I thought this book was very poorly written and leaves much to be desired. There are few details that I found enlightening and enjoyable. I would not recommend this book to anyone seeking a true glimpse of this region. For the true adventurers, do not buy this book, save your money. For those wanting to learn more about the region, I am sure there are better books out there that will better prepare you for a visit.

In a remote and nearly desolate area on the tip of the continent of South America lies a region steeped in history and beauty unrivaled by many places in the world. Author Dick Lutz, in his book Patagonia: At the Bottom of the World, takes his readers on a trip through time and space in a journey that leads the reader from the area's earliest age of recorded exploration through the author's recent visit to this spectacularly scenic region.

Readers will come to this work looking for information about the region as they plan a travel adventure or they may choose to read the book to quench a need to understand the history and environs of Patagonia. Whatever the reason, readers who pick up Patagonia, will come away from their experience with a greater sense of understanding of this region and, perhaps as this writer does, a desire to see the land itself.

Throughout his book, Dick Lutz weaves a beautiful narrative of this picturesque area from his own experiences, the prose of some of the world's most famous early explorers and the storied history of this rugged land. For those who don't know, it was Magellan who named the region Patagonia during his epic journey to circumnavigate the globe. Setting sail from Spain on September 20, 1519, Magellan and his men encountered hardship, mutinous crew members and sheer adventure. Of the 200 men who set sail on the journey, only eighteen men and one ship were to return. Perhaps the best-known discovery of the journey was the famous waterway The Straits of Magellan. Interestingly enough, it was not Magellan who gave the strait its current name; he called it the strait the Channel of All Saints. Some of his men had other names for this waterway: Victoria Vessel Strait and Patagones Strait were but two of these. Perhaps history itself was the one to name this waterway after the expedition's leader.

One of the expedition's surviving crewmen was the journey's chronicler. Antonio Pigafetta, wrote of the Strait, "We found by a miracle a strait which we call the Strait of the Eleven Thousand Virgins; this strait is a hundred and ten leagues long which are four hundred and forty miles, and almost as wide as less than half a league and it issues into another sear which is called the Peaceful Sea; it is surrounded by very great and high mountains covered with snow . . . I think there is not in the world a more beautiful country, or a better strait than this one."

This book takes the reader through Dick Lutz's journey to Patagonia starting from his experience stepping off the plane at Punta Arenas to his subsequent excursion through this wind-swept and sparsely populated region encompassing the southern tip of the South America. Throughout the work, the author offers us information on the area's environmental facts including the region's wildlife, terrain and climate. There is a fascinating chapter on the history of Patagonia and the experiences of early explorers like Magellan, Sir Francis Drake, Captain Cook, and Charles Darwin. Lutz then segues to an account of the now extinct Patagonian Indians, their patterns of life, lore and legend.

Wrapping up his story, Dick Lutz provides us with an overview of the situation today in this region that spans Chile and Argentina. I particularly enjoyed the appendix that is an excerpt from Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle. The bibliography will also prove useful to those wishing to learn more about this strikingly beautiful and fascinating region.

As Dr. Richard Ryel, CEO of International Expeditions, Inc. states: "Read it and enjoy!"

--- Reviewed by
Timothy E. McMahon, M.S.

What's a Patagonia? It's a region of the world, rather than a country. Located at the southern tip of South America, it spans portions of both Chile and Argentina. A many-faceted environment, it is closer to Antarctica . . . complete with penguins, glaciers, and much, much more.

Author Dick Lutz, a veteran of three previous nature/travel books, takes us on a delightful journey of this little-known region. The first chapter is a sort of journal of his experience on a guided tour, reporting one adventure after another. Throughout the chapter are references to later chapters for detail on what Lutz has seen and experienced on the tour.
Just reading the first chapter alone will be a worthwhile education, but there's so much more to this book.

The following four chapters deliver a considerable amount of information to the reader. You could never even ask all the questions that are answered in these pages. Chapters on the environment, history, native groups, and Patagonia today are chock-full of information that makes for fascinating reading. The environment chapter explores a wide range of facts, including the wildlife, terrain, and climate. The now-extinct Patagonian Indians are described in Chapter 4, while Chapter 5 explains the current situation in this sparsely populated region governed by two nations.

