2022 Reading List

This year began with renewed plans for travel, first to Scotland with my daughter and then to Panama with my husband. Many of the titles here represent preparations for or readings completed during these visits.  

Drayson, Elizabeth. The Moor's Last Stand: How Seven Centuries of Muslim Rule in Spain Came to an End. Profile Books, 2018.

• I picked this book from my daughter's bookshelf to read on the plane as I flew home from Scotland. Really it was intended to be diversion but ended up being a well written history of the reign of Boabdil, the last sultan of Granada whose life coincided with the rise of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabelle and Ferdinand. It's a sympathetic rendering of the tough choices and their consequences leading to Boabdil's ignoble end. 

Eco, Umberto. The Name of the Rose. William Weaver, trans. Harvest Books, 1994.

• Any title by Umberto Eco is worth the time and energy to read. This book is set in a monastery in the 14th century. It's part murder mystery, part theological treatise delving deeply into sectarian disputes within the Catholic Church. Eco is a profound writer, capturing character, narrative arc and foreshadowing tools to tell the story of a wayward monk's apprentice who attempts to solve a series of murders in the abbey. Looking for an absorbing novel? Here's one for you. 

Ewing, Jack. Monkeys are Made of Chocolate: Exotic and Unseen Costa Rica. PixyJack Press, 2005.

• This is a silly book written by an American guy who left the States to live in Costa Rica. He writes about monkeys and crocodiles, tourists and chocolate. It's fun and easy, and I recommend it for anyone thinking of travel to Costa Rica.

Gudmonson, Lowell and Justin Wolfe, eds. Blacks and Blackness in Central America: Between Race and Place. Duke University Press, 2010.

• This is one of the background books I used to research before heading to Panama. As an anthology it works nicely to introduce some of the topics related to people of African ancestry in Central America. It is an academic text, however, and a few of the selections assumed a level of knowledge from the reader. 

Hannah-Jones, Nikole, et al. The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story. 1st ed., One World, 2021. 

• Black history is American history. That's the premise of this seminal text featuring photographs, poetry and rich history that documents the relationships between Black, white and Indigenous Americans from 1619 to 2021. The intersectionality of topics and dynamic writing make this a must-read book for everyone.

Joyce, Rachel. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry: A Novel. Random House, 2012.

• I actually don't remember when or why I purchased this book. It may have been something recommended by Alistair Moffat, whose walking memoir appears in this list and which I read while in Scotland. At any rate, Rachel Joyce has written a sweet novel about relationships and the power of life events to shape one's personality. It is simultaneously inspiring and intriguing. Joyce develops the characters carefully, and then surprises the reader with an unexpected conclusion. It worked well for me as easy airplane reading. 

Künne, Martin, Lucrecia Pérez de Batres, and Philippe Costa. “Recent Rock Art Studies in Eastern MesoAmerica and Lower Central America, 2005–2009.” Rock Art Studies (2012): 288–309. Web. https://www.academia.edu/en/40816747/Recent_Rock_Art_Studies_in_Eastern_Mesoamerica_and_Lower_Central_America_2005_2009

• This is an insightful overview of several rock art sites in Central America. In particular, this article identifies some of the features of the Caldera site south of Boquete, Panama which I plan to visit in a few days.

Menzies, Gavin. 1421: The Year China Discovered America. HarperCollins, 2003.

• Although the title doesn't reflect it, this book is about the history of maps. Menzies writes of Chinese exploration around the world in the early 15th century, and the ways in which subsequent explorers such as Columbus, Vasco de Gama, Coronado and many other used the maps created by the Chinese to find their way. It's a controversial book. At one point Menzies claims Christopher Columbus and his brother Bartholomew "forged a chart [they] knew was bogus" and engaged in other activities "under false pretenses" to convince the Catholic Monarchs to fund Columbus' 1492 exploration (434). Despite these kinds of controversial statements, I found the text interesting and imaginative. It is the perfect book to finish 2022! 

Moffat, Alistair. The Hidden Ways: Scotland's Forgotten Roads. Canongate Books, 2017.

• Let me start by saying that I love this book! It is delightfully written with a nice balance of travelogue and history about some very old roads in Scotland. Along the way, I was inspired to visit some of the locations Moffat writes about. His humor, grace and personal reflection shine through on every page. This is a good companion for walking Scotia.

