History, Security & Military Lists discussion

United States - Southern Command
Recommended Reading List 2008

http://www.tecom.usmc.mil/MCU/lli/arc...

NON-FICTION: HISTORY



Bernal Díaz del Castillo
The Conquest of New Spain (Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España)
Before his death in 1584, Díaz wrote this eyewitness account of Cortez’ first interactions with and subsequent conquest of the Aztecs. It provides an unvarnished look at all aspects of the conquest—good and bad—as well as of the parties involved.


Dr. Marshall Eakins (Audio Course - The Learning Company)
Conquest of the Americas
In a series of lectures, UCLA and Vanderbilt University Professor Marshall Eakin discusses the history of the Americas from the arrival of the conquistadors onward, with emphasis on the confluence of Native American, European, and African cultures.


Carlos Fuentes
The Buried Mirror: Reflections on Spain and the New World
Mexican author Carlos Fuentes looks at the key actors that shaped the New World--Spain and others—from their own roots, through their colonial periods, to the Latin America of today. As a result of this exploration, Fuentes posits that Latin America’s escape from fragmentation and underdevelopment lies in developing and sustaining the social, political, and economic institutions that can build on its rich and diverse heritage.


Robert H. Holden and Eric Zolov
Latin America and the United States: A Documentary History
An encyclopedic collection of documents, with explanatory material, spanning approximately 200 years in the history of the Americas. It includes 124 treaties, speeches, essays, and other documents from the early 1800’s through the beginning of this century. Its coverage of the 20th century and the interaction of U.S. and Latin American policies during that time is particularly thorough.


Brian Latell
After Fidel: The Inside Story of Castro’s Regime and Cuba’s Next Leader
Latell, a veteran Cuba analyst, provides valuable insights into the backgrounds of the Castro brothers, how their experiences have shaped their actions, and the implications for the inevitable transition of power that is already underway.


David McCullough
The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914
This is a definitive account of the over four-decade long struggle to build the Panama Canal. It details the French and U.S.-led efforts behind perhaps the greatest engineering challenge of its time, and the politics behind it. The financial, sanitation, and public health elements of the story are interestingly told and clearly explained.


Candice Millard
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey
After his crushing 1912 electoral defeat at the hands of Woodrow Wilson, “Teddy” Roosevelt’s idea of therapy was to accept a spot on an expedition down an unexplored branch of the Amazon so treacherous as to be called the “River of Doubt.” Poor preparation and non-stop danger combined to turn the trip into a series of near-death experiences. A great character study, and a great look at the South America of that time.


William Hickling Prescott
History of the Conquest of Peru: With a Preliminary View of the Civilization of the Incas
Embroiled in a bloody civil war pitting two Inca factions against one another, Peru fell to a small group of Spanish conquerors led by the Pizarros. This did not bring an end to the factional fighting, however, as the conflict then shifted to competing groups of conquerors. This sweeping study captures the drama and detail of the events that shaped the region.


Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer
Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala
When Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz was overthrown in a 1954 coup, it ultimately led to a 36-year civil war in that Central American nation. Bitter Fruit focuses on the role that U.S. intervention—driven by a variety of political and economic factors—played in Arbenz’ overthrow.


Thomas E. Skidmore and Peter H. Smith
Modern Latin America
Skidmore and Smith’s volume is one of the classic textbooks on Latin America. It features clear and concise accounts of the people, cultures, and nations of the region.


Jaime Suchlicki
Cuba: From Columbus to Castro
In this one-volume tome on Cuba, Suchlicki provides a concise history of Cuba’s past and present. The insights into the Cuban people and their leadership’s mindset help illuminate the issues affecting the island and its relationships with the world.


Hugh Thomas
Rivers of Gold
A richly detailed and eloquently written account of the conquest of the Americas, Thomas concentrates on the two generations of Spanish explorers that followed Columbus’ journey to the New World.


Amy Wilentz
The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier
Haiti’s “President for Life,” Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, had his grandly-named tenure cut short by a military coup in 1986. During the brief window between his fall and the ascent of an elected (but no less controversial, and later to be deposed) president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the author took the opportunity to capture the flavor of Haiti, its people, and the political and economic movements that make up and drive the country’s turbulent history.