A long appendix of Darwin's 1834 treatise of his experience in the area, as written in "Voyage of the Beagle," is simply inserted into the book. There is no explanation or connection with the rest of the book. However, a bibliography, seven color photos, and index add extra value to this intriguing book.

If you're interested in visiting the region (I am now) or just want to learn about it, this book will be an enjoyable eye-opener. Well-researched, well-written.

One of my fellow students reviewed this book in my recent Modern Lesbian Literature. Her synopsis was so unusual, I ordered the book the next week and read it over the weekend.

The story is written in an unusual style, with Sofia narrating events to both her lover, Hankus, and the reader. The story of how two young Polish Jews meet in an Argentine brothel is imaginative and holds the readers interest throughout. In a very few parts, the story gets tedious, but it doesn't last long.

The ending was intuitive, but still good.

In conclusion, a really good story and I have recommended it to several friends.

Set in the 1900's, young Jewish Lesbian, Sofia Teitelbaum, is taken from her parents home under false circumstances to a bordello in Argentina.

Eventually she encounters a charismatic magician, Hankus Lubarsky, and realizes Hankus is a woman masquerading as a man.

Interesting plot twists & turns develop as the two young lovers, Sofia & Hankus, outwit the Jewish gangsters who are trying to control and exploit both of them.

The book is written in an interesting style, told mainly in the first person by Sofia, it has her relating the story to Hankus. The author also creates scenes that Sofia could not have witnessed personally, but she does so in a very believable way that causes no abrupt break in the storyline.

I found the book quite interesting, and a bit different from the usual lesbian fiction novels I read.

The only reason I did not give it 5 stars was because some of the plotting seemed a bit too lengthy to me before the results are reached,but over all, this is an excellent book, which I highly recommend

I really enjoyed reading this book. What an interesting trip from Poland to Argentina and all as a woman dressed as a man. In my friendship circle the vote is in and it is "Thumbs Up"!!!

Slatta brings the Argentine gaucho alive in all his splendor and squalor. One gains an appreciation for the extraordinary lives of this equestrian people who almost literally lived in the saddle. The author depicts life on the pampa in sometimes searing realism: a hard, state-of-nature life, but one the gaucho himself would not have changed (and did not change at the few junctures where he had the chance).

Slatta presents a structuralist history of one of the W. Hemisphere's most colorful and renowned peoples. In other hands this approach might minimize the role of personality and personal choice, as though the gaucho bobbed helplessly on the rough seas of impersonal historical force acting thru the medium of latin culture.

Not so here. The author dispassionately shows that the gaucho's fierce independence and tribalism contributed directly to the demise of his culture in its collision with mainstream Argentine society on the pampa. It could not be otherwise. Modernity was simply incomprehensible to the gaucho. One could not be gaucho and latino at the same time, and civilization destroyed the gaucho way of life.

Slatta explores obvious parallels with other horse cultures such as that of the Mongols, the American Indian and the American cowboy. He demonstrates subject mastery in a wealth of detail concerning equipment, words, and convergent ways of handling similar challenges. The inherent drama of the gaucho story had echoes of "Monte Walsh" sounding in my mind as I finished the work.

This thoroughly readable book is enjoyable both as history and as entertainment.

Slatta brings the Argentine gaucho alive in all his splendor and squalor. One gains an appreciation for the extraordinary lives of this equestrian people who almost literally lived in the saddle. The author depicts life on the pampa in sometimes searing realism: a hard, state-of-nature life, but one the gaucho himself would not have changed (and did not change at the few junctures where he had the chance).

Slatta presents a structuralist history of one of the W. Hemisphere's most colorful and renowned peoples. In other hands this approach might minimize the role of personality and personal choice, as though the gaucho bobbed helplessly on the rough seas of impersonal historical force acting thru the medium of latin culture.

