Gerlach, Allen. Indians, Oil, and Politics: A Recent History of Ecuador



For five centuries, the Indians had very little voice in Ecuador. Now they are major protagonists who seek more acceptable terms in which to coexist in a society with two vastly different world views and cultures - that of Indians and that of the descendants of Europeans. Buy

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Ghosts of Rwanda (DVD 2005)



In addition to interviews with key government officials and diplomats, this two-hour documentary offers eyewitness accounts of the genocide from those who experienced it firsthand. Buy

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Gill, Peter. Body Count: Fixing the Blame for the Global Aids Catastrophe



Twenty-five years on, with twenty million dead and another forty million infected, AIDS is the world's worst epidemic. But the catastrophe could have been prevented. Body Count explains how millions could have been saved and many million more infections could have been prevented if the world had responded properly to the crisis. Buy

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Godrej, Dinyar. The No-Nonsense Guide to Climate Change



The No Nonsense Guide to Climate Change sifts scientific theory from scientific fact in order to assess the impact of climate change on health, farming and wildlife. Dinyar Godrej also provides an analysis of political negotiations on climate change and looks at potential solutions. Buy

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Gourevitch, Philip. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda



'Hutus kill Tutsis, then Tutsis kill Hutus - if that's really all there is to it, then no wonder we can't be bothered with it,' Philip Gourevitch writes, imagining the response of somebody in a country far from the ethnic strife and mass killings of Rwanda. In this complex and wrenching book he explains why the Rwandan genocide should not be written off as just another tribal dispute. Buy

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Guest, Emma. Children of Aids: Africa's Orphan Crisis



Guest, a freelance writer on AIDS-related matters, concentrates on the neglected and perhaps most helpless and vulnerable victims of the AIDS epidemic...the millions of street orphans from all over Africa, especially in such sub-Saharan countries as South Africa, Zambia, and Uganda. Buy

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Haugerud, Angelique. The Culture of Politics in Modern Kenya



Once the major success story of a troubled continent, by the early 1990s Kenya came to be regarded as its fallen star. This book challenges such images of reversal and the analytical polarities that sustain them. The analysis combines many disciplines and perspectives to give a rich and varied picture of the culture of politics in twentieth-century Kenya. Buy

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Hotel Rwanda (DVD 2004)



Don Cheadle stars in the true-life story of Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsis refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda. Buy

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Hunter, Susan S. Black Death: Aids in Africa



'This is one of the most important books on AIDS to be published during the last several years. The picture of the epidemic is gripping; more, it's presented in compassionate human terms, and the scientific questions she raises about disease and evolution are quite intriguing. The book is chilling and fascinating in equal measure. It's a splendid read' - Stephen Lewis, UN Special Envoy for AIDS. Buy

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In Focus Ecuador: A Guide to the People, Politics and Culture



Ecuador is currently one of the major tourist destinations in the Americas, offering unparalleled colonial architecture, dramatic landscapes and the eco-tourist mecca of the Galapagos Islands. Ecuador in Focus is an authoritative and up-to-date guide to this multi-faceted country. Buy

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Irwin, Alexander and Joyce Millen. Global AIDS: Myths and Facts, Tools for Fighting the AIDS Pandemic



AIDS is the most devastating communicable disease in history, and structures of poverty and injustice are magnifying the crisis in under-resourced countries. Irwin and Millen demonstrate that it is morally imperative and practically feasible to control the spread of AIDS by overturning common myths about treatment and prevention. Buy

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Jamieson, Neil L. Understanding Vietnam



'Discloses what the American military and political leadership largely misunderstood. The nature of Vietnamese society, the confrontation with colonialism and Western values, the resistance of the intellectuals, and the culture of the people.' - New York Times Reviewer. Buy

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Keane, Fergal. Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey


Fergal Keane, an Irish journalist, formerly BBC correspondent in South Africa, was sent in 1994 to cover the war in Rwanda that had left one million Tutsis dead, most of them gruesomely hacked to death by their Hutu neighbours. The power of this account lies in Keane's profound emotional shock at barely imaginable cruelty, and in the personal testimony of the survivors he interviewed. Buy

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Klein, Naomi. Fences and Windows: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate


