Alison M. Jones Photography:
Recommended Books: Latin America


Argentina books

ARGENTINA ~ Magazines

See on-line travel guides at RealWorld Holidays.

ARGENTINA ~ Books

Argentina from the Air. Photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, text by Felisa Larivière. Ediciones Larivière.

Argentine Cooking. Mónica Hoss de le Comte. Buenos Aires: Maizal Ediciones, 2002.

Arte Rural. Photographs by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, text by Mariano G. Fernández Alt. Ediciones Larivière.

Far Away and Long Ago (1985) and Idle Days in Patagonia (1984), W. H. Hudson, Everyman.

Insight Guide of Argentina. Interesting general overview for tourists.

Mate: South American Friendly Symbol/ Simbolo de Amistad. Buenos Aires: Zagier & Urruty Publications, 1997. www.patagoniashop.net.

Bridges, E. Lucas. Uttermost Part of the Earth: Indians of Tierra del Fuego. 1949. Bridges shares his experiences among the Yamanas and Onas peoples of Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego. Ushuaia, the southernmost city of the world nestled on the Beagle Channel, and its surrounding islands have been called the land of fire because indigenous peoples would boat from island to island carrying their fire with them. This book is on the Explorers Club’s list of 100 best books on 20th century exploration.

Chatwin, Bruce. In Patagonia. New York: Penguin Books, 1977. A wonderfully written blend of fact, myth and fantasy. The book to take with youon your trip to Argentina, if you only take one!

Collier, S. On tango: The Life, Music and Times of Carlos Gardel, Univ. of Pittsburg Press, 1986.

Crouch, Gregory. Enduring Patagonia. New York: Random House, 2001.

Darwin, Charles. Voyage of the Beagle: Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of HMS Beagle Round the World. New York: The Modern Library, 2001 (originally 1909). Chapters VI through XI relate Darwin’s experiences along the coast of Argentina. Here he muses that the Patagonian plains are “...without habitations, without water, without trees, without mountains.... Why then... have these arid wastes taken so firm a hold on my memory?”

Fraser, Nicholas, & Navarro, Marysa. Evita: The Real Life of Eva Perón. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1980.

Hoss de le Comte, Mónica. The Gaucho. Buenos Aires: Maizal Ediciones, 2002.

Hoss de le Comte, Mónica. The Tango. Buenos Aires: Maizal Ediciones, 2002.

Hudson, W.H., C.M.Z.S. Idle Days in Patagonia. Illustrated by Alfred Hartley and J. Smit. Buenos Aires: El Calafate Editores, 2000.

Meadows, Anne. Digging up Butch and Sundance. Bison books, 1996. Examining the fate of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in Argentina.

Moreno, Perito. Perito Moreno’s Travel Journal: A Personal Reminiscence. Buenos Aires: El Elefante Blanco, 2002. Moreno tirelessly travelled to map and claim eighteen hundred disputed leagues for Argentina. His son, Eduardo V Moreno, has compiled these memoirs which were written 30 years after the Moreno's exhilarating jjourneys across northern Pategonia and capture by Indians.

Narosky, Tito, and Yzurieta, Dario. Birds of Argentina and Uruguay: A Field Guide. Asociacion Ornitologica Del Plata. Birdlife International. Vazquez Mazzini Editores.

Pilkington, John. An Englishman in Patagonia, Century, 1991. A critical commentary on Chatwin.

Schwiebert, Ernie. On fishing: A River for Christmas (Chapter: “The Rivers of Patagonia”).

Thornton, Lawrence. Imagining Argentina. New York: Bantam Books, 1987. Set in the dark days of the late 1970s, when thousands of Argentinians disappeared without a trace..., this short novel is limned with magical realism, adventure and a love story. If this appeals, try the next two in this trilogy by Thornton: Naming the Spirits and Tales from the Blue Archives.

Vega, Pablo Corral, & Llosa, Mario Vargas. Andes. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Insight.

Guatemala books

GUATEMALA ~ Photography

Becon Jeffrey. Maya Color: The Painted Villages of Meso America. New York: Abbeville Press.

Vecchiato, Gianni, photographer. Guatemala Rainbow. San Francisco: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1989. The photographer of these brilliantly colored full page images of the Maya people wearing their woven textiles claims: “Mayan life is a study of dark and light, half revealed and half hidden... I have respect for what is concealed in shadow, for it casts light on the true nature of that which is visible.” It is this respect that underlines the exuberancy of Vecchiato’s photographs.

GUATEMALA ~ Literature

Maya of Guatemala: Life and Dress. Vida y Traje. Carmen L. Pettersen. Guatemala, 1976.

Menchu, Rigoberta. I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. New York: Verso Books.

Prechtel, Martín. Secrets of Talking Jaguar: Memoirs from the Living Heart of a Mayan Village. Penguin Putnam.

Simon, Jean-Marie. Guatemala: Eternal Spring, Eternal Tyranny. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1987.

Tedlock, Dennis, trans. Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings. A Touchstone Book. “Popol Vuh is one of the greatest books about the creation of the world. It is the Mayan Bible.”Carlos Fuentes.

MEXICO

Mexico Indio: Testimonies in Black and White. Photographs by Alicia Ahumada, Gertrudis Duby, Flor Garduno. Graciela Iturbide, Mariana Yampolsky. Presentation by Elena Poniatowska. Interviews by German Dehesa. Mexico, D.F.: InverMexico, 1994.

Esquivel, Laura. Like Water for Chocolate: A Novel in Monthly Installments with Recipes, Romances, and Home Remedies. Deceptively simple, this story intertwines love, sex, and the sweep of Mexican history - easily started by tears falling while finely chopping an onion.

Francisco, Timothy, and Francisco, Patricia Weaver. Village Without Mirrors: Photographs by Timothy Francisco and and Essays by Patricia Weaver Francisco. Minneapolis: Milkweed Productions, 1989.

Greenleigh, John, photographs; Beimler, Rosalind Rosoff, text. Los Dias de Muertos.San Francisco: Pomegranate, 1991.

Kahlo, Frida. The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self Portrait. Introduction by Carlos Fuentes. New York: Abrams, Inc., 1995.

Morris, Jr., Walter F. A Millenium of Weaving in Chiapas. Chiapas, Mexico: SNA Jolobil, S.C., 1984. This clear, brief analysis of textiles of Chiapas reveals the profound wisdom of Maya culture, philosophy and myths that would have otherwise disappeared with the Spanish destruction of palaces, pyramids and books.

Toledo, Victor Manuel. Mexico: Diversity of Cultures. Mexico: D.F., Cemex, 1995.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu, Peru.

PERU

Bingham, Hiram. The Lost City of the Incas. 1948. The great South American explorer records his 1911 expedition and discovery of Machu Picchu, still mysterious to visitors today who make the long trek up from Cusco. This book is on the Explorers Club’s list of 100 best books on 20th century exploration.

Lee, Vincent R. Forgotten Vilcabamba: Final Stronghold of the Incas. Sixpac manco Publications, 2000.

Llosa, Mario Vargas; Grossman, Edith, trans. Death in the Andes. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1996. “Vargas Llosa has abundant energy, stamina, and intellectual curiosity.” The Washington Post.