It should not be so hard to write both poetry and fiction. Both arts, after all, make use of the same materials, words and punctuation. Poems...
Continue »
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, Powell's City of Books
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.
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.
librarylapin, January 4, 2010 (view all comments by librarylapin)
This brilliant work of poetic nonfiction lyrically describes our absurd recent history and the way in which we need to find a more profound humanity within ourselves. Galeano is brilliant and literarily astonishing. The drawings are lovely too. I think this should definitely be the book of the decade.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No (1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
Prashant, January 2, 2010 (view all comments by Prashant)
Relentless, yet extremely thought provoking masterpiece that juxtaposes facts in a way that highlights injustices. The book is also littered with interesting vignettes and incidences that create a mosaic of topic in discussion.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No (1 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
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.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No (14 of 26 readers found this comment helpful)
Product details
368 pages
Picador USA -
English9780312420314
Reviews:
"Staff Pick"
by Jeremy,
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.
by Jeremy
"Synopsis"
by ,
Includes bibliographical references (p. [339]-348) and index.
"Synopsis"
by Libri,
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.
Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.