Latino Heritage Month

In this expansive volume, John Bierhorst brings to light the gods and heroes of pre-Columbian times--and demonstrates that they are very much alive today. The book provides translations of twenty "basic myths," showing how these have influenced the artistic, literary, and political life of modern Mexico and Central America.

Central America is an extraordinarily beautiful part of the world, with sweeping panoramic vistas of tropical vegetation, towering mountains, and striking ethnic and racial diversity. This tropical paradise has a history as diverse as its people and cultures. Starting with the Maya in ancient Mesoamerica, the "History of Central America" continues with European contact and the subsequent subjugation of the people of Central America.

South America is an area of fascination and study for geographers and other scholars from around the world, and its land and people have played important roles in the discovery and distribution of civilizations, resources, and nations for millennia. The region has long stimulated a large amount of research across the many subdisciplines of geography, and Thomas A. Rumney collects, organizes, and presents as many scholarly publications as possible in The Geography of South America: A Scholarly Guide and Bibliography. Every South American nation is included: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Beginning with an overview of the region as a whole, successive chapters, one per nation, are divided by specific subdisciplines of geography: cultural, social, economic, historical, physical and environmental, political, and urban. Each section is then divided by document type: atlases, books, book chapters, articles from scholarly journals, master's theses, and doctoral dissertations. Although the majority of entries focus on English-language works, selected entries written in Spanish, French, German, and other languages are also included (with the entry titles translated into English and noted accordingly).

"Heartbreaking immersion into the lives of people enduring extreme violence in Central America El Salvador and Honduras have had the highest homicide rates in the world over the past ten years..."

Michael D. Coe’s Mexico has long been recognized as the most readable and authoritative introduction to the region’s ancient civilizations.

Providing over 200 entries on politics, government, economics, society, culture, and much more, this two-volume work brings modern Mexico to life.