Reddit mentions: The best historical latin america biographies

This book seems to be the starting point to understand southamerican politic history:

http://www.amazon.com/Open-Veins-Latin-America-Centuries-ebook/dp/B009AC31TG/ref=la_B000AP701M_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412254480&sr=1-1

This is a great Book by Heraldo Muñoz

http://www.amazon.com/Dictators-Shadow-Under-Augusto-Pinochet-ebook/dp/B0097D7FSQ/ref=la_B000ARBF4S_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1412254449&sr=1-1

Maybe you should ask some specific questions so people here could share their views.

In a nutshell, Chilean society is quite divided by the events related to Pinochet's dictatorship: Supporters, Critics, and people who couldn't care less about it and want desperately to move on.

The only decent source of good political articles is Ciper (On the left side of things). Economics:Diario Financiero (on the right...)

My personal view, is that the privatizacion of basic services like electricity, water, phone has been negative in the long run, but in a way it was unavoidable. Privatizations in general seemed to help to improve the quality of service in some cases, and helped the economy. The problem is that we don't seem to be very good with our anti monopoly regulations, so when some company gets big, they can be very soon seting the rules of the whole industry . (it happens a lot in retail).

The biggest fiasco for me, has been our pension system: AFP's.
They are being promoted as a wonderful system all around the world, but it's full of holes and problems: Our society has a huge concentration of wealth. 70% of our society earns less than U$20.000 a year, so they can't have really the possibility of extra savings. AFP's are designed to work around big saving investments, people from that 70% of the society will NEVER reach the number they require to have a minimal decent pension. AFP's can lose your money in their investemts but they take their yearly fee anyway ("Comisions"), so they never lose.

The current educational reforms are the result of what it was to have 30 years of private education which increased the gap between classes, because good education was available to the people who could afford it, so it didn't really promoted better opportunities, and a lot of politicians got rich thanks to it (Ironically, a good number of them, from the left wing).

We shouldn't get back to a system where everything is state regulated, but that won't happen anyway. The two biggest political blocks from the left and right are quite fine with out actual system.


Finally I must say that Australian wine is really nice too.
and a word of advice: bring some Vegemite and TimTams.
There's nothing like it over here.

Many people love Cartagena and think it's the best city in the country. It has a very charming old walled town and is more pleasant place to wander around and relax than Bogota.

The lost city, about a 5 hour drive from Cartagena, is a fun and unique hike through the jungle. My wife and I chose to do this over going to the Amazon. I posted a short video of the hike here: https://www.reddit.com/r/travel/comments/3zg2h6/i_hiked_to_the_lost_city_in_colombia_last_month/

I heard there's a coffee region in Minca, up north near Cartagena and the Lost City. I didn't visit it myself, but that's an option if you really want to visit coffee but can't fit in a few days to head to Salenta.

In Bogota, we really loved the grafitti walking tour. It was a nice way to see the old town and learn something about modern Colombian culture and politics. Our guide also invited us to a house party that night, which was a great way to get to meet some of the locals. http://bogotagraffiti.com/

In Medellin, we liked the Comuna 13 walking tour. It takes you through some of the poorest areas and talks about some of the present-day civic projects that are improving the lives of the poor, such as the gondolas, escalators, and libraries.
http://www.comuna13tours.com/

For a nice meal in Medellin, go to the restaurant in the middle of the botanical gardens. That was one of our favorites.

I recommend you read the book Killing Pablo. A good read and really educational about the turmoil the country went through between the 1950s and 1990s.
http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Pablo-Worlds-Greatest-Outlaw/dp/0142000957

I'd recommend Cormac McCarthy. The Road is a truly great book, but he has some other good ones too. A movie by the same name was recently released, also good. But I think the book is better. However, the writing style is not your average writing style. It's bland and bleak and the dialogue reeks of the hopelessness of the characters. But it mirrors the environment the characters live in, so I thought it was really well done.

If you liked "Into The Wild" you might enjoy "Under The Banner Of Heaven" by the same author. It essentially gives a fairly robust history lesson of the Mormon religion in about 350 pages.

If you're into a survival book, you'll enjoy "Alive". It is a true story about a Rugby team in the early 70's whose plain crashed. The survivors ended up having to eat human meat from those that died.