Ngai, Mae. The Chinese Question: The Gold Rushes and Global Politics. W.W. Norton & Co., 2021.

• There is a new kind of history emerging, not just in the US but in universities all across the world. It's known as Global History, focusing on the intersectionality of a topic across time and space. Mae Ngai's recent history about the role of racism, nativism and immigration among Chinese gold miners is one example. In it, Ngai focuses on the Gold Rushes of California, Australia and South Africa as a way of showing the intersectionality of these global events on individual people. It's a good book, an interesting approach to history and for it Ngai won the prestigious Bancroft Prize in 2022.

Olien, Michael D. “Black and Part-Black Populations in Colonial Costa Rica: Ethnohistorical Resources and Problems.” Ethnohistory, vol. 27, no. 1, Duke University Press, 1980, pp. 13–29, https://doi.org/10.2307/481625.

• In pursuit of learning about the history of Black folk in Costa Rica I came across this article from 1980. It's dated but contains some intriguing information about 17th century shipwrecks and pirates on the Atlantic coastal region of Central America. And who doesn't love a good pirate story? This article also contains a nice overview of archival repositories in San Jose, Costa Rica.

Petras, Elizabeth McLean. Jamaican Labor Migration: White Capitol and Black Labor, 1850 - 1930. Westview Press, 1988. Online.

• My daughter told me about a research project she's working on at university. The topic was so interesting that I cruised around the database called Internet Archive, where I located this book. In it, Petras outlines some of the key issues facing Jamaicans after the collapse of the sugar cane industry and the abolition of slavery in the mid-19th century. Essentially, Jamaican men became the predominant migrant labor source for construction projects on the Panama Canal, as well as in Cuba, Costa Rica and the United States. Reading this book makes me want to visit Jamaica. 

Pineda, Baron L. “Nicaragua’s Two Coasts.” Shipwrecked Identities: Navigating Race on Nicaragua’s Mosquito Coast. Rutgers University Press: 2006. 21– 66. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt5hj296.4.

• This chapter follows up on my pursuit of pirates and shipwrecks along the east coast of Central America. The premise of the chapter is that the Black presence in Nicaragua and Costa Rica may date to one particular slave ship which was wrecked in the waters off Nicaragua's eastern coastline around the year 1640. Survivors intermarried with some of the Indigenous groups in the region. I'm on the hunt to learn more. 

Procter, Alice. The Whole Picture: The Colonial Story of the Art in Our Museums and Why We Need to Talk About It. Octopus Publishing, 2021. 

• I picked up this book at the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum outside Glasgow, Scotland. It has been a fun and interesting read while traveling between Glasgow, Bridge of Allan and Edinburgh. Procter points out uncomfortable truths about some of the objects found in museums such as human remains or ritual artefacts stolen by Europeans from societies under European colonial rule. Art and museum collections care management will become increasingly relevant as we head into the middle of the 21st century.

Sanghera, Sathnam. Empireland: How Imperialism Has Shaped Modern Britain. Viking, 2021. 

• In September, I visited the Wardlaw Museum in St. Andrews, Scotland. This title was on the shelf in the museum bookshop and on a whim I bought it. Sanghera does a good job presenting the idea of empire and its impact on peoples and cultures around the world. My conclusion: I am a product of empire, as the British colonial experience shaped my ancestors in the 17th century ... both in England and in North America. If you are looking for solid reading about the long arm of empire, this is the book for you. 

Troncoso, Andres & Armstrong, Felipe & Basile, Mara. (2017). "Rock Art in Central and South America: Social Settings and Regional Diversity." 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190607357.013.53.

• This article articulates some of the key elements of rock art in Central and South America. As an overview to the topic, it identifies three types of rock art: geoglyphs, pigment arts and petroglyphs. Troncoso et al also provide examples of each type from pre-contact and post-contact societies. I read this article in preparation for a site visit to the petroglyphs called Piedras Pintadas en Caldera south of Boquete, Panama.

Second Time's a Charm

Last night we went to view the volcano at Parque Nacional Volcan Masaya but it was so dramatic that we came back again today to see what it looked like in the daylight. We were not disappointed. 

We arrived in the late afternoon and the light was soft against the native grasses. 

Meanwhile Hope studied the volcano's crater in silhouette against a stark backdrop. Note the cross on the right which was originally planted there by the Spanish in the 16th century and has been maintained in the same spot ever since. 