Covering the period of late 1999 to 2002, this book collects Klein's in-the-trenches journalism about sweatshops, genetically modified foods, evolving police tactics for crowd control and more. Buy

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Koonings, Kees and Dirk Kruijt (Eds). Fractured Cities: Social Exclusion, Urban Violence and Contested Spaces in Latin America



Based on new empirical evidence, interviews with local people and historical contextualization, the authors attempt to shed light on the faultlines which have appeared in Latin American society. Buy

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Ladutke, Lawrence Michael. Freedom of Expression in El Salvador: The Struggle for Human Rights and Democracy


This study covers the 1992 peace accords, which include the removal of human rights abusers from the military, the creation of a truth commission and the demilitarization of public security. It also discusses the troubling indications that the government is once again reducing the space available for freedom of expression, including the undermining of the Office of the Human Rights Counsel, the hostile attitude of President Francisco Flores, evidence of internal espionage and a changing international context. Buy

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Landscapes of Struggle: Politics, Society and Community in El Salvador



Offers a broad, interdisciplinary assessment of El Salvador from the late nineteenth century to the present, focusing on the ways local politics have shaped the development of the nation. Buy

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Euraque, Dario A. Reinterpreting the Banana Republic: Region and State in Honduras, 1870-1972


In this new analysis of Honduran social and political development, Darío Euraque explains why Honduras escaped the pattern of revolution and civil wars suffered by its neighbours Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Buy

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Ellwood, Wayne. The No-Nonsense Guide to Globalization


Globalisation: the ticket to a democratic world of instant communications and global prosperity? Or a money-mad juggernaut, spinning wildly out of control? This book traces the journey towards a "borderless" world, looking at what has gone wrong and the way ahead. Buy

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Didion, Joan. Salvador


"Everything Didion writes grows out of close observation of the social landscape of El Salvador. And it is quite impossible to deny the artistic brilliance of her reportage. She brings the country to life so that it ends up invading our flesh" - NY Times review. Buy

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Das, Gurcharan. India Unbound: The Social and Economic Revolution from Independence to the Global Information Age


Gurcharan Das' book mixes autobiography, social and political observation and economic history to tell the capitalist's story of India from 1947 to the present. Buy

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Dallaire, Romeo. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda


Dallaire - a career man in the Canadian military - was informed that he might be asked to lead a UN peacekeeping mission in Rwanda, to which he replied excitedly, "Rwanda, that's somewhere in Africa, isn't it?" Fourteen months later, he would return from his service there a nearly broken man, having failed to prevent the unfathomable massacre of 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus, which took place over a mere 100 days. Buy

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Cornia, Giovanni Andrea (Ed). Inequality, Growth, and Poverty in an Era of Liberalization and Globalization


Based on an extensive review of relevant literature and an econometric analysis of inequality indexes, this volume provides the first systematic analysis of the changes in within-country income inequality over the last twenty years. In particular, it shows that inequality worsened in seventy per cent of the 73 developed, developing, and transitional countries analysed, and evaluates possible causes for this widespread rise in income inequality. Buy

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Conquest, Robert. The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivisation and the Terror-Famine


Conquest examines Stalin's assault on the Soviet peasantry at the end of the 1920s. His horrific details, drawn from Soviet as well as Western sources, lead Conquest to conclude that as many as 14.5 million died in the years 1930-37 as a result of Stalin's terror against the peasantry: five million came from the Ukraine alone. Buy

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Butler, C.T. and Keith McHenry. Food Not Bombs


Food Not Bombs grew from a small anti-nuke collective into a decentralised international organisation with autonomous chapters throughout the world. This book is an indispensable resource for challenging capitalism, through the direct redistribution of food. Buy

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Burrows, Gideon. Trigger Issues: Kalashnikov AK47 (Trigger Issues Series)


Vodka, chess, hip-hop and child soldiers.... All are linked by the Kalashnikov, the iconic but deadly Russian rifle. There are some 90 million of these guns - and they do not die when their owners do. A provocative read that explains the arms trade, politics and culture through the grimly fascinating lens of the world's deadliest weapon. Buy

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Brown, T. Louise. The Challenge to Democracy in Nepal


This book covers the history of Nepal from the Medieval/Early Modern period up to the mid-1990s. Louise Brown gives particular emphasis to contemporary Nepal, providing an analysis of the elections of May 1991 and the current political scene. Buy