The Tlacochcalcatl picture is actually the best picture you're going to get for instant recognition. Basically whenever you see Tlacaelel portrayed (which isn't often) he's wearing his Tlacochcalcatl costume or a costume that looks somewhat like the dress of a Tlatoani, but the second costume would not set him apart very well. The Tlacochcalcatl costume is significantly more recognizable, and whenever I see it he is the first person I think of.

As for glyphs, the Mexica did not have a fully phonetic writing system, instead they combined pictograms and phonetic writing. It was possible that his name was written in a more "writing-like" form at some point, but unfortunately 99% of the native books were lost to Spanish fires, including every single one from Tenochtitlan, and the majority of the remaining codices are post-conquest, so I can't really think of a better way to represent him than that picture.

Fortunately, we do actually know enough about him to write an entire biography of him! Several of the post-conquest nahua historians, such as Chimalpahin, wrote extensively about his life. Just earlier this year historian Susan Schroeder wrote the book Tlacaelel Remembered: Mastermind of the Aztec Empire. I bought it the day it came out and it is a fantastic book. I would definitely recommend it, it's amazing and rare to have so many details about a precolumbian historical figure.

https://www.amazon.com/Tlacaelel-Remembered-Mastermind-Civilization-American/dp/0806154349

Just finished Jungle of Stone by William Carlsen. Really enjoyable and while it did shed some light on the expedition of Stephens' and Catherwood, it left me wanting for more on the subject. I'll have to look into the bibliography to get more recommendations on the subject, but if anyone has some suggestions off hand that would be great as well.

Jungle of Stone: The Extraordinary Journey of John L. Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, and the Discovery of the Lost Civilization of the Maya https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062407406/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_dS3IDb9X53SGA

Any book by Mary Roach- her books are hilarious, random, and informative. I like Jon Krakauer's, Sarah Vowell's, and Bill Bryson's books as well.

Some of my favorites that I can think of offhand (as another poster mentioned, I loved Devil in the White City)

No Picnic on Mount Kenya

Guns, Germs, and Steel

Collapse

The Closing of the Western Mind

What is the What

A Long Way Gone

Alliance of Enemies

The Lucifer Effect

The World Without Us

What the Dog Saw

The God Delusion (you'd probably enjoy Richard Dawkins' other books as well if you like science)

One Down, One Dead

Lust for Life

Lost in Shangri-La

Endurance

True Story

Havana Nocturne

I haven't seen the movie. It's based on an actual book he wrote of the same name.

Also, he kept diaries which surely provide a pretty good insight into his character, the good and the bad. I've only read snippets and quotes from these two sources.

I haven't read it, but this seems to be the best rated biography of Che. I might get it myself.

As far as Churchill goes, he was a really prolific writer and there are tons and tons of biographies on him, so there is a lot to choose from. There's pretty good description of his younger "adventures" called "Churchill: Wanted Dead or Alive". As for his later life, there's about a million good books and documentaries on that.

I'll have to look up Dan Carlin as I've not heard of him. I did find out today that I can bring three books with me to detox. Yay! I'm currently reading Che (I try to stay clear of politics but love the history of it) and am glad that I can bring this along to distract me. The book is long and I'll probably takes notes as usual so this will give me something to do in my free time.

You might like Alive by Piers Paul Read. It's the true story of a Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes. There is also an excellent documentary about the subject called Stranded: I Come From a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains that is available on Netflix.

Another exciting non-fiction book is The Cruelest Miles by Gay Salisbury and Laney Salisbury. It covers the sled run to and from Nome to deliver serum for the diptheria epidemic in the town. It was this initial run that inspired the annual Iditarod sled run in Alaska.

I don't know how accurate it is (it seems like every book written about him has people that will say it's false) but Companero was a good biography, IMO. You could also read his own work, like Guerrilla Warfare and On Global Justice, etc. to get a sense of how he might have thought.

The Conquest Of New Spain - by Bernal Diaz - Diaz was one of the officers under Cortez and the story of his real life experiences in encountering a 'new world' read like a 'high fantasy' novel. In fact, some of his experiences were borrowed by novel writers and later used in their stories - most notably by J.R.R. Tolkien, and Robert E. Howard.

You might also be interested in The Travels - by Marco Polo - he traveled quite extensively through Asia during the late 13th century - and his writing was one of the sources which influenced later explorers like Christopher Columbus.

