Investing in Latin America has never been easy, and has burnt fingers for Europeans and American investors for over a century. The 400 million residents deserve a future and want to become partners in the global economy. They are not fully understood by the international financial community. This book helps investors, or prospective investors on the practicalities of Latin America.

It could be argued that the book is too structured and that the country-by-country analysis deserves a longer common chapter. Nevertheless, the intrincancies of Latin American markets are pleasantly organized and adequately presented. A good book for pragmatic investors.

The author describes each distinctive Latin American country and its investment environment in a clear and concise way. The region has always been complex in its political landscape and uneven economic rule of the law. The trends and local limitations need to be fully understood, in order to develop an effective investment strategy in the region, and this book offers substance. Latin America is probably one of the least-understood regions in modern finance. Apparently adequate, foreign-based risk considerations have misled investors: either concentrating funds in a few operations in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Chile, or not taking full advantage of the real opportunities in the whole set of countries, industries and realities. The misunderstanding has led to the destruction of efforts to advance towards mature democracy in some of these countries. Finally someone who bridges the link between Latin America and modern financial markets.

James Madison and the Creation of the American Republic 2nd Ed. written by Jack N. Rakove is more than a biography about James Madison our fourth President of the United States. Reading this book you get a real feeling for Madison and his philosophy.

As Madison firmly believed, his record as a statesman should be a record of public deeds, not gossipy tale of ambitions, achievements, disappointments and revelations. Madison took care in to preserve his political papers as well as to ensure that the details of his private life would remain forever hidden from posterity.

Thus, it was only in the conduct of public affairs that his deepest talents and interests found expression. Madison was a political thinker of his generation... in the task of creating the extended national republic of the United States, he had many partners but very few equals. Madison played a key roll in every significant development in national politics: efforts to ratify and amend the Articles of Confederation, the adoption and ratification of the Federal Constitution, the framing of he first amendments, the organization of the first opposition party, the initial controversies over constitutional interpretation, and the long diplomatic and military struggle that ended with the War of 1812.

Madison's distinctive contributions to the American constitutional tradition were first and foremost a reflection of his remarkable capacity to reason abstractly about funamental problems of political life on the basis of lessions drawn from experience. We see the author taking Madison and showing us how ideas that began with books were shaped and elaborated and reconsidered through the experience of revolutionary, republican, and constitutional politics.

James Madison does not resonate nearly as deeply in our historical memory. Yet his lasting achievements are arguably no less important. As Madison deepest legacy for the American constitutional tradition, he helped to create the understanding of these two distinct problems of majority power and minority rights.

This is an excellent book and it really gets into the conscience of Madison and it gives the reader some analysis of the potent legacy for the statesman named James Madison.

A must-read for any student of United States History. Rakove's writing seems as effortless as it is informative. I thought I knew James Madison after reading this book.

First published in 1956, this handbook is an indispensable, up-to-date companion both in the field and in the marketplace. Topics include the vegetable industry, greenhouse vegetable production, soils and fertilizers, water, pests, weed control, harvesting, storage, and seed production. Packed with quick-access graphs, tables, charts, and line drawings, the 4th edition offers new information on drip irrigation, seed germination, plant tissue and sap testing, windbreaks, and weed management. It also gives advice on allowable pesticide and herbicide use and on the latest worker protection standards. The appendix contains sources of vegetable information, providers of vegetable seeds, periodicals for vegetable growers, and U.S. units of measurement and the metric conversion factors. A change from the spiral-bound 3rd edition is a sturdy, flexible cover to help hold pages flat.

I use this book as my first reference work to answer disease and insect problems in vegetables for the public. The layout is extremely easy to use. Each section is very clear and concise. This work is also used for establishing small plot research design that is comprable to the large scale production fields. All the information one needs is in this handbook for vegtable trials and for large scale production. There is very little else on the market that is as comprehensive as this publication and as accurate regarding information provided.