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Mamdani, Mahmood. Imperialism and Fascism in Uganda


Mamdani writes a brief but extremely insightful analysis of the foreign influences which shaped Uganda from the perspective of dependency theory. He argues that Amin was a social, political, and economic phenomenon constructed not just by Uganda, but with the help of the British, the US, and the Soviet Union. Buy


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Mamdani, Mahmood. When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda


Mamdani's highly-readable account focuses on the political construction of Hutu and Tutsi as racial/ethnic identities, tracing the tale from the pre-colonial era, through Belgium's administration of the country, to the 1959 Revolution and subsequent attempts to develop an overarching sense of Rwandan nationhood. Buy


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McFerson, Hazel M. (Ed). Mixed Blessing: The Impact of the American Colonial Experience on Politics and Society in the Philippines

Invidious distinctions on the basis of race and overt racism were central features in American colonial policy in the Philippines from 1898 to 1947, as America transported its domestic racial policy to the island colony. This collection by young Filipino scholars analyzes American colonialism and its impact on administration and attitudes in the Philippines through the prism of American "racial tradition," a structural concept which refers to beliefs, attitudes, images, classifications, laws, and social customs that shape race relations and racial formation in multiracial and colonial societies. Buy


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Meredith, Martin. The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair

The value of Meredith's towering history of modern Africa rests not so much in its incisive analysis, or its original insights; it is the sheer readability of the project, combined with a notable lack of pedantry, which makes it one of the decade's most important works on Africa. Spanning the entire continent, and covering the major upheavals more or less chronologically...from the promising era of independence to the most recent spate of infamies...Meredith brings us on a journey that is as illuminating as it is gruelling. Buy


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Middleton, Neil (eds. et al). Negotiating Poverty: New Directions, Renewed Debate


Over one and a half billion people live on the equivalent of less than one US dollar a day. As the gap between rich and poor continues to grow, more people than ever before live below the poverty line and their numbers will increase. Development aid has helped in some cases, but in general, it has failed seriously to reduce destitution. Buy


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Miller, Norman N. and Rodger Yeager. Kenya: The Quest for Prosperity

Kenya, simultaneously heralded for its political stability and economic success and criticized as a wellspring of elitism and class exploitation, remains a close ally of the West and a symbol of capitalism in Africa. Yet its exquisite natural beauty and wildlife hide a more mundane reality. The country is rural, poor, and without mineral wealth, and less than 20 percent of Kenya's land area is readily available for dense human settlement. In this revised edition, Miller and Yeager address these social issues while tracing political and economic developments from early pre-colonial times to the contemporary period. Buy


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Montgomery, Tommie Sue. Revolution in El Salvador: From Civil Strife to Civil Peace



In this new edition, Montgomery offers a detailed account of the evolution of the war, a clear analysis of why Duarte's promises for peace and prosperity could not be fulfilled, and an evaluation of the electoral victory of the oligarchy in 1989. Buy


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Power, Samantha. A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide


Debunking the notion that U.S. leaders were unaware of the horrors as they were occurring against Armenians, Jews, Cambodians, Iraqi Kurds, Rwandan Tutsis, and Bosnians during the past century, Power discusses how much was known and when, and argues that much human suffering could have been alleviated through a greater effort by the U.S. She does not claim that the U.S. alone could have prevented such horrors, but does make a convincing case that even a modest effort would have had significant impact. Buy


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Prashad, Vijay and Teo Ballve (Eds). Dispatches from Latin America: On the Frontlines against Neoliberalism


Dispatches from Latin America reports on countries from Mexico to Argentina to map the contemporary political and social territory. Drawn from the pages of the well-respected NACLA Report, this collection offers a riveting series of accounts that bring new insight into the region's struggles and victories. With shrewd analysis rendered in accessible language, Dispatches lays plain the complex and vitally important conditions unfolding in 21st-century Latin America. Buy


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Prunier, Gerard. The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide

Prunier, a senior researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, has written the first comprehensive account in English that examines the causes and events of this civil war. Prunier points out, correctly, the substantive underlying causes: a colonial legacy that disrupted pre-colonial ethnic relations, political chaos and repression, economic dislocation, Western bungling and neglect, the role of the church, and overpopulation to name a few. Buy