If you like this, you'll be amazed by all the crazy stuff Escobar did. Mark Bowden's "Killing Pablo" is a pretty amazing book about it. (He's also the writer of "Black Hawk Down," for what it's worth.)

I'm really hoping that they decide to make the book Havana Nocturne into a series one day. It's the most natural sequel to Boardwalk Empire and covers a time period of great change in the mob. 1957 in particular. It was the end of the golden times for the mob.

http://www.amazon.com/Havana-Nocturne-Owned-Cuba-Revolution/dp/0061712744

Interview with the author

http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/6vh7d8/t-j--english

Yeah he is a pretty polarizing figure. I recommend the following.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0679759409

Che by Jon Anderson.

And to better understand the politics of that time,

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3218736-u-s-presidents-and-latin-american-interventions

Yes, the hands down best book about the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar is "Killing Pablo" by Mark Bowden. Very well written and very informative.

It's a little before those events, but as far as leading up them, I loved Havana Nocturne : How the Mob Owned Cuba and then Lost it to the Revolution by T.J. English.

I didn't know a lot about Cuba before reading it, but came away much more informed - and it was very exciting book.

I agree to some extent he can be kind of an asshole but I wouldn't have wanted to be a great starting point to Che's beliefs!](http://www.amazon.com/The-Motorcycle-Diaries-American-Journey/dp/1876175702).

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

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I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

Hey, I don't know if anyone else is into reading about Mexico's cartel stuff but there is a book, "El Sicario: The Autobiography of a Mexican Assassin", it's an interview with a guy who used to do this sort of stuff from the time he was a kid up until he had to flee to the US.

Charles Bowden has a lot of books on the US-Mexico issues, they're all really good and worth a read.

> Peru. I want to learn more about the history of that place, and visit machu pichu. Very interested.

I've read and recommend:

• Turn Right at Machu Picchu
  
  
• The Last Days of the Incas
  
  
• Andes
  
  
• 1491 and 1493

Havana Nocturne is a great book about Meyer Lansky. Highly recommended, if you haven't read it.

I have a few you might be interested in:

Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord

Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky
The footnotes to Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky

Foundation by Isaac Asimov This book will bring up many interesting discussions on power systems, for a discussion group I would recommend just reading the first book in the series and discussing the themes.

The Mexican Revolution by Alan Knight

Dreams of Freedom : A Ricardo Flores Magon Reader

Stone Age Economics by Marshall Sahlins

The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

Fragments of Anarchist Anthropology by David Graeber

[Zapatista Reader] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Zapatista-Reader-Nation-Books/dp/1560253355)

Our Word is Our Weapon

The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy

Government is Violence by Leo Tolstoy

That's as much as I can remember, but my recommendations are bias towards my interests.

Like I said keep reading. If you want expand your library: https://www.amazon.com/Exposing-Real-Che-Guevara-Idolize/dp/1595230270/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-7624290-2170554?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1185486017&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Guevara-Liberty-Independent-Studies-Political/dp/1598130056

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1535

If you need a good book to read I would recommend this one: http://www.amazon.com/Exposing-Real-Che-Guevara-Idolize/dp/1595230270

Well, the classic would be Orwell's Homage to Catalonia. Beyond that, I suppose you could also check out Our Word Is Our Weapon and The Zapatista Reader. I've linked to Amazon simply for the summaries; you should be able to get both from any university or large public library exchange. The EZLN aren't anarchists per se, but they're close enough as to make no difference in my view.

There is also History of the Makhnovist Movement (1918–1921), by Peter Arshinov, that's definitely worth a read.

Che held free clinics for rural farmers in Cuba even while they were fighting the Cuban army. Free immunizations, checkups etc...the majority of rural farmers in Cuba were black. I assume you are a product of the American school system so all you know is what the state department tells you. Read a few books....http://www.amazon.ca/Che-Guevara-A-Revolutionary-Life/dp/080214411X...http://www.amazon.ca/The-Motorcycle-Diaries-American-Journey/dp/1876175702...http://www.amazon.ca/Our-America-Theirs-Alliance-Progress/dp/1876175818. These are just the start of what got me reading about this man.

I haven't actually read this, but I heard an awesome interview on NPR and bought it for my girlfriend.

Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It to the Revolution. Apparently JFK had a threesome while couple mobsters watched from behind a one-way mirror and wished they had a video camera.

http://www.amazon.com/Havana-Nocturne-Owned-Cuba-Revolution/dp/0061712744/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314150942&sr=8-1

Machu Picchu is an excellent choice. Read Turn Right at Machu Picchu before you go.