NON-FICTION: MEMOIRS



Fernando Henrique Cardoso
The Accidental President of Brazil: A Memoir
This memoir from former two-term Brazilian president (1995-2003) Cardoso provides rare insight into political developments in Brazil in the last half of the 20th century. It is a candid reflection on his successes (replacing a military dictatorship, curbing hyperinflation) and failures (his problematic relationship with his successor) that also provides a context for studying Brazil’s political evolution in recent years.


Nicholas Coghlan
The Saddest Country: On Assignment in Colombia
Canadian diplomat Nicholas Coghlan spent three years on assignment in Colombia. While there, he took every opportunity to tour the nation, with emphasis on its remotest and most conflicted regions. His reflections capture the stunning extremes of the country, juxtaposing its beauty and diversity with the horrors of its internal conflict and its illicit drug trade.


Carlos Eire
Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy
The citation for this 2003 National Book Award winner reads, “Noted religion scholar Carlos Eire’s idyllic and privileged childhood in Havana came to an end in the wake of Castro’s revolution. In this memoir, he reveals an exotic, magical Cuba and an eccentric family: his father – a municipal judge and art collector – believed that in a past life he had been King Louis XVI. In 1962, Carlos Eire’s world changed forever when he and his brother were among the 14,000 children airlifted off the island, their parents left behind. In chronicling his life before and after his arrival in the U.S., Eire’s personal story is also a meditation on loss and suffering, redemption and rebirth.”


Jamaica Kincaid
My Brother
A heartfelt reflection on family, culture in Antigua, and a brother’s affliction with AIDS. Through a poetic and candid narrative, Kincaid illustrates her sibling’s life as both a Rastafarian and a brother. Although the work centers upon the dying of Devon Drew, it gives a compelling account of growing up on the poverty-stricken island of Antigua.


Armando Valladares
Against All Hope: A Memoir of Life in Castro’s Gulag
One morning, twenty-three year old Armando Valladares, an employee of the Cuban Postal Savings Bank, was handed a propaganda sign to display at his desk: “If Fidel is a communist, then put me on the list. He’s got the right idea.” Valladares didn’t agree and turned down the sign. This and subsequent refusals to embrace regime dogma and renounce his religious beliefs cost him 22 years in prison under continuous torture; a fate ended only when his smuggled writings drew worldwide attention.

POLITICAL/MILITARY SCIENCE



Kyle Longley
In the Eagle’s Shadow: The United States and Latin America
Originally written as a college textbook, this book by a professor of foreign relations at Arizona State University outlines the history of Latin America from its colonization by European powers to the present day and highlights key points and issues in U.S. – Latin American relations along that timeline.


John Lynch
Simon Bolivar: A Life
As the “Liberator of South America,” Bolivar presided over the independence of his native Venezuela and five other nations: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Perú. Lynch’s biography portrays Bolivar as shaped by exposure to Europe’s enlightenment while living in Paris, and honed during a visit to the U.S. The key to his multiple successes, Lynch argues, was his pragmatism and flexibility in selectively applying those lessons learned—sometimes in paradoxical ways--to the varying circumstances in each country.


Jennifer McCoy and David Myers
The Unraveling of Representative Democracy in Venezuela
Having failed to take power in an abortive 1992 coup, then Lt. Colonel Hugo Chávez Frías absorbed his lessons learned and was ultimately elected president of Venezuela in 1998. Since then, he has worked to dismantle one of Latin America’s most stable representative democracies with varying degrees of success. Thirteen scholars debate the implications of “Chavismo” in Venezuela and throughout the region.


David Pion-Berlin (ed. )
Civil-Military Relations in Latin America: New Analytical Perspectives
In the post-Cold War period, Latin American armed forces no longer directly rule many of the region’s countries, but they remain a powerful influence on their governments and societies. These nations’ politicians and civilian institutions face many challenges as they work to build a properly balanced role for their militaries.


