Fire Down Below

For travellers and everyone interested in understanding the Latin American nations, this book reveals a volatile mixture of progress, poverty, dramatic history and dangerous politics. Harvey analyzes cultural and economic trends, descriptive travel detail and the state of Latin America today.

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For travellers and everyone interested in understanding the world's most turbulent and fascinating region, "Fire Down Below" is an up-to-date, vividly reported, nation-by-nation guide to Central and South America. In the tradition of John Gunther's "Inside Latin America", Robert Harvey's "Fire Down Under" reveals a volatile mixture of progress, poverty, dramatic history, and dangerous politics. Harvey, a former Latin American correspondent for "The Economist", combines his expertise as a reporter and political observer with insights from history, analyses of cultural and economic trends, interviews, and descriptive travel detail to explain the character of each nation - and the real state of Latin America today. He examines the issues and personalities behind the stories currently making news - from the turmoil in Nicaragua to the effects of the debt crisis - and recreates the rich cultures, exotic cities, and remarkable landscapes of each nation. Robert Harvey is also the author of an eyewitness account of Portugal's 1974-5 revolution, "Portugal: Birth of a Democracy" and is the editor of a book on British politics "Blueprint 2000".