Product Description
This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, 2nd ed., brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 538 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The Early Civilizations in the Americas Reference Library provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the regions of the American continents in which two of the world's first civilizations developed: Mesoamerica (the name for the lands in which ancient civilizations arose in Central America and Mexico) and the Andes Mountains region of South America (in present-day Peru and parts of Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Ecuador). In both regions, the history of civilization goes back thousands of years. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
" Desde Juan Marichal a Felipe Alou a Tony Fernndez, la Repblica Dominicana ha nutrido a las grandes ligas de jugadores estrella. Pero ningn jugador de habla hispana ha alcanzado la fama y gloria de Sammy Sosa, quien rompi una delas marcas ms queridas de bisbol y quien desde entonces no ha parado de jonronear. Ahora Sosa nos cuenta su propia historia, su indigente infancia, sus primeros juegos organizados a los catorce aos y su ascenso por las ligas menores. En el centro de esta alentadora historia est la descomunal batalla de los jonrones que libr Sammy con Mark McGwire en 1998, una pugna que puso de relieve no solo su gran talento sino su increble cordialidad y elegancia a pesar de la presin.Escrita en colaboracin con el galardonado periodista Marcos Bretn y acompaando de dos folletos de ocho pginas cada uno de fotos, SOSA cuenta las verdades y se aproxima e intimida con Sammy. Por el camino compartimos sus batallas y triunfos, los mayores retos y los logros ms satisfactorios del hombre que se ha convertido en un hroe en su patria y Estados Unidos adems de un verdadero embajador internacional de su deporte. From Juan Marichal to Felipe Alou to Tony Fernndez, the Dominican Republic has produced legendary major league baseball players. But no Spanish-speaking player has achieved the fame and glory of Sammy Sosa, who smashed one of baseball's most cherished records and who hasn't stopped hitting home runs since. Now Sosa tells his own story, of his poverty-stricken childhood, his first organized baseball games at the age of fourteen, and his rise through the ranks of the minor leagues. At the heart of this inspiring story is Sammy's colossal home run battle with Mark McGwire in 1998, a race that showcased not only Sammy's awesome talent but his incredible warmth and grace under fire.

Written with prizewinning journalist Marcos Bretn, and accompanied by a special 8-page photo insert, SOSA sets the record straight and gets up close and personal with Sammy. Along the way, we share the struggles and triumphs, the greatest challenges and most satisfying achievements of the man who has become not only a hero in his homeland and in the U.S.A., but a true international ambassador of his sport." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

sosa
The book I read was Sosa and it was great.It was all about sammy Sosa and I think they did great job on an autobiography about him and telling what Sammy Sosa was like when he was a little guy,growing up. A professional athlete,it was amazing how he was a little kid to an adult. He is a great and this book was excellent. I also liked the pictures and the information that they have. I would recommend this book to others. ... Read more

Product Description

SLAMMIN' SAMMY!

From the streets of San Pedro de Macorís to home plate in Wrigley Field, Sammy Sosa has slammed his way to the top of the majors, and his triumphant 1998 season -- when he and Mark McGwire chased Roger Maris's home run record -- has been one of the best things to happen to baseball in years! Sosa!, illustrated with eight pages of photos, is an up-to-the-minute look at his life, from his humble beginnings in his native Dominican Republic to his 66th home run, and his contributions to a season that Chicago Cubs fans will never forget. It's also a look at how Latinos have left their stamp on professional baseball, why Roger Maris's record was untouchable for more than 35 years, and how the 1998 home run derby captured the hearts of fans and non-fans alike. But most of all, this is the story of Sammy Sosa, a man who is almost as famous for his kindness and generosity as he is for the talent that made him into a home run hero, and a winning athlete who put the excitement back into the game of baseball! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

