Faces Of Latin America

Faces of Latin America has sold more than 50,000 copies since it first appeared in 1991, and is widely considered to be the best available introduction in English to the economies, politics, demography, social structures, environment and cultures of Latin America. Duncan Green and Sue Branford take the reader beyond the conventional media’s fixation on the drug trade, corrupt politicians and military leaders, death squads, and guerrilla movements to celebrate the vibrant history and culture of Latin America’s people. Faces of Latin America examines some of the key forces—from conquest and the growth of the commodity trade, military rule, land distribution, industrialization, and migration to civil wars and revolutions, the debt crisis, neoliberalism, and NAFTA—shaping the region’s political and social history. Green also analyzes the response to these transformations—the rise of freedom fighters and populists, guerrilla wars and grassroots social movements, union organizing and trade movements, liberation theology, and the women’s movement, sustainable development and the fight for the rainforest, popular culture and the mass media—providing a fascinating and unparalleled portrait of the continent. This new edition is thoroughly updated and covers recent developments in Latin America such as the growing costs of export agriculture, the rise of Brazilian manufacturing, connections between the war on drugs and the war on terror, the social costs of neoliberalism, the Argentinian default, the search for new economic models in Venezuela and elsewhere, the decline in direct U.S. military intervention in the region, growing urbanization, urban poverty and casual employment, outmigration and the importance of family remittances from abroad, rampant environmental destruction, the struggles of indigenous movements, and more.

Faces of Latin America celebrates the vibrant culture of Latin America's people and looks at some of the key actors in the region's turbulent politics - the military, Indians, grassroots protest groups, guerrillas, the radical Church and the women's movement. The second edition of this best-selling introduction to Latin America has been extensively updated and enlarged, providing an unparalleled portrait of the continent at the end of the millennium. Duncan Green traces the roots of the region's underdevelopment and poverty, with a new chapter on the role of the state, as well as sections on life in the city and the countryside, and Latin America's recent conversion to the free-market economy.

A timely update of the most authoritative and popular textbook currently available on the region in the UK, this third edition of our bestselling title outlines the recent exciting developments of the most dynamic region in the developing world. The resurgence of left-wing politics, the continuing struggle between indigenous peoples and the interests of global capital, on-going environmental struggles which have major implications for the rest of the world - all described in Green's accessible and authoritative style. This third edition has been extensively updated and enlarged, with new sections on indigenous protest and social movements, the environment, democratisation, corruption, and the rise of the new left.

"Simple, unpretentious narrative makes this volume an accessible and inviting source for nonspecialists. Its many photographs enhance the appeal of the book and provide the faces referred to in the title. Throughout the volume, framed insets open up the text to provide an occasional 'window' for a statistical table, a biographical sketch, or to give voice to a first-person narrative that humanizes the text."--Multicultural Review

0

PRAISE FOR THE PREVIOUS EDITIONS: "Rare is the book in English that provides a general overview of Latin America and the Caribbean. Rarer still is the good, topical, and largely dispassionate book that contributes to a better understanding of the rest of the hemisphere. Peter Winn has managed to produce both."—Miami Herald "This magisterial work provides an accessible and engaging introduction to the complex tapestry of contemporary Latin America and the Caribbean."—Foreign Affairs "A clear, level-headed snapshot of a region in transition…. Winn is most interesting when he discusses the larger issues and to his credit he does this often."—Washington Post Book World "Balanced and wide-ranging…. After canvassing the legacies of the European conquerors, Winn examines issues of national identity and economic development…. Other discussions survey internal migration, the role of indigenous peoples, the complexity of race relations, and the treatment of women." —Publishers Weekly

Combining historical and ethnographic research methods, along with a thorough review of existing literature on the study of Latin American Christianity, New Faces of God in Latin America addresses the important question of how global religion and local culture interact, situating the experience of Latin American Christianity in the broader conversations in the field of world Christianity, particularly with respect to the growing understanding of Christianity as a non-Western religion. Through case studies of different Pentecostal experiences in Latin America, Virginia Garrard explores cross-pollination and interaction with indigenous religions and cultures, finding widely varied responses to the material and spiritual needs of Latin Americans. The author locates Latin American religious experience within a field known as the "history of non-Western Christianity." This focuses on the experience, perceptions, and adaptations of those who adopt Christianity outside the context of Western missionary or other colonizing projects. The book engages with the intersection of culture and spirit-filled religion, with an eye to how those interactions help frame an alternative religious modernity. Throughout the book, the author uses culture as both a heuristic lens and as a variable within the equation. She argues that culture helps us understand how people engage with and reconfigure global religious flows within their own imaginations and for their own parochial uses.

There is something that makes Latin America unique, different from all of the other places in the world. Take away all of the magnificent colors, the parrot reds, the mellow yellows, the ocean blues and the pasture greens and you will see, in black and white, it is the soul of the people. This is a book of photographs by George Owen with some of those faces.