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Rating: 
Summary: correct spelling
Review: all i want to tell you is that PLEASE spell the name correctly on your web site is not ColUmbia, but colOmbia. The later is the country in latin America, vs the first one which is in USA
Rating:
Summary: correct spelling
Review: Anyone attempting to decipher the complexities of the Colombian crisis must start with this text. It is comprehensive and objective.
Rating: 
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: Anyone attempting to decipher the complexities of the Colombian crisis must start with this text. It is comprehensive and objective.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but ...
Review: This book is an adequate introduction to Colombia for those people who currently only think that Colombia is a country full of cocaine dealers, vicious killers and leftist guerillas. This book is successful in putting these stereotypes in their proper places.My biggest complaint with this book is that it is a history of presidents, wars and important people; i.e., a traditional style of history. In order to dig deeper into the background behind the current situation in Colombia, I suggest people visit Human Rights Watch and pick up some of their reports on the human rights situation in Colombia. They are very enlightening, especially on the role of the US in Colombia's violence.
Rating:
Summary: Much more than drugs and violence
Review: This is the best English language history of Colombia available. It follows the history of the country, from its disjointed past to its integrated yet violent present. Bushnell joins traditional "great man" history with current "socieconomic" and "cultural" history. He expresses unqualified admiration for Carlos Lleras Restrepo, and has good things to say about Rafael Nunez, Rafael Reyes, Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo, Cesar Gaviria, Gustavo Rojas Piniblla, Francisco de Paula Santander and even Laureano Gomez. He acknowledges the country's ancestral commitment to economic stability and political moderation (which it traces, among other reasons, to the influence of coffee culture and of the country's traditional poverty), its historic yet slowly eroding loyalty to the Catholic religion and its cultural distinctiveness. He also provides data to explode the myth that the country is run by a land-owning, violent oligarchy, or that Colombian GDP is mainly drug related, or that the country has historically been more violent than its neighors. He doesn't make the mistake of allowing his own prejudices to determine what he choses to highlight, while at the same time refraining from moral relativism. He acknowledges both good and bad in all main characters and groups in the country's history, and remains mostly optimistic about its future. The bibliographic section is priceless, even for Colombians. If you'd like to go beyond generalities and pious nonsense about Colombia, read this book and then, if still interested, round it up with Henderson's "When Colombia Bled" and Safford and Palacios' "Colombia. Fragmented Land, Divided Society". A great list of books on Colombia is available in Amazon.com: just look at Bert Ruiz's "My Favorite Books on Colombia" for more, apposite material.
Rating:
Summary: Much more than drugs and violence
Review: This is the best English language history of Colombia available. It follows the history of the country, from its disjointed past to its integrated yet violent present. Bushnell joins traditional "great man" history with current "socieconomic" and "cultural" history. He expresses unqualified admiration for Carlos Lleras Restrepo, and has good things to say about Rafael Nunez, Rafael Reyes, Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo, Cesar Gaviria, Gustavo Rojas Piniblla, Francisco de Paula Santander and even Laureano Gomez. He acknowledges the country's ancestral commitment to economic stability and political moderation (which it traces, among other reasons, to the influence of coffee culture and of the country's traditional poverty), its historic yet slowly eroding loyalty to the Catholic religion and its cultural distinctiveness. He also provides data to explode the myth that the country is run by a land-owning, violent oligarchy, or that Colombian GDP is mainly drug related, or that the country has historically been more violent than its neighors. He doesn't make the mistake of allowing his own prejudices to determine what he choses to highlight, while at the same time refraining from moral relativism. He acknowledges both good and bad in all main characters and groups in the country's history, and remains mostly optimistic about its future. The bibliographic section is priceless, even for Colombians. If you'd like to go beyond generalities and pious nonsense about Colombia, read this book and then, if still interested, round it up with Henderson's "When Colombia Bled" and Safford and Palacios' "Colombia. Fragmented Land, Divided Society". A great list of books on Colombia is available in Amazon.com: just look at Bert Ruiz's "My Favorite Books on Colombia" for more, apposite material.
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