What an inspiration!
Sosa's determination, hard work and gratitude make for a great journey and a great read.Buy this for any young boys especially.They'll be out practicing (whatever sport or activity they happen to do) as soon as they put the book down. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Dollars & Sense, published by Thomson Gale on September 1, 2005. The length of the article is 1342 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Just Garments: a worker-run factory tries to wring the sweat out of the apparel business.(active culture)
Author: Jay Blair
Publication: Dollars & Sense (Newsletter)
Date: September 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 261Page: 6(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, 2nd ed., brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1632 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The Early Civilizations in the Americas Reference Library provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the regions of the American continents in which two of the world's first civilizations developed: Mesoamerica (the name for the lands in which ancient civilizations arose in Central America and Mexico) and the Andes Mountains region of South America (in present-day Peru and parts of Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Ecuador). In both regions, the history of civilization goes back thousands of years. ... Read more

Product Description
Modernity Disavowed is a pathbreaking study of the cultural, political, and philosophical significance of the Haitian Revolution (1791–1804). Revealing how the radical antislavery politics of this seminal event have been suppressed and ignored in historical and cultural records over the past two hundred years, Sibylle Fischer contends that revolutionary antislavery and its subsequent disavowal are central to the formation and understanding of Western modernity. She develops a powerful argument that the denial of revolutionary antislavery eventually became a crucial ingredient in a range of hegemonic thought, including Creole nationalism in the Caribbean and G. W. F. Hegel’s master-slave dialectic.

Fischer draws on history, literary scholarship, political theory, philosophy, and psychoanalytic theory to examine a range of material, including Haitian political and legal documents and nineteenth-century Cuban and Dominican literature and art. She demonstrates that at a time when racial taxonomies were beginning to mutate into scientific racism and racist biology, the Haitian revolutionaries recognized the question of race as political. Yet, as the cultural records of neighboring Cuba and the Dominican Republic show, the story of the Haitian Revolution has been told as one outside politics and beyond human language, as a tale of barbarism and unspeakable violence. From the time of the revolution onward, the story has been confined to the margins of history: to rumors, oral histories, and confidential letters. Fischer maintains that without accounting for revolutionary antislavery and its subsequent disavowal, Western modernity—including its hierarchy of values, depoliticization of social goals having to do with racial differences, and privileging of claims of national sovereignty—cannot be fully understood. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Revisionist history done with stong elemts of psychology..
I must say that this book is a very good read. It's one of those book that captivate me mostly because it has another view than most on the subject of colonialism.This doesn't mean that it is an unbiased review. The Cuban section was done very good. That section was as unbiased as a book can get(pretty hard as most people interpret things differently. On the Dominican and Haitian section, you start to notice how differently those countries are treated. He depicts Dominicans as ignorant racists almost exclusively(as far as I can remember all mention of them is as self-hating racists), while Haitians are depicted as liberators, modernizers, an overall benign people that were victims of smeared. He paints this tolerant picture that Haiti was a civilized country and downplays the fact that the whites of the colony were literally wiped out(either massacred or fled). This book fails to mention the last Haitian incursion on Dominican soil by 'Emperor' Faustin the first (following the steps of 'Emperor' Dessalines, the country's first statesman). You cannot get the full reason why anti-haitianismo was/is so widespread without reading from original sources. From independence from Haiti to the reverting back to a colony, all of Haiti's statesmen save for one tried to reconquer the Dominicans, in the process committing horrible war crimes. In particular, Faustin the first was the key needed (as his long reign was dedicated to torment the Hispanics). After that monster, there was a mulatto (who like Boyer, was much less a savage than the others) that tried to reach out to the reach out to the racist white Dominican president (i.e Dictator) was by now fully convinced that in ordered to be saved by those savages, they needed outside help, and who else than Spain (what a tremendous disservice). To conclude, to me the Author is sincerely a Haitian apologist in the same way that there are Nazi apologist. while the desire was not extermination, it was a deliberate ideology to deprive a people of their land, language, and in short culture. Good book but read other (original sources) to get the full picture.

