SOUTHCOM

The CIA World Factbook contains similar material and is freely available online, but Nations of the World includes a business directory, banking hours, and transportation information; a useful ready-reference source for reliable country information not quickly available elsewhere

In this hugely praised narrative, New York Times reporter Larry Rohter takes the reader on a lively trip through Brazil's history, culture, and booming economy. Going beyond the popular stereotypes of samba, supermodels, and soccer, he shows us a stunning and varied landscape--from breathtaking tropical beaches to the lush and dangerous Amazon rainforest--and how a complex and vibrant people defy definition.

Focusing on the experiences of Brazil, Chile, and Argentina, Dictatorship in South America delves into the wider political aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, an event that captured the minds of the public and pushed political regimes toward greater conservatism. Dávila argues that the radical utopian dreams of students and workers in the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, fueled in later years by events in 1960s United States and Europe, were confronted by equally radical right-wing projects realized by the armed forces in Brazil, Chile and Argentina. Yet behind the appearance of order and progress promoted by the generals, whose unapologetic capitalism disguised unsustainable capital flight and exploitation, lay internal disorder, violence, and the systematic abuse of human rights: the 'disappeared' were a real social group, albeit defined by their absence and presumed deaths. This history of three countries' experience with dictatorship, economic crisis and grassroots re-democratization brings a new perspective to the study of modern Latin American history.

Latin America since 1780 provides an accessible introductory text aimed at Spanish linguists and historians taking modules in Latin American history. It provides a compelling continental-based historical narrative supported throughout by incisive evaluation, pedagogical features, and authentic source texts in the original Spanish. This book focuses on key events such as the Wars of Independence, the Mexican, Cuban and Sandinista Revolutions, and the recent shift to the left, as well as providing short inserts on the main political protagonists such as Simon Bolívar, Getulio Vargas and Hugo Chávez.