Guatemalan Journey - Softcover

Benz, Stephen Connely

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0292708408 ISBN 13: 9780292708402

Publisher: University of Texas Press, 1996

Synopsis

Guatemala draws some half million tourists each year, whose brief visits to the ruins of ancient Maya cities and contemporary highland Maya villages may give them only a partial and folkloric understanding of Guatemalan society. In this vividly written travel narrative, Stephen Connely Benz explores the Guatemala that casual travelers miss, using his encounters with ordinary Guatemalans at the mall, on the streets, at soccer games, and even at the funeral of massacre victims to illuminate the social reality of Guatemala today.

The book opens with an extended section on the capital, Guatemala City, and then moves out to the more remote parts of the country where the Guatemalan Indians predominate. Benz offers us a series of intelligent and sometimes humorous perspectives on Guatemala's political history and the role of the military, the country's environmental degradation, the influence of foreign missionaries, and especially the impact of the United States on Guatemala, from governmental programs to fast food franchises.

About this title

Review:

"Benz brings the reader face to face with the landscape, the people, and the institutions of Guatemala. I am convinced that his book will appeal to a general audience, to students entering the field of Latin American studies, and even to people planning a trip to that country. His insights into and observations of Guatemalan society are invariably accurate and engaging." Author: Pablo Medina, author of Exiled Memories: A Cuban Childhood

About the Author:

Stephen Connely Benz was a Fulbright Scholar in Guatemala from 1988 to 1990. A poet and essayist, he was Assistant Professor of English at Barry University in Miami.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0292708408
• ISBN 13: 9780292708402
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224