Eliza Lynch: Queen of Paraguay is one of the most intriguing, and yet one of the least-known stories of modern history. Escaping a desperate marriage at the age of 20, Eliza fled Ireland to Paris where her extraordinary beauty and intelligence won the attention of the soon-to-be dictator of Paraguay, Francisco Solano Lopez. Although the couple never married, Eliza bore him seven children and was seen as the queen of Paraguay, adored by the public and admired for her glamour and sophistication. But Eliza and Francisco's love was damned with the outbreak of the infamous War of the Triple Alliance (1864-70), the bloodiest in South America's history. This is a unique love story, chronicling a romance that endured a desperate turn of fortunes, taking them from a life of royalty to a life on the run, and culminating with the now iconic image of Lynch burying both Lopez and their eldest son in a shallow grave with her bare hands after they had been killed by Brazilian troops. Dubbed 'The Irish Evita', Eliza Lynch (born in Charleville, County Cork) was the most famous woman in all of South America in the nineteenth century. Her reputation was destroyed by the opposition in the wake of the War of the Triple Alliance; but in this story of wealth, war, love, loyalty, loss and, above all, survival, Eliza is revealed as a woman who showed extraordinary courage in the face a series of unspeakable horrors. This book restores her to her rightful place among the most remarkable and brave women in modern history. Read more

The Chaco War was massive territorial war between Bolivia and Paraguay, which cost almost a 100,000 lives. An old fashioned territorial dispute, the contested area was the Gran Chaco Boreal, a 100,000-square mile region of swamp, jungle and pampas with isolated fortified towns. The wilderness terrain made operations difficult and costly as the war see-sawed between the two sides. Bolivian troops, under the command of a German general, Hans von Kundt, had early successes, but these stalled in the face of a massive mobilization programme by the Paraguans which saw their force increase in size ten-fold to 60,000 men. This book sheds light on a vicious territorial war that waged in the jungles and swamps of the Gran Chaco and is illustrated with rare photographs and especially commissioned artwork. Read more

The timeless stories of three contemporary Latin Americans whose lives represent three driving forces that have shaped the character of the region: exploitation, violence, and religion.Leonor Gonzales, a miner's widow, lives in a tiny community perched in the Andean cordillera of Peru, the highest human habitation on earth.Carlos Buergos is a Cuban who fought in the civil war in Angola and was among hundreds of criminals Cuba expelled to the USA.Xavier Albó is a Jesuit priest from Barcelona who emigrated to Bolivia, where he works among the indigenous people.In Silver, Sword and Stone Marie Arana seamlessly weaves these stories with the history of the past millennium to explain three enduring themes that have defined Latin America since pre-Columbian times: the foreign greed for its mineral riches, an ingrained history of violence, and the abiding power of religion. What emerges is a vibrant portrait of a people whose lives are increasingly intertwined with our own. Read more

For more than fifteen years, Mario Blaser has been involved with the Yshiro people of the Paraguayan Chaco as they have sought to maintain their world in the face of conservation and development programs promoted by the state and various nongovernmental organizations. In this ethnography of the encounter between modernizing visions of development, the place-based “life projects” of the Yshiro, and the agendas of scholars and activists, Blaser argues for an understanding of the political mobilization of the Yshiro and other indigenous peoples as part of a struggle to make the global age hospitable to a “pluriverse” containing multiple worlds or realities. As he explains, most knowledge about the Yshiro produced by non-indigenous “experts” has been based on modern Cartesian dualisms separating subject and object, mind and body, and nature and culture. Such thinking differs profoundly from the relational ontology enacted by the Yshiro and other indigenous peoples. Attentive to people’s unique experiences of place and self, the Yshiro reject universal knowledge claims, unlike Western modernity, which assumes the existence of a universal reality and refuses the existence of other ontologies or realities. In Storytelling Globalization from the Chaco and Beyond, Blaser engages in storytelling as a knowledge practice grounded in a relational ontology and attuned to the ongoing struggle for a pluriversal globality. Read more

'Startling, dark and absorbing' Independent'Excellent travel writing: vivid, sympathetic, humorous' Guardian'Fascinating, provocative and highly eccentric' New York Times_______________________In 1886 Elisabeth Nietzsche, the philosopher Friedrich's bigoted, imperious sister, founded a 'racially pure' colony in Paraguay together with a band of blond-haired fellow Germans. Over a century later, Ben Macintyre sought out the survivors of Nueva Germania to discover the remains of this bizarre colony. Forgotten Fatherland vividly recounts his arduous adventure locating the survivors, while also tracing the colorful history of Elisabeth's return to Europe, where she inspired the mythical cult of her brother's philosophy and later became a mentor to Hitler. Brilliantly researched and mordantly funny, this is an illuminating portrait of a forgotten people and of a woman whose deep influence on the twentieth century can only now be fully understood. Read more