Not so here. The author dispassionately shows that the gaucho's fierce independence and tribalism contributed directly to the demise of his culture in its collision with mainstream Argentine society on the pampa. It could not be otherwise. Modernity was simply incomprehensible to the gaucho. One could not be gaucho and latino at the same time, and civilization destroyed the gaucho way of life.

Slatta explores obvious parallels with other horse cultures such as that of the Mongols, the American Indian and the American cowboy. He demonstrates subject mastery in a wealth of detail concerning equipment, words, and convergent ways of handling similar challenges. The inherent drama of the gaucho story had echoes of "Monte Walsh" sounding in my mind as I finished the work.

This thoroughly readable book is enjoyable both as history and as entertainment.

Slatta's book works well when assigned to college undergraduates, because he covers complex and important issues in an engaging style. The subject of gauchos should be fascinating as well to lay readers interested in US cowboys & frontier history, because Slatta provides a clear basis for comparative history. 10-15 years ago it would have deserved a 5-star rating, but "Gauchos" has stimulated further research which is beginning to modify, or at least extend, its conclusions (cf. J. Lynch, "Massacre in the Pampas 1872"). Nevertheless, Slatta's book remains the place to begin expanding one's understanding of New World frontier history.

I got a copy of the Rising Revival with genuine openness to the present progress to the revival that has been going on in Argentina since the 50s. After reading the book, I was convinced that something is terribly wrong with what is going on there. The message was clear, but somehow people are reading this book without picking up the strong clues. Example: "Never before has the occult thrived and proliferated in Argentina as it has in recent years. Deeply entrenched in some rituals of the Roman Catholic Church, the occult has multiplied through sects and new religious movements, especially among the spiritualist Afro-Brazilian cults and Afro-Caribbean cults and within most of the indigenous religion of Latin America." The Rising Revival, p. 81 If this is what the present emphasis on Spiritual Mapping, Spiritual Warfare, etc., is bringing to Argentina, do we really want to import the same thing to different countries all over the world? Hundreds of thousands of demons cast out of people and a revival of the occult? What's wrong with this picture? In Christ, Rev. Greg Robertson, Jakarta, Indonesia

I found this book to be inspiring and illuminating. Not only does this book explore the revival sweeping the land of Argentina through the instruments God has choosen to use, but it also gives the reader practical application for partnering with God to bring revival to other parts of the world. As a personal fan of Wagner, I find this book to be one of his greatest. With collaboration from other writers Wagner gives insight on how to keep the "fire" burning and how to keep the "fire" growing. I challenge all non-believers and strict dogmatic christians to "taste and see that the Lord is good" in the Rising Revival!

The Rising Revival is various accounts of what has been happening (and still is) in Argentina. Each of the 12 chapters is written by a different pastor, so you get 12 different testimonies of God's mighty hand in salvation, signs and wonders. This book inspires me to believe the same things can happen in the U.S., and shows what can happen when people not only believe God's Word, but act on it.

El fasciculo en si, es bueno, aunque ciertamente no alcanza a cubrir las espectativas que el lector puede tener al momento de adquirir material procedente de la firma Osprey. Lo que resulta mas irritante son errores de traduccion, inaceptables para la cobertura de un conflicto de fecha tan reciente (1982), y que saltan a la vista por su obviedad, aun para cualquier lector de habla hispana; poniendo en entredicho el nivel de la obra ya desde las primeras paginas. Errores u horrores, tan banales como llamar al portaaviones "Veinticinco de Mayo", "Vicente de Mayo"; traducir "school" por "escuala" en lugar de "escuela"; y muchos otros pateticos ejemplos, que se podrian haber evitado con la simple inspeccion de un traductor o incluso de cualquier persona de habla hispana con nociones basicas acerca del conflicto. Salvando esos baches, la cobertura tecnico-descriptiva es simplemente excelente, tal como acostumbra Osprey siempre.

