Coca and Cocaine: Effects on People and Policy in Latin America edited by Deborah Pacini and Christine Fran- quemont. Cultural Survival Report No. 23, 1986, 169 pp., $8 (paper); 11 Di- vinity Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138. A good antidote to Miami Vice. This collection of papers, originally presented at a 1985 Cornell University conference, focuses on how Andean peoples have been effected by coca's transformation from sacred leaf to the internationally coveted commodity of cocaine. Chapters include coca chew- ing and the botanical origins of coca, Andean cultural identity and coca, pre- Columbian cultivation, the interna- tional narcotics control system, foreign plans to eradicate coca, the impact of drug traffic on Colombia, effects on Bolivian rural society and political and economic implications for tribal Ama- zonian Indians who have recently be- gun to grow coca as a cash crop. Drug Control in the Americas by William O. Walker III. University of New Mexico Press, 1981, 287 pp., $15.95 (paper). Details the legal and social history of international attempts to control the drug trade. An attempt to analyze drug control (a "proscriptive and prescrip- tive reform movement") and drug us- age in the U.S. and Latin America as rooted in a larger historical context. Walker sees historically divergent atti- tudes toward drugs between the two regions and focuses primarily on drug diplomacy between the U.S. and Mex- ico. His study covers the preiod previ- ous to the late 1940s, when complex aspects associated with drugs today-geographical expansion of the traffic, control by organized gangs and increased recreational use-began to appear. Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History by Sidney W. Mintz. Penguin, 1986, 273 pp., $7.95 (paper). "The first sweetened cup of hot tea to be drunk by an English worker," writes the author, "was a significant historical event." In this engrossing account of a substance and its unusual relationship to society, the reknowned anthropologist and food historian Sid- ney W. Mintz tells us the history of Europe, of its tropical colonies, and of the complex and intimate way sugar changed each. A pleasure to read. Desperados: Latin Drug Lords, U.S. Lawmen, and the War America Can't Win by Elaine Shannon. Vi- king, 1988, 499 pp., $21.95 (cloth). As the title suggests, this book is aimed at the best-seller lists. Long on anecdotes and short on analysis, the book focuses almost exclusively on the case of murdered DEA agent Enrique Camarena. Shannon researched her topic exhaustively, amassing tremen- dous detail to answer questions which are largely irrelevant to understanding this pressing issue. Not very instruc- tive, but it does make for a good read. Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky. Pan- theon, 1988, 412pp., $14.95 (paper). There are unifying threads in the vast body of Herman and Chomsky's works, in which themes and examples reappear in a variety of contexts. This book takes the mass media as its con- text and brings the familiar theme of media bias to life with telling detail. One example: 34 brillant pages com- pare media coverage of the murder of Polish priest Jerzy Popieluszko with that of 100 religious figures in Latin America, including Archbishop Rom- ero and the four U.S. church women in El Salvador. The bottom line: One Polish priest's murder made the front page of the New York Times 10 times, 2 more than the 100 murdered Latins, 6 more than Archbishop Romero. An invaluable work from two writers who have once again met their own high standards. Granddaughters of Corn: Portraits of Guatemalan Women by Marilyn Anderson and Jonathan Garlock. Curb- stone Press, 1988, 124 pp., $19.95 (paper). A powerful juxtaposition of words and pictures, begun as an exhibit called "Women and Repression in Guate- mala." By combining Anderson's striking photos of Indian women doing traditional weaving with their graphic accounts of the military's atrocities, the book offers us Guatemala's es- sence: beauty and cruelty coexisting side by side. Resistance, Rebellion and Conscious- ness in the Andean Peasant World 18th to 20th Centuries edited by Steve J. Stem. University of Wisconsin Press, 1987, 446 pp., $15 (paper). A provocative collection of essays on peasant movements in the Andes which covers insurrections in the late colonial period, nation-state formation of the 19th century and the Bolivian peasant movement in the 20th century. Common assumptions and paradigms in peasant studies are challenged and Stem's introductory chapter makes new methodological suggestions for future studies. In particular, the book questions traditional depictions of peasants as political actors who are merely "parochial and defensive reac- tors" to external forces such as the world market and the imposition of capitalist plantations. Women of the Caribbean edited by Pat Ellis. Zed Books, 1986, 165 pp., $9.95 (paper). A rare collection of essays cover- ing the varied lives of women in the Caribbean. Includes discussions of historical and media images of the re- gion's women, family and education structures, and culture. Stresses women's hidden and special contribu- tions to society as laborers, hucksters and entrepreneurs, and providers of basic needs in poor communities. The book outlines various programs and community projects organized for and by women that aim to integrate women into rural development and thereby empower them with a voice in eco- nomic policy. El Salvador: 'Death Squads' - A Government Strategy by Amnesty International, 1988, 50 pp., $5. AI's latest briefing on El Salvador in the wake of the renewed surge of death squad killings in 1988 after a period of relative decline. Though not yet reaching the levels of the' early 1980s, human rights groups report that there were "as many death squad-style disappearances and murders in the first three months of 1988 alone as in all of 1987." Numerous interviews with Sal- vadorans, including former death squad members, marshall plenty of evidence to justify the report's accusa- tory title.