'Startling, dark and absorbing' Independent'Excellent travel writing: vivid, sympathetic, humorous' Guardian'Fascinating, provocative and highly eccentric' New York Times_______________________In 1886 Elisabeth Nietzsche, the philosopher Friedrich's bigoted, imperious sister, founded a 'racially pure' colony in Paraguay together with a band of blond-haired fellow Germans. Over a century later, Ben Macintyre sought out the survivors of Nueva Germania to discover the remains of this bizarre colony. Forgotten Fatherland vividly recounts his arduous adventure locating the survivors, while also tracing the colorful history of Elisabeth's return to Europe, where she inspired the mythical cult of her brother's philosophy and later became a mentor to Hitler. Brilliantly researched and mordantly funny, this is an illuminating portrait of a forgotten people and of a woman whose deep influence on the twentieth century can only now be fully understood. Read more

Paraguay - the name conjures up everything most exotic and extreme in South America. It's a place of hellish jungles, dictators, fraudsters and Nazis, utopian experiments, missionaries and lurid coups. It's not a place for the timid tourist. It doesn't even have its own guidebook. But Paraguay, as revealed in this outstanding new travel book, is among the most beautiful and captivating countries in the world. The beguiling Paraguayans, despised and feared by their neighbours, are unfathomable. They adore Diana, Princess of Wales, as if she were still alive and hundreds volunteered to fight for Britain in the Falklands War. Their politics are Byzantine but when the Vice-President is murdered, they call in Scotland Yard. Discover more about the unique traditions of South American culture through this fascinating piece of travel journalism. Read more

Hemmed in by the vast, arid Chaco to the west and, for most of its history, impenetrable jungles to the east, Paraguay has been defined largely by its isolation. Partly as a result, there has been a dearth of serious scholarship or journalism about the country. Going a long way toward redressing this lack of information and analysis, The Paraguay Reader is a lively compilation of testimonies, journalism, scholarship, political tracts, literature, and illustrations, including maps, photographs, paintings, drawings, and advertisements. Taken together, the anthology's many selections convey the country's extraordinarily rich history and cultural heritage, as well as the realities of its struggles against underdevelopment, foreign intervention, poverty, inequality, and authoritarianism. Most of the Reader is arranged chronologically. Weighted toward the twentieth century and early twenty-first, it nevertheless gives due attention to major events in Paraguay's history, such as the Triple Alliance War (1864–70) and the Chaco War (1932–35). The Reader's final section, focused on national identity and culture, addresses matters including ethnicity, language, and gender. Most of the selections are by Paraguayans, and many of the pieces appear in English for the first time. Helpful introductions by the editors precede each of the book's sections and all of the selected texts. Read more

Interviews with the descendants of Elisabeth Nietzsche's Aryan colony in Paraguay add color to the biography of the great philosopher's sister, who apparently took control of her brother and his work and projected it into Nazi Germany. Read more

The Chaco War was the first modern conflict in South America. Over time, it became the topic of many volumes published in both Bolivia and Paraguay – first by veterans, such as the commanders-in-chief, and the commanders of army corps’, regiments or battalions, and by other ranks, in the form of personal memoirs or wider histories, and using a wide variety of sources. Subsequently, the conflict attracted attention of many foreign writers, foremost from the United States of America and Europe, who researched it with great interest. Hundreds of related articles have also been published.Nevertheless, ‘The Chaco War, 1932-1935’ is the first ever concise history of this conflict, providing the reader with the full background to this conflict, the military build-up of the Bolivian and Paraguayan armed forces, a blow-by-blow account of Bolivian penetration of this territory since the early 20th Century, precise details on troops mobilised for the war by both sides, all of the battles fought between the belligerents, and their casualties.Two very different military concepts faced each other: the German General Hans Kundt, a First World War veteran, hired by the Bolivian Government, was a proponent of the typical Prussian tactics of front attacks regardless of cost, but also of the strategy of taking and controlling as much territory as possible without annihilating the enemy.The Paraguayan Lieutenant-Colonel José Felix Estigarribia (later promoted to Colonel, and then General), took his specialization courses in Chile and France, and was a proponent of tactics of using trench warfare for defence, and flanking the enemy when in the offensive.Eventually, Estigarribia’s ideas proved their worth – partially because his forces managed to capture huge stocks of Bolivian arms and ammunition throughout the war.This is also the first book to provide an exclusive collection of photographs from the archives of the Institute of History and Military Museum of Ministry of National Defence of Paraguay, and several private archives in Paraguay and Bolivia.Perfectly complementing the earlier volume The Chaco Air War of the Latin America@War series, The Chaco War provides an indispensable, single-point-source-of-reference for enthusiasts and professionals alike. Read more

