South America Bibliography
A list of some of the books I have read when researching our trips - fact, fiction, and guide books.
Factual
| Name | Author | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| The White Rock | Hugh Thomson | A splendid travelogue about the author's time in Peru. It really captures the character of the Peruvian people, and contains lots of interesting information about the exploration of Peru's pre-colombian cities and temples. |
| The Conquest of the Incas | John Hemming | The classic book on the conquest of the Incas by Pizarro, and subsequent events. Very readable - a must for every visitor to Peru. |
| The Incas and their Ancestors - The Archaeology of Peru | Michael E. Moseley | The standard introductory text on the evolution of pre-colombian civilization. An academic text, but very accessible. Highly recommended. |
| Liberators - Latin America's Struggle for Independence | Robert Harvey | A well-written account of the liberation of Latin America in the 19th century. Robert Harvey spent 9 years covering Latin America for the Economist. | Inca Kola: A Traveller's Tale of Peru | Matthew Parris | A travelogue by the former member of parliament for West Derbyshire. It describes his journeys in Peru and Bolivia. Very amusing, and well written, if now a little dated. |
| Rio de Janeiro | Ruy Castro | A portait of the city. Very positive - doesn't dwell much on some of the negative aspects of life in Rio de Janeiro, but nonetheless worth reading. |
| Bad Times in Buenos Aires | Miranda France | An entertaining portrait of life in the city, warts and all. Some of the descriptions and situations are a little exagerated, but it's the best portrait of Buenos Aires that I've come across. |
Fiction
| Name | Author | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Death in the Andes | Mario Vargas Llosa | This is my favourite book by Vargas Llosa. Portrays Peru - both landscape and people - very accurately. Many of his other books are also well worth a read - e.g. the Storyteller is another favourite of mine. |
| One Hundred Years of Solitude | Gabriel García Márquez | The classic work of Latin American magical realism. It is rumoured that the English translation is even better than the original. I also enjoyed García Márquez's "The General in His Labyrinth", about Bolivar's last days. |
Guide Books
I use guide books for practical information - hotels, restaurants, travel details, maps. So, my general rule is to buy the most recent edition of Lonely Planet, Footprint, or Rough Guide. For cities, I usually choose a Timeout Guide. I rely on other books (such as those listed above) for the historical and contextual information.
Having said that, for Latin America, there is really only one choice - Footprint. They publish the South American Handbook, which has been in print since 1924. I've used their country guide books on all of my trips to Latin America, and have found them to be superior to those from other publishers. The information is not presented as clearly as in some of the other books, but is much more detailed. In particular, the Peru and Bolivia guides are wonderful - true insider knowledge by people who clearly know these countries very well.
For trekking, consider bringing one of the Bradt guides, and supplementing this with local knowledge.