Table of Contents

Turns a Critical Page Asserting Energy Sovereignty Integration for Survival Overcoming a Brutal Past Lights! Camera! Action! Coca and Nationalism Red is the Color of Revolution The Poncho Revolution Penguinos, Piqueteros, and the PT South American Media Wars Moving Forward

About the Author

NIKOLAS KOZLOFF is Senior Research Fellow at the Council on Hemospheric Affairs in Washington, D.C. and the author of Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics and the Challenge to the US (Palgrave Macmillan 2007). He has appeared on PBS World Focus, C-SPAN Washington Journal and The Daily Show. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

Reviews

'While official Washington and elite media have been mucking about in the Middle East, journalist Nikolas Kozloff has charted his own path amid the terrain-shifting upsurges in 'America's backyard.' He casts a sympathetic but critical eye at the leftward trend in South American politics, the battles over oil and media, the rise of indigenous movements and sometimes erratic populist leaders. If you get your news on Latin America from mainstream media, this wide-ranging book is a needed corrective.' - Jeff Cohen, author of Cable News Confidential and founder of the Media Watch Group FAIR 'A much needed antidote to the mainstream media's canting coverage of Latin America. Kozloff is an acute observer of contemporary Latin American politics, and he proves to be an indispensable guide to the ideas, politics, and economics behind the region's yet latest attempt to wrest some wiggle room from Washington, as well as to the possibilities and perils that confront its 'New Left' leaders and activists.' - Greg Grandin, author of Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism '...a timely and thought-provoking foray into an area that will test policymakers in the US like never before for years to come. They would do well, as they begin to adjust to the new realities, to start by reading this book.' - Gavin O'Toole, The Latin American Review of Books

'While official Washington and elite media have been mucking about in the Middle East, journalist Nikolas Kozloff has charted his own path amid the terrain-shifting upsurges in 'America's backyard.' He casts a sympathetic but critical eye at the leftward trend in South American politics, the battles over oil and media, the rise of indigenous movements and sometimes erratic populist leaders. If you get your news on Latin America from mainstream media, this wide-ranging book is a needed corrective.' - Jeff Cohen, author of Cable News Confidential and founder of the Media Watch Group FAIR 'A much needed antidote to the mainstream media's canting coverage of Latin America. Kozloff is an acute observer of contemporary Latin American politics, and he proves to be an indispensable guide to the ideas, politics, and economics behind the region's yet latest attempt to wrest some wiggle room from Washington, as well as to the possibilities and perils that confront its 'New Left' leaders and activists.' - Greg Grandin, author of Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism '...a timely and thought-provoking foray into an area that will test policymakers in the US like never before for years to come. They would do well, as they begin to adjust to the new realities, to start by reading this book.' - Gavin O'Toole, The Latin American Review of Books

In the past five years, Latin America's new cadre of leftist leaders have been struggling to shake off the legacies of faltering economies and military dictatorships that have long haunted the region. Kozloff (Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics, and the Challenge to the U.S.) offers a series of snapshots of steady transformation, focusing heavily on Venezuela's Chavez and key issues like oil, media and multiculturalism. Compiling current anecdotes and concise historical summaries, Kozloff describes a number of overlapping trends in the region, such as indigenous rights movements and revived labor unions, as well as a widespread desire for economic independence from the United States. Kozloff interprets these similarities as proof of increasing regional integration, but fails to provide adequate hard evidence. If anything, he succeeds in showing how the countries he writes about have moved away from cookie-cutter solutions and are each working to develop equitable societies on their own terms. (Apr.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.