The Paraguayan War, also known as the War of the Triple Alliance, was the largest and most important military conflict in the history of South America, after the Wars of Independence, and its only true 'continental' war. It involved four countries and lasted for more than five years, during which Paraguay fought alone against a powerful alliance formed by Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. This conflict was remarkable in its huge scale and its terrible cost in lives, with the catastrophic human price paid by Paraguay amounting to more than 300,000 men, a loss of some 70% of the country's total population. The war was a real revolution for the armies of South America, and the first truly modern conflict of the continent. When the war began in 1864, the armies were small, poorly trained and badly equipped semi-professional forces. However, by the time the war ended, most of them had adopted percussion rifles employing the Minié system and new weapons like breech-loading rifles and Gatling machine guns were being tested on the continent for the first time. This title covers the whole span of the war, from the early days when the conflict primarily involved small columns of a few thousand men seeking each other out in rugged and sparsely inhabited territory, through to the later Napoleonic-style positional battles fought at points of strategic importance. It also explores the unique challenges presented by the humid, subtropical climate, including the devastating impact of disease on the troops. Read more

The timeless stories of three contemporary Latin Americans whose lives represent three driving forces that have shaped the character of the region: exploitation, violence, and religion.Leonor Gonzales, a miner's widow, lives in a tiny community perched in the Andean cordillera of Peru, the highest human habitation on earth.Carlos Buergos is a Cuban who fought in the civil war in Angola and was among hundreds of criminals Cuba expelled to the USA.Xavier Albó is a Jesuit priest from Barcelona who emigrated to Bolivia, where he works among the indigenous people.In Silver, Sword and Stone Marie Arana seamlessly weaves these stories with the history of the past millennium to explain three enduring themes that have defined Latin America since pre-Columbian times: the foreign greed for its mineral riches, an ingrained history of violence, and the abiding power of religion. What emerges is a vibrant portrait of a people whose lives are increasingly intertwined with our own. Read more

South American food, music and culture are cutting a swathe across the western world.But what if cricket - the quintessential English sport - were to conquer Latin America? The notion of Brazilians and Mexicans playing T20 at the Maracana or the Azteca is not as far-fetched as it sounds.Cricket was the first sport played in almost every country of the Americas - earlier than football, rugby or baseball. In 1877, when England and Australia played the inaugural Test match at the MCG, Uruguay and Argentina were already 10 years into their derby played across the River Plate.The visionary cricket historian Rowland Bowen reckoned that during the highpoint of cricket in South America between the two world wars, the continent could have provided the next Test nation. In Buenos Aires, where British engineers, merchants and meat-packers flocked to make their fortune, the standard of cricket was high: towering figures like Lord Hawke and Plum Warner took star-studded teams of Test cricketers to South America, and were beaten by Argentina. A combined Argentine, Brazilian and Chilean team took on the first-class counties in England in 1932.But this is as much a social history of grit, industry and nation-building in the New World. West Indian fruit workers battled yellow fever and brutal management to carve out cricket fields next to the railway lines in Costa Rica and by the hulking locks of the Panama Canal. The legendary BBC commentator Brian Johnston, working for the family coffee business in Santos, was Brazil's best wicketkeeper until he was bed-ridden by beri-beri. Cricket was the favoured pursuit of the blustering Nitrate King of Chile; Emperors in Brazil and Mexico used the game to curry favour with Europe; General Pinochet's grandchildren avidly play the game in Chile to this day.But the fate of cricket in South America is symbolised by Eva Perón ordering the burning down of the Buenos Aires Cricket Club pavilion when the club refused to hand over their premises to her welfare scheme. Mexican bandits, Colombian guerrillas and Argentine anarchists have kidnapped their country's leading cricketers for ransom. One of the first Uruguayan cricketers - who scored the first goal for the national football team - was killed when a whirlwind carried away the cabin he was sheltering in. This is a book short on match reports, and long on blood and guts. Read more