I strongly recommend this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Exposing-Real-Che-Guevara-Idolize/dp/1595230270

Fontova learned firsthand what kind of person Guevara was.

from: http://www.amazon.com/Exposing-Real-Che-Guevara-Idolize/dp/1595230270

I'm to lazy to Source this, but I got it from this book, and the author has everything sourced.

Here's a good article by the same writer: http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/2/23/171252.shtml

This should be mandatory freshman year reading in college: http://www.amazon.com/Exposing-Real-Che-Guevara-Idolize/dp/1595230270

https://www.amazon.com/Companero-Life-Death-Che-Guevara/dp/0679759409/ref=nodl_

Havana Nocturne https://www.amazon.com/Havana-Nocturne-Owned-Cuba-Revolution/dp/0061712744

http://www.amazon.com/Exposing-Real-Che-Guevara-Idolize/dp/1595230270

El Sicario: The Autobiography of a Mexican Assassin
https://www.amazon.com/El-Sicario-Autobiography-Mexican-Assassin-ebook/dp/B004X2UEKC

He did some good things in his life, I won't lie. Early on he seemed to be a kind and caring individual, as well as being very intelligent. On his motorcycle journeys he witnessed things that later led him to fight for a "revolution", and his heart was initially in the right place, feeling sympathetic to people he'd seen being crushed or oppressed, however his judgment of what caused much of this suffering, and his response to it, was misguided and based largely on ignorance. And rather quickly his actions picked up momentum and his focus and intentions became egotistical, self centered, violent, and merciless. It was no longer about helping the oppressed, but about oppressing and controlling.

There are actually a lot of books out there about who Che Guevara really was, that pick through all the Hollywood lies and glamorization, and expose him for his true brutal self. Interestingly and tellingly, many of these books and accounts are written by Cubans. He is widely despised all across Latin America, and for good reason. It's mostly only in America, in the land of ignorant, suburban white folks with little understanding of hardship but a great hard on for misrepresented countercultural icons, that he is idolized. The ironic thing is that every person who has ever worn a Che Guevara shirt, a standard, naive, counter-cultural fellow with remotely idealistic views or desire for freedom in any form - these people would have been the kind of people Che rounded up and had murdered. These people were the enemy to Che and his revolution. Che systematically crushed all dissent, murdering anyone challenging the law or his power, or wanting anything resembling freedom.

Here are some books to look for: http://www.amazon.com/Exposing-Real-Che-Guevara-Idolize/dp/1595230270

http://www.amazon.com/Guevara-Liberty-Independent-Studies-Political/dp/1598130056/ref=pd_sim_b_5


one of many good articles.. .
http://www.slate.com/id/2107100/

Alive.

(Okay, bad joke!)

There are 450,000 results in google for '"Che Guevara" torture':
link

Either Che Guevara torturing people is the single biggest fallacy propagated in all of history, or there is some fire around that smoke.

And while I haven't read them, there are entire books out there that are supposedly chock full of first hand accounts and deep research exposing Che for who he really is.


Example 1


Example 2


Have you simply ignored these books? Or do you have reason to believe that you have not only "out-researched" the authors, but that the authors are actually making things up?

Read the source material "Killing Pablo", then watch "Narcos"

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Pablo-Worlds-Greatest-Outlaw/dp/0142000957

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/59cc0d9ee4b0b99ee4a9ca1e

Just putting this out there for the left wing morons who don't get it:


>Che Guevara also helped establish the first Cuban concentration camp in Guanahacabibes in 1960. This camp was the first of many. From the Nazis, the Cuban government also adapted from the Nazis the motto at Auschwitz “Work sets you free” changing it to “Work will make you men.” According to Álvaro Vargas Llosa, homosexuals, Jehova’s Witnesses, Afro-Cuban priests, and others who were believed to have committed a crime against revolutionary morals, were forced to work in these camps to correct their “anti-social behavior.” Many of them died; others were tortured or raped.
>
>Guevara exposed also racist views. In his diary, he referred to black people as “those magnificent examples of the African race who have maintained their racial purity thanks to their lack of an affinity with bathing.” He also thought white Europeans were superior to people of African descent, and described Mexicans as “a band of illiterate Indians.”

Charming fellow.