The author served along the British general in command of the Royal Marines Brigade in the Malvinas and later wrote Nine Battles to Stanley (published in 1999) that studied the ground war in much greater detail. Nicholas van der Bijl establishes that the 601st and 602nd Commando Units of the Argentine Army gave the British patrols a lot of trouble prior to the final battles. He sheds new light on the battle for Goose Green by proving that an Argentine company there was made up of tough hand-picked conscripts that had undergone Commando-training. I believe that this was the reason the Paras went through such a horrible time at Goose Green. I enjoyed this book for its colour plates and pictures of the elite RI 25. It is a good companion to his latest book Nine Battles to Stanley (click "Book Search" to find it or otherwise you will make no progress)in which he describes in great detail the ground war from the Argentine side, naming practically all the Argentine platoon commanders that saw action on Mount Harriet and Two Sisters, describing in detail the numerous Argentine platoon-sized nocturnal counterattacks that took place and which involved roughly 600 Argentine conscripts and regulars. The British commanders as his second books establishes, severely underestimated the Argentines, which resulted in higher (that could have otherwise been avoided)casualties among the British patrols and platoons that took the hills.

In this somewhat allegorical novel of early 19th century Latin American history, Fuentes attempts to produce a hybrid historical and philosophical novel. The protagonist is a young Argentine revolutionary and romantic whose travels take him throughout Latin America during the revolts from Spain. The allegory is the protagonist's pursuit of a woman whom he glimpsed only briefly and whom he has wronged. The result is not really successful, partly because characters and narrative seem to switch from one mode to another without good integration of the philosophical and historical elements Fuentes is attempting to combine. Oddly, the book suffers from being too short. It would have been much better to incorporate the philosophical elements into a longer and more naturalistic historical novel, a la Tolstoy's War and Peace. This book also contains some magical realist elements, which seem engrafted into the novel and consequently incongruous. Interesting but not very rewarding reading.

Bustos being a intrepid person along with Dorrego and Varela, tried to understand and at the same time change the political system that was being experienced back in that time when the spaniards ruled the latin american country Agentina. they fought with an intellectuall manner instead of the brutal, trying to get more knowledge about the political issues even though it was prohibited. They were succesful.

I used this book as my main "get-around" guide during my vacations in Argentina. The book has an excellent section on travel tips which I found very useful, specially the "Smart Travel Tips" section.

But some of the maps of Buenos Aires in the book have the locations wrong. I would say most of the maps need revision; I always found a mistake. My advice is to have a back up, maybe a good tourist map which you can find almost anywhere for free on hotels or tourist centers.

Also, the phone listed in some of the attractions are wrong. For example, I wanted to arrange a reservation for one of the tango shows listed on the book (by the way, do not miss them for anything in the world!!!), but the phone numbers were wrong also.

The book overall is good, plus they have sections on other parts of Argentina, which makes the book very practical if you plan to travel the country, but again the best advise is to have a backup guide (and map), specially for Buenos Aires.

I read every guidebook I could find before visiting Argentina with my family two years ago and then moving here for a year last July.

This is by far the most complete guide I've seen, with lots of helpful, realistic information about where to go, what to do (and what not to do) and where to stay all over this country -- not just in Buenos Aires. Even after living here for months we still pull it out from time to time.

Don't leave home without it.

Photographs (all in color) and narrative provide a wonderful introduction to Argentina and its history, but the book's actual value as a "travel companion" is limited. It sometimes reads like the script to a travelogue.."you drive along for xkm and see this town and this town..." It mentions a lot of locations but misses some (Santa Rosa, Neuquen). It would be helpful if the index had references to the map pages and if there were cross references if a place name might be questioned (for example, San Carlos de Bariloche on the map/Bariloche in the index). The travel tips at the back were focused on b.a. and (having just returned) somewhat misleading (the "what to wear" section and its fashion police comments--most places were really casual); the suggestion to take U.S. cash--found atms a better choice; book note that it is no longer "inexpensive" --we found nothing outrageously overpriced. As a pre-trip introduction, a good guide, but too limited in information and too heavy to carry on a trip. For the most complete information and your travel bible, choose instead the new 1998 Argentina handbook!