Did you know that Paraguay is home to the largest indigenous group in South America, the Guarani people? Their language and culture have deeply influenced Paraguayan society, with Guarani being widely spoken alongside Spanish and integrated into daily life, from place names to everyday expressions.If this topic interests you and your little one then get ready for some fun and giggles.It is hard to find the time to teach your child about the world around them. Luckily, in 50 Facts About Paraguay, we've made it easy. Our book contains a diverse selection of the most interesting facts about Paraguay that will provide your child with hours of bonding and exploring.What you will find in our book:High-quality illustrationsInteresting Facts about Paraguay This book also provides travel tips and places that are useful for your trip, and you will learn all about Paraguay Perfect for homeschooling, language development and for school holidaysSo what are you waiting for? Get your little kid a copy today! Read more

The Chaco War was probably the first “modern” conflict in Latin America where military aviation was widely used in all roles. Bolivia, as the reader will find out, had a very powerful military air force, but unfortunately for them and luckily for Paraguay, its high army command did not take advantage of it. On the other hand, the Paraguayan Commander-in-Chief, General José Félix Estigarribia used military aviation to help him defeat the enemy on the ground, and the result was clear: the Bolivians were expelled from the Chaco after three years of war. Previous publications have focused on the Chaco Air War with the aircraft technical details and almost no information on aerial operations, which is this book’s centrepiece. All dogfights and bombing missions mentioned are detailed including crews, aircraft, serials, places and outcomes. The book also describes how both military air forces were organized, how pilots and aviation mechanics were trained, how and where aircraft were purchased and many other unpublished before details. The maps included in the book will help the reader have an idea of where aerial operations took place, both combatants air bases, Bolivia’s plan to conquer the whole region and how the Paraguayan Army finally expelled the enemy out of the Chaco. The text is supported by a large number of photographs, and specially commissioned colour profile artworks from modelers. Read more

SILVER, SWORD AND STONE is a vibrant, sweeping history of Latin America, told through three compelling lenses.The first, precious metal, of which silver is an enormous part, is an obsession that burned brightly in pre\-Columbian times, consumed Spain in its relentless conquest of America, drove a system of exploitation, and has morphed into Latin America\x27s hope for the future. The second, the \x27sword\x27, is the culture of violence: from the Aztec and Inca empires through the bloody nineteenth\-century wars of independence to state terrorism, the Shining Path, and today\x27s drug wars. The third, embodied in temples, elaborate cathedrals, or simple piles of rock, is the region\x27s fervent adherence to religious institutions, built in stone.The result is a dramatic portrait of a continent, brimming with colourful stories that cover a thousand years of history as well as real, living characters: Leonor González, a tiny widow and mother of five living in La Rinconada, the highest human settlement in the world, informs the history of mining. Carlos Buergos \- a Cuban drug dealer who honed his knife skills in the war in Angola, brought his cunning to America, then became a police informant \- echoes the violence of the Aztecs, Pizarro, Rafael Trujillo and Pinochet. And Father Xavier Albo, a Jesuit priest who lives in La Paz, has worked for forty years to keep Catholicism alive among the Quechua and Aymara of the Andes, who would rather believe what their ancestors did.Vivid and impeccably researched, SILVER, SWORD AND STONE is the definitive narrative history of a region with a tumultuous but little\-understood present as well as past. Read more

The year 1989 was crucial for Paraguay. After a long period of 35 years of dictatorship, General Alfredo Stroessner was finally overthrown by a violent coup d’état. In a sort of prophetic way, he once said …”I came to power by arms and I will only leave by arms” and that came true on 2 February of that year. The 1989 Coup d’état in Paraguay discusses Stroessner’s climb to power during a coup of 1954, fraudulent elections that got him re-elected seven times, and the ways Stroessner kept himself afloat through cooperation with the armed forces, a right-wing political party, and the USA. Arguably, longing to maintain his popularity, the dictator launched a large number of major development projects, including construction of roads, water and sewage facilities, three big hydro-electrical power stations, and a build-up of an airline. At the same time, abuse of human rights and oppression of any kind of political opposition became a norm: dozens of political prisoners were tortured and even executed, and thousands driven into exile. As could be expected from a dictator with a military background, Stroessner prompted a major expansion and a build-up of the armed forces and the police, too. Nevertheless, it was the armed forces of Paraguay that brought about his demise: the coup that finally ended Stroessner’s rule was planned by General Andres Rodriguez, the Commander of the I Army Corps – and then with full support of large segments of the Army, Air Force and the Navy of Paraguay. A detailed description of the coup in question, and how Stroessner was driven into exile in Brazil, is the centrepiece of this narrative. Thirty years since the fall of Stroessner’s regime, many things have changed in Paraguay: still, many remain the same. Containing over 100 photographs, colour profiles, maps and extensive tables, ‘The 1989 Coup d’etat in Paraguay’ is a unique study and a source of reference about an important episode in Latin American history. Read more