Fareed Zakaria
The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad
Dr. Zakaria’s controversial thesis is that “democracy,” when defined as a form of populism, is not proving up to the task as a framework for dealing with major domestic and foreign policy issues. He posits that institutions of “Illiberal democracy”—public entities at least one step removed from the ballot box—are the most effective precisely because they work in an undemocratic manner.


Tony Zinni
The Battle for Peace: A Frontline Vision of America’s Power and Purpose
Retired Marine General Anthony Zinni, former commander of the U.S. Central Command and special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, gives his assessment of the state of the world’s security and what the U.S.’ role should be. He calls for a renewed emphasis on soft power as the primary tool by which the U.S. should support shared goals of social / political stability and economic prosperity.

ECONOMICS/GLOBALISM



Thomas H. Becker
Doing Business in the New Latin America: A Guide to Cultures, Practices and Opportunities
Intended as a primer for businesspeople, Becker describes the “people, places, and possibilities” of Latin America—as well as the U.S. Hispanic populace—with an eye to illustrating cultural and other factors that impact business dealings.


Albert Fishlow and James Jones
The United States and the Americas
The shared social, political, cultural and economic ties that bind the nations of the Americas are stronger than those of any other region in the world. The Western Hemisphere is also increasingly challenged by drugs, illegal immigration, natural disasters, environmental issues, and other regional topics that demand cooperative solutions.


Franklin Foer
How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
In a series of ten essays, Foer explores the power that soccer has over the inhabitants of various countries around the world, linking these nations’ domestic and international politics to the local flavor of the sport. In doing so, he uses soccer as a metaphor to explain several globalization trends.


Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner and Alvaro Vargas Llosa
Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot
Three former members of the old Left dissect and examine the character (the Latin American idiot) in a cultural critique that combines analysis with humor and a relentless self-criticism. The authors challenge the populist ideologies of both the Left and the Right and argue that much of what is wrong with Latin America is not the fault of the U.S., but rather the result of Latin Americans’ own mismanagement.


Andrés Oppenheimer
Saving the Americas
Miami Herald author and Pulitzer Prize winner Andrés Oppenheimer compares and contrasts the challenges and opportunities faced by the developing nations of Latin America and their counterparts elsewhere in the world. Oppenheimer’s position is that the region is at risk of political and economic irrelevance if its nations do not act decisively to address their concerns. He also discusses key issues linking (and dividing) the U.S. and its neighbors--to include immigration, trade, and the environment—and proposes strategies for addressing these topics

FICTION/HISTORICAL FICTION:



Isabel Allende
Inés of My Soul: A Novel (Inés del alma mía: una novela)
This historical novel—set in Spain, Perú, and Chile—describes the time of the Spanish conquest of the Americas through the eyes of Inés Suárez, the real-life wife and widow of one conquistador and later lover of another. Inés writes of her humble beginnings as a seamstress in Spain; her marriage to a conquistador who spent most of his time away from his family in search of the New World’s treasures; her journey to Perú; and, following her husband’s death, her long affair with one of Pizarro’s officers charged with carving out “civilization” in Chile.


Jorge Amado
Gabriela, cravo e canela (Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon)
In 1925, the provincial port of Ilheus in the Brazilian state of Bahia was a boomtown driven by the distribution and ýexport of cacao, the region’s primary product. One one level, this novel tells the story of an improbable romance between Nacib Saad, an Arab bar owner, and Gabriela, the title’s mixed-race native who out of desperation takes a job as a cook at the bar. This tale is interwoven with a second theme: the social, political, and economic ýstruggle between rural cacao growers and the city elites promoting competing visions of development.


Miguel Angel Asturias
Men of Maize (Hombres de Maíz)
This novel, which earned its author the 1967 Nobel Prize, addresses the clash of cultures seen among Guatemala’s Ladinos, Mestizos, and Indians as they interact during the early 20th century. Central to this is the role of maize—corn—in the lives of each of these groups. The Maya see themselves as “men of maize,” almost literally one with the land, while others are further removed from this communion. Asturias depicts this distancing as the root cause of their social conflict and an indictment of many post-colonial changes accomplished in the name of progress.