One of the most important recent books in Caribbean thought
This extraordinary book won the Frantz Fanon Prize of the Caribbean Philosophical Association in 2004 and then went on to win the Modern Language Association's prize in Latin American Studies and the Latin American Studies Association prize in 2005 for outstanding book.It is all well deserved.This work challenges many of the contemporary approaches to the study of race by offering a rich interplay of the compexities of Latin American conceptions of whiteness and those in the U.S. as they converge in a unified denial of the existence---and more, the HUMANITY---of the first Black Republic in the New World.Dr. Fischer's array of specializations, which range from comparative literature, philosophy, and history to linguistic skills that include French, Spanish, German, and some of the indigenous languages of South America, brings out the nuance and challenges of the Haitian revolution as understood in Haiti and as feared, cheered on, or simply denied from without.This work is a must-read for anyone working in Africana thought, especially in Caribbean studies, and theories of modernity. ... Read more

Product Description
" How did Sammy Sosa, who never played an inning of organized baseball until he was fourteen, go from a life of crushing poverty to superstardom in the major leagues? In SOSA, Sammy tells his story in his own words. The result is a moving, intimate chronicle of a man whose charisma, joy, and sportsmanship-combined with awesome talent-make him a favorite of baseball fans everywhere, an unsurpassed hero in his homeland, and a true international ambassador of the game.

Here Sammy sets the record straight and reveals the forces that shaped him as a human being. We read about a boy who, after his father's death, must drop out of school to help put food on his family's table. We meet the American businessman who bought Sammy his first baseball glove and knew that Sammy's work ethic and determination would be the key to his success. We watch Sammy's numerous attempts to get signed to a pro contract, with one rejection after another. And when he finally gets his break, we follow Sammy as he leaves behind his tearful mother to become a rookie speaking only Spanish in the lowest levels of the American minor leagues.

Sammy's first years in the big leagues were exciting seasons. His eagerness to succeed made him an impatient hitter, and here, for the first time, he tells the inside story of his rise to stardom...a journey that culminated in his hypercharged slugging battle with Mark McGwire in 1998, when his simple love of baseball captured the hearts of fans and nonfans alike.A story of courage, generosity, and humility, SOSA is the autobiography of a man who transcends his game."Amazon.com Review
What separates Sosa from the mainstream of sports star bios is the likability and exuberance of the subject and the form in which it was written. Cast as an oral history, Sosa lets Sammy's voice--as well as those of his family, friends, and some important coaches--come through, and juxtaposed voices can make for some interesting observations.

Sosa, of course, needs no introduction. Born in poverty in the Dominican baseball incubator of San Pedro de Macoris, he seemed destined to be just another good, solid journeyman ballplayer, a guy who could post eye-catching numbers and not hurt you too much in the field. Then came the miracles of 1998 and '99, back-to-back seasons of 66 and 63 taters with 158 and 143 RBIs, an MVP award, and the affection of fans everywhere. What happened?

Sosa works best as it answers that, creating almost a dialogue between Sosa and Jeff Pentland, whom the Cubs elevated to Major League hitting coach midway through Sammy's and the team's disappointing 1997. Pentland took a hard look at Sosa and saw the untapped talent. "The two things that really stood out were his attitude and his aggressiveness," he says. "I've always felt as a coach the more aggressive the player is, the better, because it's your job as a teacher to harness that aggression to where it's productive. At that point, Sammy was aggressive, but wildly aggressive." From there on, it's pretty much Sosa and Pentland, and through their exchanges we can see how and why the new hitter in Sammy emerges. It's good baseball analysis--technical, anecdotal, and brimming with the excitement and pride of Sammy's remarkable achievements. When Sosa tries to pull biographical heartstrings, it's soppy and sentimental; when it sticks to baseball, it's as crisp as the crack of the bat. --Jeff Silverman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Five years ago, this would have been much more enjoyable to read
There was a time when Sammy Sosa was one of the most popular sports figures in the nation. His enthusiasm, skills at the plate and signature hop after hitting a home run were all endearing characteristics. His story of rising from extreme poverty in the Dominican Republic to one of the greatest all-time home run hitters was inspiring. This book was published in 2000, when Sosa was at the height of his fame.
A few years later, he was found to be using a corked bat in a game, and he claimed that he used it by accident. This caused him to be suspended and there was talk of his being a source of dissension on the Cubs. The final event in his role as a Cub occurred on the last day of the 2004 season, when Sosa requested that he be allowed to sit out the game. When he left the ballpark early, he was wildly criticized and the Cubs traded him to the Baltimore Orioles the subsequent winter.While he played a few more seasons, his decline in performance was dramatic. There were also later charges that he used performance-enhancing drugs.
This autobiography of Sosa also includes snippets from important people in his life and shows him at his peak, in terms of skills and popularity. In his prime, he was an extremely positive role model, which is how he is depicted in this book. Given what has happened to Sosa in the subsequent years, it was a bit saddening to read once again what he once was.

