The Other 9/11: Chile in the time of Pinochet

A few days ago, my 10-year-old son asked me why I’d scheduled an event on 9/11. “Bad timing!” he said. He knew about the Twin Towers. But he didn’t know about 9/11/73, a date of infamy in Latin America. 9/11/73 was the day General Augusto Pinochet launched a military coup that ousted democratically elected Chilean…

RIP Gregory Rabassa, translator of Márquez, Amado, Vargas Llosa

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” (opening line of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez) Those are not the words of Gabriel García Márquez. They’re the words of Gregory Rabassa, his translator,…

Until the Rulers Obey: Voices from Latin American Social Movements

Latin America may be the last place on Earth that still has widespread and vibrant grassroots social movements. This superb collection of essays and interviews with activists, scholars, and writers sheds light on the history, the successes, and the challenges these movements face. Having spent time in twelve of the fourteen countries profiled in this…