Ever since his dad died in a shock accident, thirteen-year-old Gabe’s world has been turned upside-down and back to front. Literally: Gabe has discovered the ability to tell stories which take him into the past, or imagine an impossible version of the present or future that seems as real as real. Gabe has no clue what is going on. But the answers may lie with his mysterious uncle Jesse, an online game called Small Town Hero which seems to mirror Gabe’s own life, a long-lost grandm...

An inspiring mission to rescue young people from drugs and violence with musicAt a time when interest in Brazilian culture has reached an all-time high, and the stories of one person's ability to improve the lives of others has captured so many hearts, this unique book takes readers to the frontlines of a battle raging over control of the nation's poorest areas. Culture Is Our Weapon tells the story of Grupo Cultural AfroReggae, a Rio-based organization em...

"Essential reading."-Steve Coll, NewYorker.comA gripping, sobering account of how Mexican drug gangs have transformed into a criminal insurgency that threatens the nation's democracy and reaches across to the United States.The world has watched, stunned, the bloodshed in Mexico. Forty thousand murdered since 2006; police chiefs shot within hours of taking office; mass graves comparable to those of civil wars; car bombs shattering storefront...

"Without this testimony, we simply cannot grasp what is going on . . . Americans would do well to read [Gangster Warlords]." --The New York Times Book Review, Editor's ChoiceFrom the author of El Narco, the shocking story of the men at the heads of cartels throughout Latin America: what drives them, what sustains their power, and how they might be brought down.In a ranch south of Texas, the man known as The Execut...

The U.S. Treasury Department called Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman "the world's most powerful drug trafficker."Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman has appeared on Forbes list of the world's richest people, with an estimated fortune of $1 billion.While, El Chapo has a $7 million dollar bounty on his head after a prison escape in 2001, he's received a number of accolades. His story is compelling to say the least.Within a short and concentrated read you'll learn abo...

Mexico is in a state of siege. Since President Felipe Calderon declared a war on drugs in December 2006, more than 38,000 Mexican have been murdered. During the same period, drug money has infused over $130 billion into Mexico's economy, now the country's single largest source of income. Corruption and graft infiltrate all levels of government. Entire towns have become ungovernable, and of every 100 people killed, Mexican police now only investigate approximately five.But the marke...

The Pulitzer Prize–finalist shares an intimate memoir of grieving his lost wife—and confronting the troubled Mexican city where she grew up.Five years after his wife's untimely death, Francisco Goldman decided to overcome his fear of driving in Mexico City. The widower and award-winning writer wanted to fully embrace his late wife's childhood home and the city that came to mean so much to them. In The Interior Circuit, Goldman chronicles his personal and po...

Occupying the eastern two-thirds of island of Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic has something for almost everyone – except perhaps obsessive perfectionists. If you can relax and go with the flow you will experience a land of great environmental diversity with a rich and varied culture, a turbulent history, some infuriating idiosyncrasies, and a people whose friendliness is legendary. The Dominicans are flamboyant, irrepressible, generous, headstrong, and resilient. Their culture is a dist...

A massive uprising against the Mexican state of Oaxaca began with the emergence of the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO) in June 2006. A coalition of more than 300 organizations, APPO disrupted the functions of Oaxaca's government for six months. It began to develop an inclusive and participatory political vision for the state. Testimonials were broadcast on radio and television stations appropriated by APPO, shared at public demonstrations, debated in homes and in the stree...

One of the most inspiring and successful global leaders of the early 21st century explains how bold, imaginative leadership can solve even the most intractable problems—and why there is no such thing as a lost cause.It’s one of the great, unexpected turnaround stories in modern history: Just a decade ago, Colombia was regarded as a “failed state,” besieged by megalomaniacal drug kingpins, ruthless terrorist groups, and abominable poverty. But since 2002, it has bee...

An extraordinarily vivid, unflinching series of portraits of South America today, written from the inside out, by the award-winning New Yorker journalist and widely admired author of Samba.

A stylized reissue of the acclaimed, surreal noir collaboration between Mexico's greatest writer and its most courageous revolutionary."Taibo's expertise ensures a smart, funny book, and Marcos brings a wry sense of humor." — Publishers WeeklyIn alternating chapters, Zapatista leader Subcomandante Marcos and the consistently excellent Paco Ignacio Taibo II create an uproarious murder mystery with two intersecting storylines. The chapters w...