A Night at the Volcano

Tonight we went to an active volcano at Parque Nacional Volcan Masaya about a half hour's drive outside of Managua. Located at a park which is strictly regulated, we had to wait in a long line of cars for about an hour before the police let us approach the parking area. Apparently they only allow about 15 cars at a time up on the elevated plateau adjacent to the rim of the volcano. This may be a good strategy in case the volcano blows, which it did in 2001, hurling heated rocks 1500 feet into the air. No one was hurt in that instance, but several vehicles were damaged. The entire park is called Masaya but technically there are four volcanic craters in various states of activity. The one we drove up to is called Santiago, named by the Spanish for St. James who lost his head to King Herod in the 1st century AD.

With or without a head, the wait was worth it. Thick smoke billowed orangely in the night sky. After clamoring over some rocks, we reached a low wall ... the only thing separating us from a deep chasm into churning lava. As my Lonely Planet guide book suggests "in a more litigious nation there is no way you would ever be allowed to drive up to the lip of a volcanic cone as volatile as the Santiago crater."

Rafa, our guide, explained that the indigenous people who lived here before the Spanish considered this open crater an entry way to hell and therefore sacrificed people to it as appeasement to the gods. 

Later, when the Spanish arrived and began their campaign of conversion, they erected a large cross on the highest plateau above the crater's rim. Apparently the cross has been maintained in that same position for the last 500 years, a monument to religious tenacity if nothing else.

Since I did not take video while we were there, I did go out onto the internet to grab this video which shows the dramatic colors and sights of Santiago.

A Haunting Plaza

This afternoon Hope and I day tripped around the Plaza de la Revolución in downtown Managua. 

This section of the city sits on the shore of Lago de Managua. The name Managua comes from the Spanish word Mangue, for the Mánkeme people the Spanish encountered in the 16th century, coupled with the Spanish word agua or water. Although quite beautiful, everything I have read suggests that this lake is the most polluted body of water in Central America. Today was a very hot summer day yet no one was swimming in it, likely confirmation of those reports. 

The birds enjoyed the water though, as many fished and sunbathed on the old pier. 

On the edge of the plaza appears a long array of huge metal statues, many in the shape of trees. Indeed this city is alive with these trees, dotting the cityscape at many major intersections. They cast long shadows and creak in the strong breeze from the lake, while many birds whose names I do not know sing from their branches. 

Meanwhile a plane wings itself across the sky, framed by yellow and blue trees of metal. There are two more statues, this time of men, one of the revolutionary Augusto Cesar Sandino who looks toward the bustling city, his back turned against the lake named by foreigners; the other statue a monument to Simon Bolivar on horseback. He, too, turns away from the lake as he faces the manmade forest of metal trees, testament to technology and the products of human ingenuity. Viva la revolution!

Two Countries, A Salmon Steak and Cuckoo the Gecko

Managua, Nicaragua is a place of surprises. Or at least that's my most immediate impression, having been here all of nine hours.

From the moment Hope and I got off the plane, a softness presents itself. Not the softness of too much leisure but the wisdom of recognizing survival comes through caring about others. Because despite decades of corruption, war and destitution the people we have met here so far are kind. Although pummeled by outsider influence -- mostly from the U.S. -- society hobbles along, saddled by an odd combination of comfort and poverty. Of the six million people in Nicaragua, nearly half are in Managua. Gleaming new white Toyota trucks share the roads with thin brown horses pulling wooden carts, the few well-heeled in sharp contrast to the many impoverished. These are just a few of the contradictory surprises we've encountered so far.

Or take, for example, tonight's dinner at Pane e Vino. An open air and upscale restaurant about two blocks from our hotel, this place boasts three patios dotted with palm trees. A string of Christmas lights circle each trunk, host to a party atmosphere egged on by floating whiffs of American jazz carried on the soft breeze. It would be easy to forget the small barefoot boy begging at an intersection just nearby, comfort and ease in a sprawling metropolis of poverty.

I ordered pan seared salmon with fresh vegetables, which arrived on a lovely white platter of fine presentation. The taste was even better, cooked to a crispy perfection on the bottom before melting at the tongue on top. Who would have thought that the best salmon steak could be found in Managua?

So now, after having only slept a couple hours in the past 24, Hope and I will retire to our room named Sarah under the watchful eye of the resident gecko she has named Cuckoo. Until tomorrow: sweet dreams.