Victor Wolfgang Von Hagen (1908–1985)

From my vintage collection (published 1941), a book (I think it may have been issued in public schools for lower elementary age children), that teaches about some of the products (at that time) to come from South America in a series of short stories. One story for each product, it features a child (I would estimate to be between 7-10 yrs old, my guess for the American children reading the book to be able to relate to), and that child's family or the child him/herself involved in the show more manufacture of that product. The countries and products featured: coffee (Columbia), straw hats (Ecuador), balsa wood (Peru), cacao (Venezuela), and tin (Bolivia). Each story is very "nice" (think "Leave It To Beaver") teaching not only in a very "nice" way about the culture and lifestyle as well, with anything resembling hardship or something sad have been purged. One thing I did find interesting was the desire for the United States (1941 perspective) to develop Bolivia's tin so that America could rely on getting more of it from there to become more self-sufficient and less on "British controlled sources"-- at that time (I am not sure about now) 80% of all the world's production of tin came from Britain or its colonies. When did the shift happen from the desire to be more self-sufficient to now when we have become lackeys in so many areas to other countries? show less

A far-too-brief treatment of papermaking in pre-Columbia America. What's here is excellent and extremely interesting, but I wish Von Hagen had been able to collect more information, particularly more accounts by the Spanish of the vast libraries they destroyed (since those accounts are basically the only records of that cultural heritage). Wishes aside, the short book is a readable and very useful account of the materials and methods used in the production of American bark papers during the show more centuries before European conquest. show less

A thorough biography of John Lloyd Stephens. The middle portions were very fun, reading about his explorations and discovery of lost Mayan cities, the rest was pretty tedious. I guess I wasn't so much interested in JLS as I was in those few years of his life. Well-written, though, and well-researched.

This is a very interesting biography of Manuela Saenz and Simon Bolivar.
Simon Bolivar liberated South America from Spanish rule against great odds but his life ended tragically due to political factors and people within his own camp he failed to control

I have been told from someone who grew up in South America that this book is often required reading in South America as a basic text for it's history.