Throughout its history Nicaragua has been plagued by corruption, social and racial inequality, civil unrest, and foreign interference. Yet despite being the second poorest nation in South America, Nicaragua maintains a rich and vibrant culture that reflects its strong Catholic devotion, diverse indigenous roots, and overwhelming zest for life. Culture and Customs of Nicaragua introduces students and general readers to Nicaragua's unique blend of religious and traditional holidays, so numerous that the country is said to be in a constant state of celebration; its growing film industry; its many styles of dance, the popular "street theatre" open to all bystanders; important contributions to Spanish literature, local cuisines, architecture, social norms, and more. Readers learn what it is like to live in one of Latin America's most disillusioned countries but also discover the passionate culture that defines and sustains the Nicaraguan people.

Originally published in 1991. This book concerns the reception and spread of American-style progressivism in post-Fascist Italy. It places educational reconstruction in fuller historical perspective referring to newly-available archival sources. Documenting the Allied input to reconstruction efforts and the response of the Italian bureaucrats and the Church, the book shows the struggle over schooling that sheds light on other political and social questions in this period. This is an in-depth study of the Anglo-American reconstruction policy in education which is a substantial contribution to understanding America's post-war cultural and social influence throughout Western European society.

Originally published in 1991. This book concerns the reception and spread of American-style progressivism in post-Fascist Italy. It places educational reconstruction in fuller historical perspective referring to newly-available archival sources. Documenting the Allied input to reconstruction efforts and the response of the Italian bureaucrats and the Church, the book shows the struggle over schooling that sheds light on other political and social questions in this period. This is an in-depth study of the Anglo-American reconstruction policy in education which is a substantial contribution to understanding America's post-war cultural and social influence throughout Western European society.

'There has been no more terribly acute critic of America than this steel-conscious and death-conscious Spaniard, with his curious passion for the modernities of nickel and tinfoil and nitre . . .' So wrote Conrad Aiken of Lorca's violent response to the New York he encountered as a student at Columbia University in 1929 and 1930. Born and brought up in Andalusia, Lorca's reaction to the brutality and loneliness of the vast city was one of amazement and indignation. His poetry moved away from the lyricism of the early Romanceros and became a vehicle for experimental techniques through which he expressed tortured feelings of alienation and dislocation. Based on a new edition of the original text, Greg Simon's and Steven White's new translation brings to life Lorca's arresting imagery. Christopher Maurer, a leading authority on Lorca's work, provides an enlightening introduction placing Poet in New York in context, and there are translations of Lorca's letters as well as a lecture he gave about the work. Illustrated with archive photographs, this comprehensive volume will make Lorca's masterpiece available to a whole new generation of readers.

Modern Italy's Founding Fathers offers a fresh perspective on the genesis of the Italian republic as viewed through the efforts of its three most influential leaders: Christian Democrat Alcide De Gasperi, Socialist Pietro Nenni and Communist Palmiro Togliatti. In concise, accessible prose, this work demonstrates how De Gasperi - the Republic's inaugural prime minister from 1945 to 1953 - and his fellow statesmen's shared experience of Fascist oppression, belief in popular sovereignty, and ability to compromise despite deep ideological differences, enabled the creation of Italy's post-war republic. This path-breaking collective biography traces the genesis of the Italian republic, commencing with the overthrow of Mussolini in 1943 and concluding with the death of De Gasperi in 1954. Drawing on the speeches, writings and personal papers of the three protagonists, on Italian and U.S. archives, on contemporary memoirs and on secondary scholarship, Steven F. White demonstrates how these leaders forged political practices and customs which continue to define Italian parliamentary life to the present day. Examining the interplay of personalities, leadership styles, ideas and political context, this study is a vital text for any student of modern Italy and, more broadly, of Cold War Europe.

This book is a panorama of texts translated from nearly a dozen languages on the ayahuasca experience, including indigenous mythic narratives and testimonies, religious hymns, as well as stories related by western travellers, scientists and writers who have had contact with ayahuasca in different contexts. In addition to contributions from Wade Davis, Dennis McKenna and Richard Spruce, this new edition includes essays from Graham Hancock, Jeremy Narby, Susana Bustos, Michael Winkelman and a new section on ayahuasca art. This backlist classic, also, includes contributions from leaders of the global ayahuasca movement, making this the most up-to-date collection of authoritative writings on the subject ever published, an essential reference for anthropology, ethnobotany and Latin American literature studies.

The work of Cuban poet Gaston Baquero has been largely unavailable. Now, thanks to translators Greg Simon and Steven White, we have a rich sampling that will provide English speakers a powerful display of Baquero's high-velocity lyricism. Playful, sinuous with both gladness and duende, these poems speak profoundly of the spirit's essential freedom and mystery, and of what it meant to be human in the twentieth century. Born in Banes, Cuba, in 1918, Gaston Baquero was raised in rural poverty and trained as an agronomist before becoming a journalist. He was involved in all the most important Cuban literary journals of the mid-century, including Origenes. He left Cuba immediately after the revolution of 1959, spending the rest of his life in Spain, where he died in 1997. Baquero published numerous essays and eight collections of poetry. Although officially nonexistent in Cuba for many years, his work is widely known there, and he was recently officially acknowledged as one of the country's major poets.

Modern Italy's Founding Fathers offers a fresh perspective on the genesis of the Italian republic as viewed through the efforts of its three most influential leaders: Christian Democrat Alcide De Gasperi, Socialist Pietro Nenni and Communist Palmiro Togliatti. In concise, accessible prose, this work demonstrates how De Gasperi - the Republic's inaugural prime minister from 1945 to 1953 - and his fellow statesmen's shared experience of Fascist oppression, belief in popular sovereignty, and ability to compromise despite deep ideological differences, enabled the creation of Italy's post-war republic. This path-breaking collective biography traces the genesis of the Italian republic, commencing with the overthrow of Mussolini in 1943 and concluding with the death of De Gasperi in 1954. Drawing on the speeches, writings and personal papers of the three protagonists, on Italian and U.S. archives, on contemporary memoirs and on secondary scholarship, Steven F. White demonstrates how these leaders forged political practices and customs which continue to define Italian parliamentary life to the present day. Examining the interplay of personalities, leadership styles, ideas and political context, this study is a vital text for any student of modern Italy and, more broadly, of Cold War Europe.