que hoy gobierna México, lo que ha de venir y lo que debe cambiar para que la Cuarta Transformación esté a la altura de sus votantes y de sus promesas.

Este libro narra la historia de cómo España consiguió conquistar las Américas en medio siglo, desde finales del 1400 hasta mediados del 1500. Aunque la explotación y la guerra continuaron entre colonizadores y colonizados después de este periodo, las mayores campañas contra los pueblos indígenas se llevaron a cabo en este breve lapso de tiempo, que es el tema central de este libro.

Power Shift charts the rise of Latino political power and its impact, from the breakthrough election of the first Mexican American to the Los Angeles City Council in 1949 to today’s leadership of California and its heavyweight role in polarized America. This inspiring story recounts the origins and development of 10 LA-based Latina and Latino leaders who transformed politics and government, forging a progressive political tradition in the process.

The arguments are concise, and the information is overwhelming. The first two lectures examine the persistent and largely invariant features of foreign policy, the overall framework of order. The third discusses Central America and its foreign policy pattern. The fourth looks at national security and the arms race. And the fifth examines US domestic policy.

La naturaleza de este documento es algo indefinida. Por su forma agrupa relatos cortos, a media carrera entre reflexiones y apuntes biográficos de una época de violencia. Llamémoslos textos de no-ficción, sencillos, para no enrarecer más el entreverado campo de la memoria. Sin embargo su contenido no es arbitrario. Da vueltas sobre diferentes dimensiones relacionadas con mi condición: ser hijo de padres que militaron en el Partido Comunista del Perú-Sendero Luminoso.

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.

Although he is unquestionably one of the most studied leaders of the 19th century, Simón Bolívar remains today as enigmatic as he was two centuries ago, when his vision and presence largely inspired the overthrow of the Spanish Empire in the New World.

Published in 1791, Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man defended the French Revolution’s values of freedom, equality, and brotherhood. He argued that a government based on justice ought to support mankind’s civil rights relating to security and protection, as well as the natural rights to life, liberty, and freedom of conscience. He also proposed plans for universal education, pensions, poverty relief, and social welfare in this classic work that was widely read across the West.

Contar la verdad de Venezuela, un ejercicio imprescindible para hacer justicia al ejemplo del pueblo venezolano, pero también para entender qué implica en el actual momento histórico tratar de hacer una revolución.

Com experiência extensa no jornalismo, Ricardo Viveiros traz uma escrita que deixa transparecer seu olhar perspicaz para os fatos e do qual o ouvinte não sai ileso. De modo amplo e didático, a obra nos leva a entender o cenário no qual a população brasileira dividiu-se entre os “contra” e os “a favor”.