A Latino Hero
Sammy Sosa is arguably the greatest Latino player in major league baseball.His magnificent 1998 home run race with Mark McGwire captivated the nation.Afterwards he was invited to the White House and made a special Ambassador to his native country, the Dominican Republic. However, what few people know is how hard Sammy Sosa worked to reach stardom.

"Sosa an Autogiography," is a special story.In fact, it is inspiring.Sammy Sosa grew up poor.He was skinny and initially wanted to be a boxer.However, his talent for baseball came out from urging of his older brother and the support of his devoted mother.

Co-author Marcos Bretón details the early years of Sosa's early major league career in Texas and then with the Chicago White Sox.It was a difficult time for Sosa, going up and down from the major and minor leagues.Nevertheless, Sosa worked hard and never lost hope.The trade to the Cubs and his rise to stardom was the result of a strong dedication to excellence.

Perhaps, the greatest part of this book is Sosa's loyalty to his family, the people of the Dominican Republic, and the fans of the Chicago Cubs.Although Sosa has reached great heights he still wants the fame that is associated with winning the World Series.This is a great book for kids and adults alike...the bottom line is "hard work works."

A NICE LOOK AT A GOOD GUY
SOSA IS A BOOK ABOUT ONE OF GREATEST THE RAGS TO RICHES STORIES IN RECENT YEARS. SAMMY DOES A GOOD JOB TELLING OF HIS LIFE IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AS A CHILD AND TEENAGER. HE THEN GETS INTO HIS TREMENDOUS RISE TO ONE OF THE MOST FEARED SLUGGERS IN THE GAME TODAY. I ADMIRE HIS MODESTY, VALUES, CONFIDENCE, AND INNOCENCE. HIS LOVE FOR HIS MOTHER IS TRULY ADMIRABLE. SAMMY IS TRULY A GOOD PERSON AND A GREAT PLAYER. SAMMY HAS MANY VALUES AND BELIEFS THAT ARE TRULY NEEDED BY MOST OF TODAYS ATHLETES. SAMMY IS TRULY A BREATH OF FRESH AIR IN HIS ENTHUSIASM AND LOVE OF THE GAME. THE BOY IN SAMMY IS ALIVE AND KICKING. I ADMIRE SAMMY A LOT MORE NOW THAT I HAVE READ THIS BOOK. A MUST READ FOR ALL BASBALL FANS AND FOR PEOPLE WHO NEED SOME GRATITUDE AND HUMILITY IN THEIR LIFE.

Poignant and powerful -- it's a human story
Sammy Sosa is not a robot. He, like you and me, is a fallible human being who is largely the product of his upbringing. In "Sosa: An Autobiography," readers have the opportunity to gain insights into not only Sammy Sosa and professional baseball, but the larger American culture and each of us. A superficial read of this book may leave some wanting more. And certainly there is more to tell. But Sammy's smart enough to know there's a time and there's a place. This book, at this time, is neither.

But to those who recognize the implications, there is plenty of meat: (1) Has baseball exploited Latin players? What should baseball be doing differently for them? (2) Should all players on a team -- all people in any organization -- be treated the same despite their different personalities, their different backgrounds, their different perceptions? (3) What is the value of trust, respect, fairness, honesty, loyalty?