Lewis was able to go inside a family that trusted him enough to show just how difficult life can be. This book makes you think and shows you just how grinding poverty can eat away at ones soul. It also manages to show the vibrancy this family has. you are able to see the world from different members attempts at making a better life. It tells vividly how the streets of New York which hold so much promise ultimately cause most members of this family so much pain. This is a must read not only for latinos but for everyone. This book is more about the endurance of a soul as it is about ethnicity.

La Vida is an anthropological study that tells the story, in their own words, of an extended Puerto Rican family in San Juan and in New York. What a lively and colorful culture! If you want to get a sense of life among Puerto Ricans in the 1960s who exist low on the economic scale, this book will tell you everything you could possibly want to know about their individual lives from their perspective. The perspective is important because it can change the way the reader views a person until she hears that character's own voice. Every day I looked forward to "living" with this family.

This is a most amazing book. One would almost believe that, like his beloved William Blake, Ackroyd has the ability to rendevouz with the spirits and have Wilde dictate this marvelous account of his exile in Paris. A cunning pastiche of Wilde's wit and wisdom, this book charts the decent into the human condition. Littered with irony and humour, this book will leave the reader hungry for more insights into the genius of Oscar Wilde and I would reccomend it to everybody, even the few that may not be aware of the subject matter. From the dens of sin to the oppressive beauty of Paris society, the reader is on the journey with Wilde all the way.

There is humour and pathos here as Peter Ackroyd presents the voice of Oscar Wilde during Wilde's last days in Paris near the turn of the century. Though he was living in exile and was very poor, Wilde's observations are sharp and he bravely steps back from self-pity. He is able to assess his own life as an aesthete and writer. He spends his time in cafes, with English friends and with French acquaintances. As he becomes more ill the tone of the voice of Wilde becomes more poignant but till the end he is full of wit. At the very end he dies in his hotel room. This is an immensely satisfying book. All who are interested in Wilde will be drawn into Peter Ackroyd's poetic prose as he recreates from his own study and imagination the last days of the Irish wit and writer, with his degradation and dignity. In the end Wildes's literary wit triumphs and remains while his detractors and persecutors are forgotten

I received this book as a birthday gift. I thought @ first it would be another overly dramafied story of a gay man's contraction of AIDS and his long painful death. This book doesn't celebrate his life. It's a graphic, dark novel on a young man's adventure through the an underworld that eventually infected him with HIV. It's honestly graphic, powerful, sexually charged and visceral. It takes your attention. I'm nearly finished and I would recomend this book.

Theoretically, this is not the sort of "AIDS novel" I would care to read, following as it does a pattern that has become far too predictable: the chronicle of a gay man's sexual adventures followed by his (inevitable?) contraction of HIV. But this book grabbed me anyway: its clean, straightforward, sometimes graphic style -- espeically in a time when too many gay American novelists have succumbed to fussy literary affectation. It's odd and ironic to find a British author who writes more like an American noir novelist, while his American counterparts are too often trying to write (in the 1990s!) like Henry James. This novel was truly a case of bracing candor and honesty overriding the downbeat subject matter. It deserves to be read as a model as well -- for other writers who want to say what they mean, instead of flit around the edges in some mistaken notion that such flitting is what constitues art. I was saddened to read of Moore's death a few months ago, from AIDS complications -- and to realize that the novel was much more autobiographical than I wanted it to be. His voice was brave and pure. These loses cannot properly be measured. But I for one will miss the other books Moore might have written had he lived. James Robert Bake

will change your mind about propagand

Additional biographical information on the author is available from the web site at http://wlu.edu/~owr

In a characteristically perceptive and graceful introduction, Paul Goldberger suggests that the world has caught up with the good sense and refined sensibility of this Seattle firm. This is a handsome, expansive study of a dozen houses, built for people of means and taste-a rare combination. All but two are located in the northwest, and each immerses you in the natural beauty of its site and its inner serenity. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

This book wisely does not try to show all the work of Olson Sundberg Kundig and Allen, one of the Northwest's leading architecture firms. Instead it focuses on a small number of selected homes designed by the firm, and then guides the reader through the creative process, from design through construction to finished product. What emerges is an elegant book of even more elegant homes, each quite different from the other, but all seeming to harness to the max both the power of line and the nurturing complexity of light.