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Ransom, David and Anita Roddick. The No-Nonsense Guide to Fair Trade


From coffee farming in Peru and cocoa production in Ghana, to the manufacture of jeans in China and the Banana War of Guatemala and the Caribbean, this No-Nonsense Guide tells the human story behind the products we consume. Buy (New Int. Bookshop link)


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Runge, C. Ford, et al. Ending Hunger in Our Lifetime: Food Security and Globalization (International Food Policy Research Institute)

"The book offers a clear explanation of the agricultural problems confronting the world's hungry. But its value lies in putting these physical challenges in a wider social context, looking at other factors, such as women's education, which affect household food security... It also challenges popular misconceptions -- for example, that patents on genes held by multinational companies are hampering farmers in developing countries... [and it] provides a lucid discussion of the problems, and tremendous promise, of trade liberalisation.": Economist review. Buy


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Sachs, Jeffrey. Forward by Bono. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for our Time

Celebrated economist Jeffrey Sachs has a plan to eliminate extreme poverty around the world by 2025. If you think that is too ambitious or wildly unrealistic, you need to read this book. His focus is on the one billion poorest individuals around the world who are caught in a poverty trap of disease, physical isolation, environmental stress, political instability, and lack of access to capital, technology, medicine, and education. The goal is to help these people reach the first rung on the "ladder of economic development" so they can rise above mere subsistence level and achieve some control over their economic futures and their lives. Buy


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Schirmer, Daniel B. and Stephen R. Shalom (Eds). The Philippines Reader: A History of Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Dictatorship, and Resistance

Political activists Schirmer and Shalom gather here over 80 articles and documents that seek to demonstrate a long-time, popular struggle on the part of Filipinos for social justice and freedom from foreign domination. The selections tell of the past and present U.S. role in the Philippines from the turn-of-the-century U.S. conquest (wresting control of the colony from Spain) to the flight last year of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and Corazon Aquino’s assumption of the presidency. Buy


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Seabrook, Jeremy. The No-Nonsense Guide to World Poverty


Drawing on testimonies from around the world, as well as on the hard facts, Seabrook challenges the assumption that wealth overcomes poverty, and demonstrates that the opposite of "poor" is not "rich" but "self-reliant." Appealing passionately for a shared sense of "sufficiency," he gives verbal snapshots of people's lives to show how poverty shifts, changes and endures in response to the growth of wealth. Buy (New Int. Bookshop link)


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Brainard, Cecilia and Edmundo Litton (Eds). Journey of 100 Years: Reflections on the Centennial of Philippine Independence


The editors have assembled in this work a unique and important volume of personal and historical reflections on the Filipino experience. This interdisciplinary collection brings together views from the Philippines and the voices of Filipinos in the U.S. It's a must-read for anyone interested in the post-colonial experience. Buy

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Black, Maggie. The No-Nonsense Guide to International Development


Building dams in India, rescuing street children in Brazil - these are images of aid with which we can all identify. What few people realise is that the terms 'overseas aid' and 'international development' often mask confusion, contradiction, and even downright deceit. Buy

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Biesanz, Mavis Hiltunen, Richard Biesanz, Karen Zubris Biesanz. The Ticos: Culture and Social Change in Costa Rica


Much more than a land of coffee and bananas, Costa Rica boasts more teachers than soldiers; it has even abolished its army. This book is divided into 11 chapters covering history, government and politics, the economy, the family, education, and religion. The authors draw on their experiences in the country, interviews with people from all walks of Costa Rican life, and secondary sources. The result is a solid monograph on Costa Rica that points out the contradictions in its perception by the rest of the world. Buy

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Bergman, Carol (Ed). Foreword by John Le Carre. Another Day in Paradise: International Humanitarian Workers Tell their Stories


These personal essays of aid workers compiled by Bergman are profiles of ordinary people doing the extraordinary. Each essay reveals a unique writing style and personality. The one common thread that they share is a strong willingness to serve humanity; hence, they're humanitarians. Buy

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Singer, P.W. Children at War


Over six million child combatants were killed or injured in the past decade. In this groundbreaking and comprehensive study, Singer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution and former adviser to the U.S. military, explores the rise and expansion of child soldiery. Buy