Speaking as someone who spent five years as a Major League scout and 2O years coaching baseball, on a more baseball specific level, how can someone like Walt Hriniak be a Major League hitting coach and try to force everyone -- Sammy Sosa and Ozzie Guillen -- to hit the same way? Someone like that shouldn't be coaching baseball at ANY level. Why aren't all Major League coaches and managers as insightful as Cubs' hitting coach Jeff Pentland? As any excellent teacher or coach knows, whether you're teaching Shakespeare or the circle change, you're not teaching a curriculum, you're teaching people.

Reading Sammy's story allows the intelligent reader to see that Major League baseball is as political as Congress and just about as effective in dealing with real people. Sammy demonstrates that lack of trust and lack of respect will destroy any relationship, any organization. But mutual trust and respect will allow any relationship, any organization to thrive.

If you want everything spelled out for you, buy a dictionary. If you want something to think about, buy "Sosa: An Autobiography."

Great player, so-so storyteller
A quick and pleasant read (REAL quick if you skip the stats that comprise about thirty percent of the text). Autobiographies seem to fall into three categories: (1) "tell it all before someone else tells on you" (Billie Holiday's LADY SINGS THE BLUES), (2) "getting even with one's enemies" (Nancy Reagan's MY TURN), and (3) "Gee, I can't believe people pay me to do what I love" (Xaviera Hollander's THE HAPPY HOOKER).

Cynically, you could say there's a fourth category--the market-driven, "strike while the iron is hot" autobiography. Sosa's book probably falls into this last category, though it is presented as a "Gee, I can't believe it" type (but with touches of the defensiveness found in "getting even" types of autobiographies). Hispanic journalist Breton had done a good job of interviewing people in Sosa's life and arranging testimonials in a way that keeps Sosa's story moving. Baseball fans will probably enjoy reading what Sosa has to say about how he improved his batting technique, how he handled the disappointment of being sent back to the minor league, how he viewed his home-run competition with Mark McGwire in 1998. Young people looking for a sports hero will benefit from what Sosa ("Mikey" to his friends and family) has to say about loyalty to family, remembering where one comes from, learning from ones mistakes, handling gossipers and nay-sayers, believing in oneself, and giving back to one's community. People looking for a profound psychological portrait of the author or an insightful take on the business and game of baseball will be disappointed. While no-one would expect someone as guileless as Sosa to trash his teammates and fellow ballplayers, the book could have used a few more clubhouse anecdotes. ... Read more

Product Description
The distinctive cultural amalgam provides the background for this book, which has become a classic text in the Dominican Republic. It is the first book to acknowledge creolization as the dominant feature of Dominican culture. The contributors are Dominican scholars and journalists, and they have served as diplomats, professors, museum directors, and artists. ... Read more

Product Description
The descendents of twentieth-century southern and central European immigrants successfully assimilated into mainstream American culture and generally achieved economic parity with other Americans within several generations. So far, that is not the case with recent immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean. A compelling case study of first- and second-generation Dominicans in Providence, Rhode Island, Encountering American Faultlines suggests that even as immigrants and their children increasingly participate in American life and culture, racialization and social polarization remain key obstacles to further progress.

Encountering American Faultlines uses occupational and socioeconomic data and in-depth interviews to address key questions about the challenges Dominicans encounter in American society. What is their position in the American socioeconomic structure? What occupations do first- and second-generation Dominicans hold as they enter the workforce? How do Dominican families fare economically? How do Dominicans identify themselves in the American racial and ethnic landscape?

The first generation works largely in what is left of Providence's declining manufacturing industry. Second-generation Dominicans do better than their parents economically, but even as some are able to enter middle-class occupations, the majority remains in the service-sector working class. José Itzigsohn suggests that the third generation will likely continue this pattern of stratification, and he worries that the chances for further economic advancement in the next generation may be seriously in doubt.

