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Upside Down

by Eduardo Galeano

Upside Down Cover

Staff Pick

Journalist, historian, poet, author — there is no other writer whose style is comparable to that of Eduardo Galeano. The Uruguayan penner, best known for his acclaimed Memory of Fire trilogy, further indicts our culture of privilege in Upside Down. Comprised of a series of illuminating vignettes, Galeano, with his trademark wit, sarcasm, and adroit phrasings, turns his unerring critique onto the vapidity and shallowness of our modern world. Whether decrying violence, consumerism, ecological degradation, imperialism, or our car-obsessed culture, Galeano's humanity and heartbreak is evident on every page. Illustrated with the engravings of Jose Posada, Upside Down will lacerate while enchanting, dance you silly while shaking the daylights out of you.
Recommended by Jeremy, Powells.com

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In a series of mock lesson plans and a "program of study" Galeano provides an eloquent, passionate, funny and shocking exposé of First World privileges and assumptions. From a master class in "The Impunity of Power" to a seminar on "The Sacred Car"—with tips along the way on "How to Resist Useless Vices" and a declaration of the "The Right to Rave"—he surveys a world unevenly divided between abundance and deprivation, carnival and torture, power and helplessness.

We have accepted a "reality" we should reject, he writes, one where poverty kills, people are hungry, machines are more precious than humans, and children work from dark to dark. In the North, we are fed on a diet of artificial need and all made the same by things we own; the South is the galley slave enabling our greed.

Synopsis:

Includes bibliographical references (p. [339]-348) and index.

Synopsis:

Galeano, author of the "Memory of Fire" trilogy, combines a novelist's intensity, a poet's lyricism, a journalist's fearlessness, and the strong judgments of an engaged historian in "Upside Down", an eloquent, passionate, sometimes hilarious expose of first-world privileges and assumptions. Illustrations.

About the Author

Eduardo Galeano, one of Latin America's most distinguished writers, journalists, and historians, is the author of the Memory of Fire trilogy (winner of the 1989 American Book Award), Open Veins of Latin America, and many other works. He lives in Montevideo, Uruguay.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
Edward, February 27, 2007 (view all comments by Edward)
Have a taste of the real world; enter Eduardo Galeano's intuitive and accurate world view of today's current global reality. This book will first shake your mind and later clear your mind; it will make you re-think the world and its global disorder.
This book must be updated (copyright 1998, translation 2000) but it nonetheless still bears essential and relevant fruit which unmasks and reveals the truths of the world's general assumptions. After reading this book you will truely never see the world the same again. I hope he updates this book and keeps updating this book periodically.
If we were all rich and "consumed like those who are squeezing the earth dry we'd have no world left." Our world appears to be creating (manufacturing) illusions daily which we eagerly take in (consume), and these illusions are spiraling downwards-- that is Upside Down.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780312420314
Subtitle:
A Primer for the Looking-Glass World
Translator:
Posada, Jose Guadalupe
Illustrator:
Posada, Jose Guadalupe
Author:
Galeano, Eduardo H.
Author:
Galeano, Eduardo
Author:
Fried, Mark
Author:
Fried, Mark
Publisher:
Picador USA
Location:
New York
Subject:
Social history
Subject:
Developing countries
Subject:
Economic Conditions
Subject:
Economic History
Subject:
World politics
Subject:
Social problems
Subject:
World - Post-Colonial Studies
Subject:
General Current Events
Subject:
Social history -- 20th century.
Subject:
World politics -- 20th century.
Edition Number:
1st Picador USA ed.
Edition Description:
Picador USA
Series Volume:
no. UT-01.07
Publication Date:
October 2001
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
358
Dimensions:
838x562x93 73

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