Latin American history book (middle/high school level)?

[Kathryn]

My advanced reader 12yo would like to read a history specifically dedicated to Latin America. Does anyone here have a resource they'd recommend?

[Lanny]

Not exactly what you asked about, but one book I remember reading, many years ago, so it is "long in the tooth" was "Distant Neighbors" by Alan Riding.  Recently, I was telling my wife and DD about how most of the fruits and vegetables in the USA are of Mexican origin.  Basically, the book is about the enormous differences between the USA and Mexico, 2 countries that share a long border.  Although it is dated, your DS might enjoy reading it.  Two cultures, so extremely different, with a long border between them. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0679724419/ref=olp_f_usedGood?ie=UTF8&f_all=true&qid=1513860146&sr=1-1

 

Possibly something about Simon Bolivar.  He was so influential in this part of South America.  

[Kathryn]

Not exactly what you asked about, but one book I remember reading, many years ago, so it is "long in the tooth" was "Distant Neighbors" by Alan Riding. Recently, I was telling my wife and DD about how most of the fruits and vegetables in the USA are of Mexican origin. Basically, the book is about the enormous differences between the USA and Mexico, 2 countries that share a long border. Although it is dated, your DS might enjoy reading it. Two cultures, so extremely different, with a long border between them.

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0679724419/ref=olp_f_usedGood?ie=UTF8&f_all=true&qid=1513860146&sr=1-1

 

Possibly something about Simon Bolivar. He was so influential in this part of South America.

Thank you Lanny.

[deerforest]

Well, that depends on a lot of different things -- reading level, political perspective, sensitivity tolerance, desired depth..

 

I'm currently developing an in-depth upper level high school course for my daughter. She's currently in 8th, but I plan to use this in 11th. I've been researching upper high school and college level syllabi for ideas. This site has helped a lot as a starting point: http://claspprograms.org/pages/detail/84/Syllabi

 

I will probably be using this one as our core: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393283054/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

 

But, in 5th we used these resources which were extremely high level:

https://www.amazon.com/Central-South-America-Teachers-Guide/dp/1567113249/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513873656&sr=1-1&keywords=Central+and+South+America+Teacher%27s+Guide+%28A+World+in+Focus%29

https://www.amazon.com/Land-Jaguar-South-America-People/dp/0887767567/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513873617&sr=1-1&keywords=In+the+Land+of+the+Jaguar%3A+South+America+and+Its+People

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1743219164/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

The IB program also has course books on the Americas that cover the entire North, Central, and South regions.

 

I also got this 4 volume set for $25 used: https://www.amazon.com/Latin-America-History-Encyclopedia-Students/dp/0684805766/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513873862&sr=1-1&keywords=Latin+America%3A+History+and+Culture%3A+An+Encyclopedia+for+Students+%284+Volume+Set%29

Edited December 21, 2017 by deerforest

[Kathryn]

Well, that depends on a lot of different things -- reading level, political perspective, sensitivity tolerance, desired depth..

 

I'm currently developing an in-depth upper level high school course for my daughter. She's currently in 8th, but I plan to use this in 11th. I've been researching upper high school and college level syllabi for ideas. This site has helped a lot as a starting point: http://claspprograms.org/pages/detail/84/Syllabi

 

I will probably be using this one as our core: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393283054/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

 

But, in 5th we used these resources which were extremely high level:

https://www.amazon.com/Central-South-America-Teachers-Guide/dp/1567113249/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513873656&sr=1-1&keywords=Central+and+South+America+Teacher%27s+Guide+%28A+World+in+Focus%29

https://www.amazon.com/Land-Jaguar-South-America-People/dp/0887767567/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513873617&sr=1-1&keywords=In+the+Land+of+the+Jaguar%3A+South+America+and+Its+People

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1743219164/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

The IB program also has course books on the Americas that cover the entire North, Central, and South regions.

 

I also got this 4 volume set for $25 used: https://www.amazon.com/Latin-America-History-Encyclopedia-Students/dp/0684805766/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1513873862&sr=1-1&keywords=Latin+America%3A+History+and+Culture%3A+An+Encyclopedia+for+Students+%284+Volume+Set%29

He's a very advanced reader, definitely liberal leaning, not sensitive. I don't know *how* in-depth he's interested in going at the moment, so I figured I'd look for good overviews and then further resources as he's interested.

 

Thank you! These look great. I ordered Born in Blood and Fire last night, so glad to hear a recommendation for that.

[deerforest]

I'll add another, and it's one we plan to use too but since its publication, it's been revered and criticized. It definitely takes a socialist perspective to history. I read it years ago in one of my LA history courses -- Open Veins of Latin America. Some country specific books, like Bitter Fruit, get into these types of heavy details too.

 

We read Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World and Sugar Changed the World last year (in 7th). Bananas is a trade book for adults and Sugar was for middle grades. My advanced student reader probably found the reading itself easy in both, but they were great introductions to these issues. We plan to go deeper (like with Bitter Fruit) in this course I'm creating for later high school.

 

(one of my degrees is in Spanish, and I've studied Iberian and Latin American history quite a lot, and my DD was born in Guatemala. We're also liberal so I could spend days talking about these subjects...I'm focusing quite a bit on Latinx history in US contemporary studies this year too.)

Edited December 21, 2017 by deerforest

[Kathryn]

I'll add another, and it's one we plan to use too but since its publication, it's been revered and criticized. It definitely takes a socialist perspective to history. I read it years ago in one of my LA history courses -- Open Veins of Latin America. Some country specific books, like Bitter Fruit, get into these types of heavy details too.

 

We read Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World and Sugar Changed the World last year (in 7th). Bananas is a trade book for adults and Sugar was for middle grades. My advanced student reader probably found the reading itself easy in both, but they were great introductions to these issues. We plan to go deeper (like with Bitter Fruit) in this course I'm creating for later high school.

 

(one of my degrees is in Spanish, and I've studied Iberian and Latin American history quite a lot, and my DD was born in Guatemala. We're also liberal so I could spend days talking about these subjects...I'm focusing quite a bit on Latinx history in US contemporary studies this year too.)

Thanks so much! Although I have a couple of history degrees, this is not my area of expertise, but I knew where to turn to for help! I'm excited that he's interested at all since he's never shown the slightest interest in history. But he really wanted more than the very cursory pass-through that he got.

[deerforest]

Thanks so much! Although I have a couple of history degrees, this is not my area of expertise, but I knew where to turn to for help! I'm excited that he's interested at all since he's never shown the slightest interest in history. But he really wanted more than the very cursory pass-through that he got.

I'm not an expert, but just quite obsessed and excited that someone else is remotely interested!