While transnational involvement is important to first-generation Dominicans, the second generation concentrates more on life in the United States and empowering their local communities. Itzigsohn ties this to the second generation's tendency to embrace panethnic identities. Panethnic identity provides Dominicans with choices that defy strict American racial categories and enables them to build political coalitions across multiple ethnicities.

This intimate study of the Dominican immigrant experience proposes an innovative theoretical approach to look at the contemporary forms and meanings of becoming American. José Itzigsohn acknowledges the social exclusion and racialization encountered by the Dominican population, but he observes that, by developing their own group identities and engaging in collective action and institution building at the local level, Dominicans can distinguish themselves and make inroads into American society. But Encountering American Faultlines also finds that hard work and hope have less to do with their social mobility than the existing economic and racial structures of U.S. society. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 4803 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Contains 8,000 to 12,000 word essays on specific culture groups in the United States, emphasizing religions, holidays, customs, and languages in addition to providing information on historical background and settlement patterns. Also covers ethnoreligious groups such as Jews, Chaldeans, and Amish. Each essay lists organizations and research centers; name, address, and contact information for periodicals, radio, and television stations; and a further readings section. ... Read more

Product Description

Salsa is one of the most popular types of music listened to and danced to in the United States. Until now, the single comprehensive history of the music--and the industry that grew up around it, including musicians, performances, styles, movements, and production--was available only in Spanish. This lively translation provides for English-reading and music-loving fans the chance to enjoy César Miguel Rondón's celebrated "El libro de la salsa." For this first English-language edition, Rondón has added a new chapter to bring the story of salsa up to the present.

Customer Reviews (3)

Blame the translator, NOT the author
I own and have read both this translation and the original "El Libro de la Salsa."The errors mentioned in another review are the fault of the translators, and not of the author.I found additional errors throughout the book, but I actually welcomed them as an opportunity to practice my own translation skills, reading the English and Spanish side by side.

As to complaints regarding the author's inclusion of the Venezuelan scene in this study, anyone who knows anything about salsa is aware that Nuyoricans and puertorriquenos didn't just pull this music out of thin air, and that the music of the Americas has evolved, and continues to evolve, due to influences from numerous cultures.The author grew up in the Caracas scene so he shares from that personal perspective, which I found had value.

Although this book wasn't THE definitive history I had hoped it would be, I recommend it and also urge you to find a copy of the Spanish language large format hardcover, which is filled with gorgeous photographs.

A Good Historical Overview with some fun stories....
I read this book in it's original Spanish version, so I can't comment on the translated English version now available.The Spanish version was an entertaining read with a "Sociological Perspective" about the rise of Salsa in the 60's and 70's mostly focused on the artists on the Fania label - which is considered the "Golden Age" of Salsa Music.If you're a fan of that era, it's definitely worth a read.It'll bring back lots of memories.I only gave it 4 stars because the author, as has been pointed out by other reviewers, was a little loose with the facts and sometimes gets some of the details wrong.Although overall he gets the gist and spirit of the music and the times right.The other thing is that the author refers to Venezuela quite a bit, his home country, when this story is really more about Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico and New York who were the real stars of this music (besides Celia Cruz of course).But, cut the dude some slack, he's proud of his home country like everyone in the Caribbean is... (Que viva Colombia !Carajo!)Highly Recommended to fans of Old School Salsa.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!
I would ordinarily not review a book I didn't finish, but Rondón made two errors in the first 28 pages so grievous that I put the book down for good.First, about the debut album from Eddie Palmieri's band La Perfecta, he claims: "Eddie's older brother, Charlie, was the pianist and in charge of composing and arranging most of their repertoire."If he owned this album--one of the most important in the history of salsa--he could plainly see that Charlie wrote the liner notes and did nothing else on it.

