Paraguay

Uruguay (Discovering)

Aircraft of the Chaco War 1928-1935

More than 150 never before published illustrations, complimented by an exhaustively researched text, document the little-known air war between Bolivia and Paraguay during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Full details of such aircraft as Fiat C.R. 20s, Curtiss Hawk IIs, Curtiss Ospreys, Potez 25s and all other types employed by both combatants, including acquisition, operations, and markings make this a must for historians, modelers, and anyone interested in golden-age aviation.

Uruguay (Cultures of the World)

In The Wilds Of South America: Six Years Of Exploration In Columbia, Venezuela, British Guiana, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, And Brazil

Paradise with Serpents

Deep in the jungle, the Moonies are buying up haciendas. In the cities, bank robbers rent armored cars from the military. There is a marked love affair with guns. This is Paraguay today. But once there existed a magical sub-tropical paradise in the lost heart of South America. In 1537 a group of Europeans founded Asunción, and an extraordinary fusion of New World and Old was created--where magnificent baroque cathedrals were built of carved stone deep in the jungle and Catholic masses and high oratorios were sung and performed on European instruments by Guarani Indians and their Jesuit mentors. But every paradise has its serpents, and the history of Paraguay is also studded with oppressive and even demented dictators.

Robert Carver's long-term fascination with this intoxicating world was fueled by stories of a greatuncle who vanished into the jungles of Paraguay in search of Incan silver. Fusing past and present, on rusty steamers winding up piranha-infested rivers and into the darkest jungle, Carver journeys with scant regard for personal safety, dissecting the country's peculiarities with wit and eloquence to reveal Paraguay in all its unique and baffling splendor.

Paraguay and the United States: Distant Allies (The United States and the Americas) (The United States and the Americas)

Ranging from the 1840s through the early twenty-first century, this study of the two countries' shared political, economic, and cultural histories fills significant gaps in our understanding of Paraguayan-U.S. relations. Frank O. Mora and Jerry W. Cooney tell how an initially rocky beginning between the two countries, marked by diplomatic posturing, shows of military force, and failed business schemes, gave way to a calmer period during which the United States backed Paraguay's territorial claims against its neighbors, prospects grew brighter for American entrepreneurs, and Paraguay embraced Pan Americanism.

It was not until the 1930s, however, that the two countries engaged in earnest as the United States attempted to mediate the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia. Then, as the authors write, "hemispheric solidarity in World War II, the Cold War in Latin America, the 'balance of power' among states in the Río de la Plata, and the question of U.S. support for, or aid to, Latin American dictators" became matters of mutual interest.

The dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner (1954-89) spanned much of this era, with a shared attitude of realpolitik typifying U.S.-Paraguayan relations. Post-Stroessner, the United States has stood by Paraguay during its transition to democracy, despite lingering concerns about such issues as drug trafficking and intellectual piracy. The countries should grow closer with time, the authors conclude, if Paraguay resists the continent's leftward political shift and remains a solid partner in U.S. antiterror initiatives in South America.

Paraguay (Discovering)

Forgotten Fatherland: The Search for Elisabeth Nietzsche

Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians

In the early 1960s, the French anthropologist Pierre Clastres spent two years living among the Guayaki people of Paraguay, a tiny community of nomadic hunters whose way of life was quickly disappearing. When Clastres arrived in Paraguay, there were only 100 Guayaki left, and their culture seemed doomed by influenza and encroaching civilization. Clastres's description of his encounters with these people is respectful, self-aware, and written with great skill. Paul Auster (author of The New York Trilogy and the movie Smoke) translated the book from French to English in the late 1970s, sent it to a publisher, and then lost track of the manuscript for 20 years. Fortunately, one of Auster's fans stumbled upon the manuscript in a used-book store in 1996 and brought it to the author, making this publication possible.

According to Clastres, the Guayaki were mild-mannered folk who relished the taste of human flesh. There were far more men than women in the community, which seems sort of sinister. Every June, when the air was cold enough to make the bees logy, all the Guayaki groups gathered for a honey festival, which featured tickling games and many sexual adventures. In short, the Guayaki led lives very different from our own. There is something deeply satisfying about learning the details of faraway, drastically foreign lives. Clastres manages to describe these people's daily lives and traditions without making them seem exotic or sensationalizing their story. Clastres's quiet, detailed observations honor this vanished culture and should be of interest to anthropologists and layman alike. --Jill Marquis

Pierre Clastres (1934-1979) was one of the most respected political anthropologists of our time. Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians is an account of his first fieldwork in the early 1960s--an encounter with a small, unique, and now vanished Paraguayan tribe. From "Birth" to "The End," Clastres follows the Guayakis in their everyday lives, determined to record every detail of their history, ritual, myths, and culture in order to answer the many questions prompted by his personal experiences. Now available for the first time in English in a beautiful translation by the novelist Paul Auster, Chronicle of the Guayaki Indians will alter radically not only the Western academic conventions in which other cultures are thought but also the discipline of political anthropology itself.

Francisco Solano L-pez and the Ruination of Paraguay: Honor and Egocentrism

The first serious biography of Francisco Solano L-pez in English for decades, this richly researched book tells the dramatic story of Paraguay's most notorious ruler. Despite the heroic stature he gained after his death, L-pez was a monumentally flawed leader who made the disastrous decisions in 1864 and 1865 to invade Brazil and Argentina, initiating the most devastating interstate conflict in South American history. Drawing on a trove of primary sources, James Saeger offers a critical analysis of Paraguayan politics and L-pez's life and erratic rule in this meticulous study.