I have looked at all the other major books on argentina and out of all of them this is the one book that is complete, tells you what you need to know and moves on.
Most other books are for collage-age youth who want to go and find a bar, cheap hotel and stay up really late. But this is a classy read with beautiful illustrations. This is also coming from someone who is moving to Argentina and knows his stuff so Choose this one and you will not be dissatisfied.

This is really the only travelbook for Patagonia. So it's a real shame that it is inaccurate and incomplete. We found this out recently when we used it to prepare our trip to Torres Del Paine and Los Glaciares NP. Some examples: (1) to the South of TDP NP is Bernardo O'Higgins NP, with many glaciers and fjords. One can't really hike there, but kayaking etc are all possible. This park is never mentioned in the book. (2) Throughout our trip, the most abundant wildlife was a big caterpillar which we had to remove from ourselves on numerous occasions. The fauna/flora section does not mention these. We found out later that these can leave an acid burn mark. (3) Driving distance from Calafate to Chalten is 4.5 hrs, as opposed to the 2.5 or so you may expect, looking at the map. Never mentioned. (4) If one wants to do separate segments of the TDP circuit as overnight hikes (e.g. Vallee Frances), this book does not even tell you what the elevation gain is. (5) All (ALL) boat schedule information we found was wrong. We were told in the hotel that it has never changed.

It's unclear how much of this is due to the book being out of date, although most of the examples above do not change in time. My recommendation is to surf the web for the rudimentary information. You can't find all details on the web, but this book does not have them either. Tourism in this part of Chile/Argentina is so well developed that dealing with the unexpected is never really a problem.

We used this guidebook for 2+ months of backpacking
in Chile and I would strongly recommend it. The maps
can be used in lieu of topo maps (I would recommend
topos of course, but you can only get them in Santiago
and Buenos Aires) and the descriptions are remarkably
spot on. I've used dozens of backpacking guides (and
biking, climbing, ... guides) and there are invariably
inaccuracies or route descriptions that don't quite seem
to match. However, this book had fewer of such infelicities
than any guidebook I've used. Kudos to Lindemayer.

In addition, the "other treks" sections of the book
proved invaluable. After our first few weeks, we
realized we really wanted to get off the beaten track
and these little 1-3 paragraph route descriptions gave
us all we needed to track down information on beautiful,
rewarding, and untramelled hikes throughout Patagonia.
Lindemayer clearly has an explorer's impulse and a near
encyclopedic knowledge of the area.

Only caveat: if you're just going to Torres del Paine
and/or Los Glaciares you really don't need any guidebook;
the commonly available maps and steady streams of backpackers
on the trail will keep you well informed.

Better than any book writed in chile about trekking. Excelent maps and precise directions. Very well selected tracks. It's a shame that some foreing came to chile and wrote a book that's 10 times better than any local book. Good as a LonelyPlanet.

This book is about him, this is not about tortures, nore the Argentina's dictadure in the seventies. He does not Know what torture is or what was be in jail in those days. He took advantage of The situacion of those days in the country to discriminate against everybody using his heritage in a very inteligent way I am not Nazi nore Marcista, I am PERONISTA. He is not an Argentinian, He is lucky to end-up with the militars and not with the Revolutionaries. This book is about Mr. Timerman religious believes.Nothing else

Este libro es un resumen de un pais de tristeza. Anarchia, luchas, gobiernos coruptos, y la militaria- es lo mismo ahora en este pais bella y riqueza. Los maleducados hay un nivel de estupidez - ellos solo quieren el pavo, el dinero - la renta sin pensar de la gente.

Tienes que leer este libro!

Jacobo Timerman has written a gripping and terrifying account of his experiences at the mercy of Argentina's Peronist regime of the late 70's. A well respected, professional journalist in Buenos Aires, he was editor of the major newspaper La Opinión until he was kidnapped by the military for publishing articles critical of their terrorist tactics. He details how as a political prisoner, and more signifigantly as a Jew, he was held and tortured by a military carried away by their own delusions and rationalizations of violence - and by their virulent anti-semitism. Timerman displays a penetrating insight into the mindset of his captors and of a society that tried to ignore what was happening. A must read.