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Sometimes in April (DVD 2005)


A clear-eyed look at the Rwandan genocide is offered in Sometimes in April, a frank take on the 1994 slaughter that claimed upwards of 800,000 lives. Buy


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Steaman, Kaye. World Issues: Poverty


Poverty affects millions of people, and the gap between rich and poor is growing. This book asks what it means to be poor. If there is enough food in the world to feed everyone, why does poverty exist? How does it affect people's lives, health and education? What can we do to bring an end to poverty? Buy


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The Constant Gardner (DVD 2005)


In a remote area of Northern Kenya, activist Tessa Quayle (Rachel Weisz) is found brutally murdered. Tessa's companion, a doctor, appears to have fled the scene, and the evidence points to a crime of passion. Buy

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The World Guide Book (10th Edition 2005/2006)


The World Guide provides you with a refreshingly different perspective of the countries of the world. Drawing on United Nations and other mainstream data, it includes all the facts, history, political and economic analysis you would find in a conventional reference work, but it also offers information on the issues central to the lives of people in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean. Buy

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Thomas, Lynn. Politics of the Womb: Women, Reproduction and the State in Kenya


By examining the political signifacance - and complex ramifications of - reproductive controversies in twentieth-century Kenya, this book explores why and how control of female initiation, abortion, childbirth, and premarital pregnancy have been crucial to the exercise of colonial and postcolonial power. Buy

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Tvedt, T. Angels of Mercy or Development Diplomats?: NGOs and Foreign Aid


Is the world witnessing a global associational revolution spearheaded by development non-governmental organisations (NGOs)? Is the relationship between states and societies being fundamentally redefined, even in remote, rural corners of the world? What role does the mushrooming of development NGOs play in this political-ideological process? And what about the NGO staff? Are they angels of mercy, government-paid development diplomats, propagandists for a triumphant West, instruments in a coming clash between civilizations, or what? Buy

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Woods, Ngaire. The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank, and their Borrowers


No other book provides such an elegant introduction to the principal lending operations of both the IMF and the World Bank. With exceptional clarity and grace, Woods strikes a balance between analysis and constructive criticism. Her portrait of the contemporary evolution of the policies and practices of the IMF and World Bank seamlessly integrates an impressive range of research and journalistic coverage. Buy

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Youngers, Coletta and Eileen Rosin. Drugs and Democracy in Latin America: the Impact of U.S. Policy



Although the U.S. has spent more than $25 billion on international drug-control programs over the past two decades, it has failed to reduce the supply of cocaine and heroin entering the country. It has, however, succeeded in generating widespread, often profoundly damaging, consequences, most notably in Latin America and the Caribbean. Buy

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Barry, Tom. Central America Inside Out


This indispensable guide offers a comprehensive, country-by-country look at the current state of affairs in the most explosive region in the hemisphere. Buy

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Barnett, Tony and Alan Whiteside. Aids in the 21st Century: Disease and Globalisation


In only two decades, the epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and AIDS has progressed from being a medical curiosity to its current status as a global killer. Tony Barnett, professor of development studies at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom, and Alan Whiteside, director of the Health Economics and HIV-AIDS Research Division at the University of Natal in South Africa, have written a book that examines the social and economic effects of the HIV-AIDS epidemic, failures in responding to the epidemic, and what must be done to combat the epidemic. Buy

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Amanoo, Joseph G. The New Ghana: The Birth of a Nation


The New Ghana is the exciting account of the birth of Ghana, newest member of the British Commonwealth of Nations - the story of a bid for freedom crowned with success. Buy

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Allen, Tim and Alan Thomas (Eds). Poverty and Development: Into the 21st Century


This book aims to help readers understand and analyse events and actions around poverty and development, topics which at present have huge implications for the future of humanity. Buy

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Allen, Tim. Trial justice: The International Criminal Court and the Lord's Resistance Army


Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army have abducted thousands, many of them children, and have systematically tortured, raped, maimed and killed their victims. Nevertheless, the ICC has confronted outright hostility from a wide range of groups. Even the Ugandan government, which invited the ICC to become involved in 2003, has expressed serious reservations. While recognizing the difficulties involved, the author shows that much of the antipathy towards the ICC's intervention is misplaced. Buy

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