Then, a few pages later, he attributes the song "Micaela" to Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez.Now this is an error so common that Fania records itself has made it on at least one of their compilations, but Rondón should know better.There were two different artists named Pete Rodriguez on the Fania label--Pete "El Conde" Rodriguez, the salsa singer who did "Catalina La O," among other classics, and Pete Rodriguez (and his Orchestra), who was dubbed "The King of Boogaloo."It was the latter who did "Micaela."

It's bad enough that Rondón, a Venezuelan, tries desperately to maintain that Venezuela was as important to the history of Salsa as Puerto Rico, but these huge factual errors (as well as minor ones--the original Perfecta included a flautist and was heavily influenced by charanga, though Rondón seems not to know this) indicate a stunning lack of knowledge about his subject and a failure to get anyone to fact check his work. ... Read more

Product Description
Easy Spanish for travelers without the grammar hassles. Bargain in the markets, find a nice hotel, converse with locals.Includes handy cultural tips and everything a traveler needs to communicate in Spanishto enhance their travels. Phonetic language keyhelps English-speakers begin speaking fast! ... Read more

Product Description
Kirsy Rodriguez enjoys a very special birthday in her Dominican Republic homeland far away from the bustle of New York City. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent resource
This book provides a great depiction of immigrant life in the United States, especially latin culture in New York City. Furthermore, it describes it in a way that is easily understood by children in lower grades. It is an excellent resource for educating about diversity, multiculturalism, and/or immigration.

A Response to Karen Water's Review
I would like to point out that, in fact, the word is "MERENGUE" and it is pronounced "Mer-ren-GAY".Furthermore, it is thenational Dominican music.It is not Haitian at all, since Haitian music iscalled "Compas". Please verify your information before you putit out there for others to read.Thank you.

Karen, the Book Lady, rates My Two Worlds
Oh! What a multicultural merengue*!Seven-year-old Kirsy Rodriguez takes us inside her two worlds, traveling from a snowy New York winter to the balmy Dominican Republic.We meet Kirsy's family, experience the sightsand sounds of Puerto Plata, and see the contrasts and similarities betweencity life and life in the tropics.Martha Cooper's gorgeous photoscolorfully capture the flavor and fun of Kirsy's adventures, documentingthe lifestyle of Kirsy's extended family candidly and unobtrusively. Despite the exotic location, Kirsy's holiday festivities, day at the beach,and birthday party contain elements familiar to most.Short, simplesentences read as if our friend Kirsy were describing snapshots of hervacation.Unfortunately, the conversational tone assumes shared knowledgeof the Spanish terms sprinkled throughout the text.Though this addsspice, the lack of a map or glossary make this a good, rather than a greatresource.Nevertheless, My Two Worlds has much value as a tool to explorecultural or familial issues, is lots of fun as a read-aloud for youngerchildren, and is likely to be enjoyed also by upper-elementary independentreaders.

*Marengue: (ma-ren-GAY)A Haitian or Dominican ballroomdance or music ... Read more

Product Description

Book Review

Many people merely dream of traveling around the world. This highly unusual man acts on his dreams. Every time he starts to wonder about an interesting place he has not been, he simply packs his bags, grabs a camera and goes to the airport to claim his seat. Soon he is in Brazil, China, Africa or anywhere there are people to meet, things to see and do, like taking pictures, buying art, shaking hands, asking questions and being entertained by professional guides and story tellers. "Hello, how are you, good to meet you. I'm Leon Freeman from Memphis, Tennessee." I found his introduction by a tribesman in Papua New Guinea as a cousin the most striking story of them all.

Mr. Freeman retired from his school teaching career and immediately set out to explore the world. Over the years he visited five continents, sixty-two countries and a string of islands ringing the globe like pearls. He discovered one satisfying fundamental fact: in human essence, we are all one. Whatever differences there might be in our outer physical appearance or our diverse cultural extensions, there are no qualitative differences to the principle: 'all human babies are created equal.'

In this picture book, Mr. Freeman provides the viewer with unforgettable, vicarious experiences to enjoy time and time again for many years to come.

- Maia Jaribu Ajanaku, SMU - Retired Teacher, Entrepreneur ... Read more