300+ Puzzles for every day.Ideal for any player level.Answers in the last pages.Large Print Size - US Letter.Over 6000+ words. Read more

This political and military history of Paraguay chronicles the dictatorship of General Alfredo Stroessner from 1954 to the coup that overthrew him in 1989.   1989 was a crucial year for Paraguay. After thirty-five years of dictatorship, General Alfredo Stroessner was overthrown by a coup d’état. In this sweeping historical study, Paraguayan historian Antonio Luis Sapienza chronicles Stroessner’s rise to power during the coup of 1954; his long tenure maintained through fraudulent elections, military alliances, a right-wing political party, and assistance from the United States; and his eventual downfall.   While in power, Stroessner launched major development projects, improving roads, water and sewage facilities, and an airline. At the same time, abuse of human rights and oppression of political opposition became the norm. Dozens of political prisoners were tortured and even executed, and thousands driven into exile.   Like most dictators, Stroessner oversaw major expansions of the military and police. Nevertheless, it was Paraguay’s armed forces, led by General Andres Rodriguez, that brought a violent end to his rule. Sapienza provides a detailed analysis of the coup that sent Stroessner into exile in Brazil.   Extensively illustrated with photographs and maps, The 1989 Coup d’etat in Paraguay is a unique study of an important episode in Latin American history. Read more

In the first half of the 20th Century, there were several revolutions in Paraguay, starting in 1904, then 1908, 1911-12, 1922-23, 1936 and finally 1947. In 1922, a huge internal crisis in the Liberal Party led to a bloody revolution and for the first time in the history of the country, both sides decided to use aerial power against the enemy. There were not any airplanes available in Paraguay at that time, and very few pilots, just three, so both the government led by President Eusebio Ayala, and the revolutionaries led by a couple of Army colonels, Chirife and Mendoza, searched for foreign pilots and planes in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Many First World War veterans emigrated to Latin America in search of a better life, either opening flight schools or offering their services in local conflicts. That is how some of them came to Paraguay with their own aircraft, which were bought by either the government or the revolutionaries. The three Paraguayan pilots offered their services to the government, which soon established the first air base near the capital, in a wide open field called ‘Ñu-Guazú’ (a Guaraní name meaning ‘Big Field’). Meanwhile, the rebels organized their own air base, first near the city of Villarrica, and later in Cangó. The main types used by both sides were the Ansaldo SVA5 and SVA10, but the government also managed to purchase a Breguet XIV, an Armstrong Whitworth FK.8, a SPAD S.20 and a couple of SAML A.3. Inevitably the first dogfights took place, and also bombing raids, strafing enemy troops, and recce missions on both sides. Finally, in mid-1923, the revolutionaries were defeated and one of the consequences was the foundation of the Military Aviation School. In contrast, the Revolution of 1947 lasted just a few months but it was as bloody as the previous one, if not more so. The government, supported by the Colorado Party, fought against the revolutionaries, composed of almost 70% of the Army, Navy and Air Arm, supported by the Liberal, Febrerista and Communist parties. Regarding the Air Arm, it split in two, but at the beginning most of the aircraft in flying conditions were used by the revolutionaries, whose main base was the city of Concepción, in the north of the country. Soon, the government air arm had some aircraft in flying condition although most of the Italian types purchased in 1939 were out of service. Only Lend-Lease trainers such as PT-19, BT-13, AT-6 types were used for recce and light bombing raids, using mortar ammunition. Some weeks later, the loyalists managed to repair some Caproni AP-1s to be flown against the rebels. There were a few dogfights but no aircraft were shot down in them, although some were lost due to AA fire. In the end, the government could defeat the revolutionaries, mainly because of the lack of tactical organization in the rebel forces. This is the first in-depth account of them with data, pictures, maps and profiles, some of them never published before. Read more