9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Best of Intentions (and Marketing), Light Reading, June 5, 2009
This review is from: Gringo: A Coming of Age in Latin America (Hardcover)
I bought this book at the same time that I bought
Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent--the latter the book Hugo Chavez is reported to have given to Barack Obama.
It has been brilliantly marketed, and I applaud the initiative and the integrity of the self-made author, but in the larger scheme of things this is very light reading, in no way comparable to any of the works of Robert Kaplan or Robert Young Pelton, to take the two who are best in class in this particular writing domain. I list books I recommend instead of this one at the end of the review.
A few details that stayed with me:
Of the ten chapters, three are on Venezuela, with one each on Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Equador, and Guatemala. He visited but has left for another book Cuba, Mexico, and Nicaragua.
Hugo Chavez certainly comes out of this book looking very well, and I wonder somewhat unkindly if the Cuban intelligence service had anything to do with the crafting of the book. They are wonderfully subtle, as is this book. I do, however, share the author's views on Venezuela and Chavez and the need for an alternative model for Latin America, so I endorse and praise his take on the situation, including:
+ Chavez is now ten years in power, early on he slammed those who wrote about the end of history, the triumph of neoliberalism, and the Washington Consensus. See
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man for more substance.
+ Media is in and out of Venezuela, they get it wrong and communicate a false picture of Venezuela.
+ Winning the election is only the beginning, then there is a very long fight to change the "system" that is deeply entrenched.
He corssed 25 borders and spent over 150 hours on bus rides.
In Colombia he found human rights being trampled by global economic imperatives, with massive internal displaced persons (see the genocide chapter in
The New Craft of Intelligence: Personal, Public, & Political--Citizen's Action Handbook for Fighting Terrorism, Genocide, Disease, Toxic Bombs, & Corruption
He is by nature an anti-imperialist progressive, and speak of shame in seeing the impact of US policies and CIA interventions up close, but in the single most valuable sentence that I found in the entire book, he observes that indigenous corruption at the local level is what really hurts those at the bottom of the pyramid, they do not see or even feel the direct effects from CIA interventions or predatory capitalism at the national level. I share Lawrence Lessig's view that corruption is the scourge of all, and I also beleive that the sooner We the People can follow ALL of the money and reveal all "true costs," the sooner we can demand and receive honest government at all levels.
This is a very fast read, especially if you have lived in Latin America, this is a wonderful book for those who wish to read lightly about the fine combination of a young man making a great deal of himself from very austere beginnings, and one person's perceptions on Latin America over the same period, but at root, this is a travelogue, not an analysis.
Other books to consider:
Robert Young Pelton's The World's Most Dangerous Places: 5th Edition (Robert Young Pelton the World's Most Dangerous Places)
The Hunter, The Hammer, and Heaven: Journeys to Three Worlds Gone Mad
The Ends of the Earth: From Togo to Turkmenistan, from Iran to Cambodia--A Journey to the Frontiers of Anarchy
The Coming Anarchy: Shattering the Dreams of the Post Cold War
Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy
High Noon 20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them
A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility--Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Engaging, a rarity., March 2, 2010
This review is from: Gringo: A Coming of Age in Latin America (Hardcover)
The book is engaging, full of information and a rarity. Very valuable for someone looking for information about current events in South America.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
He goes where few gringos have gone before., April 28, 2011
If you love a good adverture travel book and want to get some poltical insight on what is happening in Latin America, this is the book. Chesa Boudin is the son (in his 20s) of Kathy Boudin and David Gilbert. His parents were members of the 60's Weather Underground and were sentenced, together with Bernadine Dohrn, to long 20+ years in prison. He is also a Rhodes scholar and currently writes for the Nation magazine.
He starts off with a simple trip to Guatemala just to learn Spanish and winds up traveling to Chile, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela and getting a close-up look at radical politics. For example, he got an interpreters job for the staff of President Hugo Chávez. He visited slums in Venezuela. He went down into the mines of Bolivia. He traveled with poor people deep in the jungles of Brazil. He lived with the elite of these countries as well as the most impoverished. And he did most of his travels in "chicken buses" instead of flying. It is full of comments and meetings with political groups in Latin America.
While he is a leftist and progressive, he doesn't always agree with the policies these governments are pursuing. He saw close up how political theory is not always the same in practice.
Unfortunately, he did not write of his travels in Mexico. Maybe his next book? I highly recommend it.
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