BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Bolivia is an isolated, land-locked, sparsely populated country--a land that has Amazon jungle, snow covered mountain peaks and every ecological niche in between. Within the country's borders are the world's most dangerous roads, highest navigable lake, richest silver mine and largest salt lake.
Understanding Bolivia is a traveller's history that reveals the backbone of local cultures from the Tihuanacans and Inca to present day Aymara and Quechua. The book describes what made Bolivia the second poorest country in the Americas and how it disposed of almost 200 presidents in the same number of years. It shows an indigenous, rural economy struggling inventively and sometimes successfully with the global economy--McDonald's (three outlets!) gave up on Bolivia, much better and cheaper food being available from salteƱa stands. Bolivians successfully fought American corporate control of their water and gas supplies.
The book is also a history of travellers. Some, like Colonel Percy Fawcett and his quest for the lost mines of the Muribeco, come to Bolivia with impossible dreams. A magnet for adventureseekers, the country's isolation has also attracted those on the run--the "Butcher of Leon" Klaus Barbie, revolutionist Che Guevara and bank robbers Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid all sought haven in Bolivia.
Understanding Bolivia takes over where the rest of the guidebooks end, offering visitors and armchair travellers a fascinating story of rich cultures and colourful characters in a land of extremes.