Gabriel García Márquez
The General in His Labyrinth (El general en su laberinto)
Simon Bolivar’s founding role in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela is an unprecedented achievement. But by 1830, the 46 year old Bolivar is portrayed as bitter and disillusioned. He embarks on what turns out to be his final voyage on the Magdalena River, contemplating his legacy, what might have been, and his own decline.


Gabriel García Márquez
Love in the Time of Cholera (El amor en los tiempos de Cólera)
The novels of Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez paint a fascinating, complex view of South American society. In Love, the story of a now-elderly man and woman who may have a second chance at romance after the death of the woman’s husband of 50+ years, Garcia Marquez uses flashbacks to illustrate the power of love in its various forms, while at the same time providing insights into the people of the region.


Ernest Hemingway
The Old Man and the Sea
The author’s classic novella about Santiago, a world-weary Cuban fisherman struggling against real, metaphorical, and imagined adversity, earned him the 1954 Nobel Prize. It is a short read but its powerful imagery conveys a timeless message on the strength of the human spirit.

Joshua Marston
Maria Full of Grace (Film)
Seventeen-year-old Maria ekes out a subsistence life with her family in rural Colombia. Feeling trapped in a dead-end job at a rose plantation, Maria accepts a high-pay, high-risk offer to smuggle heroin into the U.S. as a “mule”—swallowing packets of the drug. Her subsequent ordeal provides insight into this very human side of the illicit drug trade.


V.S. Naipaul
A Way in the World
Naipaul, the 2001 Nobel laureate in literature, weaves a series of nine linked narratives joined by the common theme of colonialism in the Americas. Although technically a novel, the main character and narrator, an ethnic Indian from Trinidad, is a thinly-disguised version of the author who frames his introspection using historical events ranging from the journeys of Columbus and Raleigh to Trinidad’s post-WW II movement toward independence.


Lawrence Thornton
Imagining Argentina
During Argentina’s 1976-1983 military-led dictatorship, thousands of persons believed or suspected to oppose the government were seized and held in a network of detention centers. Many disappeared without a trace. Carlos Rueda, a playwright and spouse of one of those arrested, finds himself able to conjure visions of missing persons and see their fate. This book is a classic example of magical realism in Latin American writing.


Lily Tuck
The News From Paraguay
A historical novel of nineteenth-century Paraguay told largely through Ella Lynch, an Irishwoman who, in Paris, met Francisco Solano Lopez, the son of Paraguay’s dictator. Ella was a real 19th-century courtesan. She became his mistress and, after Lopez (known as Franco) succeeded his father, she was the most powerful woman in the country. As an Irishwoman in Paraguay, Ella is an outsider. But so, in a way, is Franco, a megalomaniac who builds a theatre modeled on La Scala and wages a disastrous war against Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina.


Mario Vargas Llosa
Fiesta del Chivo (The Feast of the Goat)
The “Goat” in the title refers to the nickname of Dominican dictator Gen. Rafael Trujillo, known (and reviled) for his excesses. Vargas Llosa’s story chronicles the leader’s faltering state of mind—his rage and paranoia—while his assassination is imminent. The people’s perspective is seen through the eyes of Urania, a onetime teenage Trujillo victim who returns to the island years later.

GENERAL/MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS



Mark J. Plotkin
Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Rain forest
Enthralled by the mysteries of the Amazon and its peoples, Plotkin explores the rainforests of the Amazon and studies its diverse flora and fauna, which—in the manner that quinine from trees defeated malaria--may be the source for many lifesaving drugs. However, the encroachment of “civilization” threatens both these potentially irreplaceable plants and the people who best know their properties.


Rusty Young and Thomas McFadden
Marching Powder: A True Story of Friendship, Cocaine, and South America’s Strangest Jail
Thomas McFadden, a confessed drug dealer, is arrested by Bolivian authorities and ultimately lands in La Paz’ San Pedro prison, a parallel society in which prisoners “buy” their cell like any other real estate and pay for their food in a bizarre economy where the rich have everything—including sex, drugs, luxury items, etc.—and the poor struggle to survive. One of McFadden’s profit making schemes involves giving guided tours of the complex, which is how he met Young. Fascinated, Young bribes guards to spend three months in the prison, gathering information that became this book.