We purchased Maurice Pledger board books (Oscar Otter, Olive Owl and Billy Bunny) for our child at 6 months and at 2 years old they are still favorites. Here are just some of what we love about them. The illustrations are spectacular. They accurately represent the wildlife being depicted. There is a great variety of textures to appeal to a child's desire to touch and feel. Our child's favorite page is the "sticky" plant in Olivia Owl. They encourage interaction with questions like "How many shiny beetles has he found on the rose bush?" (from Billy Bunny) and requests like "Tickle her orange tummy." (from Oscar Otter). They are oversized for board books (approx. 9x11 inches), which our child loves. They give children nice big pictures to look at.

I purchased this book for my daughter when she was 7 months old and she has read it everyday since. The illustrations are very detailed and so beautiful. Every page has a texture for her to feel and now that she is 14 months old she likes to put my finger to the textures and see my reaction. She has learned to identify animals and insects, colors and textures. She still loves to explore the pages and we read this book at least ten times a day! I would recommend this book to any parent with a child ready to learn!

Oscar Romero: Memories in Mosaic is a collection of thousands of hours of interviews with people who knew Archbishop Romero throughout his life. Snippits of these interviews are then pulled together to provide a chronological biography of Romero's life. This style provides insight into both the life of Oscar Romero and to the life and struggles of the El Salvadoran people. One is transported into the violent years of the 70s and 80s in El Salvador and into the sentiments of the people living through those dark hours. Surprisingly one is left with overwhelming hope because of the strength and faith of Archbishop Romero and the Salvadoran people. Archbishop Romero could have continued in a comfortable life-style blind to the suffering around him. But instead at the age of 60 he chose solidarity with the Salvadoran people. Maria Lopez Vigil skillfully captures the power of this transformation in her writing and Kathy Ogle skillfully recreates this language and sentiment into the English language.

Memories in Mosaic is one of those titles that perfectly fits the subject. This book is not a conventional biography of Oscar Romero, the archbishop of San Salvador who was assassinated in 1980. Rather, it is a recollection of his life as told to Maria Lopez Vigil by those who were closest to him in those three years of ministry as archbishop, as well as family members and long-time friends. Taken together, these memories from dozens of people form a mosaic - Romero seen through the eyes of those who knew him, worked with him, and saw him in his role as pastor of an embattled flock.

Many of the people interviewed were themselves in danger of assassination or "disappearance" during those desperate years when the government of El Salvador turned on its citizens, backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. That comes through in the memories, tinged not just with sadness, but with fear.

At the same time, the book sparkles with liveliness. Romero seems the unlikeliest of martyrs. Firmly on the side of the government at the outset of his appointment as archbishop, he was quickly swayed by the murder of his good friend, Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit priest who had acted as master of ceremonies during the solemn Mass at which Romero was elevated to archbishop. Shortly thereafter, the outspoken "Tilo," as he was called, was assassinated while driving a car loaded with parishioners. His passengers suffered the same fate.

Reading the recollections of those who surrounded Romero at the time, the archbishop's grief is palpable. And that incident set him on the road to questioning why Salvadorans were being murdered under the cover of darkness, their bodies turning up at roadsides each morning.

The book draws to its inevitable conclusion. It is clear from the recollections that Romero expected and accepted his coming martyrdom. It is also clear, however, that he was not courting martyrdom, that he was not bent on self-destruction. Rather, he was a man with a taste for good food, the occasional racy joke, and a deep, abiding love of his country.

Before he died, Romero predicted that he would rise again in the hearts of the people of El Salvador. Reading this book, it is obvious that this prophecy has been fulfilled.