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Politics, religion, and society in Latin America -- A note on theory and method -- Transformations in Catholicism and Protestantism -- Democracy, pluralism, and religion -- Social movements and civil society -- Religion and violence -- Rights and reconciliation -- Comparative perspectives -- Looking toward Latin America's future

Intro -- U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF LATIN AMERICA -- U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF LATIN AMERICA -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE* -- Chapter 1 AGRICULTURE IN PENDING U.S. FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH COLOMBIA, PANAMA AND SOUTH KOREA -- ABSTRACT -- BACKGROUND -- KEY AGRICULTURAL ISSUES IN FTAS -- PANAMA -- Overview of Agricultural Trade -- Agricultural Provisions -- Potential Impact on U.S. Agricultural Exports -- Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement -- Outlook for Congressional Consideration -- COLOMBIA -- Overview of Agricultural Trade -- Agricultural Provisions -- Potential Impact on U.S. Agricultural Trade -- SPS Side Letter -- Outlook for Congressional Consideration -- SOUTH KOREA -- Overview of Agricultural Trade -- Agricultural Provisions -- Potential Impact on U.S. Agricultural Trade -- Korea's Rules for U.S. Beef Imports -- Outlook for Congressional Consideration -- REFERENCES -- Chapter 2 CUBA: ISSUES FOR THE 111TH CONGRESS -- RECENT DEVELOPMENTS -- POLITICAL CONDITIONS -- March 2009 Government Shake-up -- Background to the Succession -- Human Rights -- Overview -- Varela Project -- ECONOMIC CONDITIONS -- Economic Changes under Raul -- CUBA'S FOREIGN POLICY -- U.S. POLICY TOWARD CUBA -- Policy Overview -- Debate on the Directions of U.S. Policy -- Clinton's Administration's Easing of Sanctions -- Bush Administration Policy -- Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba -- U.S. Reaction to Cuba's Political Succession -- Response to Raul's Overtures -- Response to Raul's Official Selection as President -- Obama Administration Policy -- Aftermath of 2008 Hurricanes and Tropical Storms -- Legislative Initiatives -- Restrictions on Travel, Remittances, and Agricultural Exports -- Travel and Remittances -- Agricultural Exports and Sanctions -- Legislative Initiatives

Intro -- FRESHWATER FISH AND MUSSEL BIOINDICATORS OF NORTH AMERICA -- FRESHWATER FISH AND MUSSEL BIOINDICATORS OF NORTH AMERICA -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Chapter 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO FRESHWATER FISHES AS BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS∗ -- NOTICE -- INTRODUCTION -- THE CONSERVATION OF FISHES -- BASIC FISH ANATOMY -- FISH AS BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS -- Advantages -- Disadvantages -- Commonly Used Terms -- Biological Indicator -- Biological Integrity -- Indicator Organism -- Ecological Health -- Trophic Classification of Fish -- Piscivores -- Herbivores -- Omnivores -- Insectivores -- Filter feeders -- Invertivores -- Generalists -- INDEX OF BIOTIC INTEGRITY (IBI) -- SAMPLING FISH POPULATIONS -- Advantages/Disadvantages of electroshocking -- Advantages/Disadvantages of seining -- FISH HABITATS -- FAMILY AND SPECIES ACCOUNTS -- LAMPREYS (PETROMYZONTIDAE) -- Family Level Identifiers -- Habitat -- Pollution Tolerance -- Ammocoetes -- Use in IBI -- CHESTNUT LAMPREY (ICHTHYOMYZON CASTANEUS) -- Identification -- General Distribution/Habitat -- Indicator Use/IBI (1, 10) -- AMERICAN BROOK LAMPREY (LAMPTERA APPENDIX) -- Identification -- General Distribution/Habitat -- Indicator Use/IBI (1, 5, 10) -- STURGEONS (ACIPENSERIDAE) -- Family Level Identifiers -- Habitat -- Pollution Tolerance -- Evolution, Diversity, and Distribution -- Use in IBI -- LAKE STURGEON (ACIPENSER FULVESCENS) -- Identification -- General Distribution/Habitat -- Indicator Use/IBI (1, 10) -- SHOVELNOSE STURGEON (SCAPHIRHYNCHUS PLATORYNCHUS) -- Identification -- General Distribution/Habitat -- Indicator Use/IBI (1, 10) -- MINNOWS (CYPRINIDAE) -- Family Level Identifiers -- Habitat -- Pollution Tolerance -- Nest Builders -- Use in IBI -- STONEROLLER MINNOW (CAMPOSTOMA ANOMALUM) -- Identification -- General Distribution/Habitat -- Indicator Use/IBI (1, 10) -- REDSIDE DACE (CLINOSTOMUS ELONGATUS).

Wetlands are prominent landscapes throughout North America. The general characteristics of wetlands are controversial, thus there has not been a systematic assessment of different types of wetlands in different parts of North America, or a compendium of the threats to their conservation. Wetland Habitats of North America adopts a geographic and habitat approach, in which experts familiar with wetlands from across North America provide analyses and syntheses of their particular region of study. Addressing a broad audience of students, scientists, engineers, environmental managers, and policy makers, this book reviews recent, scientifically rigorous literature directly relevant to understanding, managing, protecting, and restoring wetland ecosystems of North America

Great expectations: the imaginative literature of the Confederate States of America -- A history of the future: Southern literary nationalism before the Confederacy -- A new experiment in the art of book-making: engendering the Confederate national novel -- Southern amaranths: popularity, occasion, and media in a Confederate poetics of place -- The music of Mars: Confederate song, North and South -- In dreamland: the Confederate memoir at home and abroad

This paper documents developments in mortgage credit and the housing sector in Latin America over the past decade, and compares them with those of other emerging economies. In particular, it examines the real estate and mortgage markets to assess whether (i) growth in mortgage credit is excessive compared to long-term trends; (ii) trends in house prices reflect changes in economic fundamentals; and (iii) the extent to which household and banking sector vulnerabilities could lead to potential fragilities. Although data limitations hamper a rigorous analysis of trends, our analysis suggests that

"This fascinating history explores the dynamic relationship between overseas colonisation and the bodily experience of eating. It reveals the importance of food to the colonial project in Spanish America and reconceptualises the role of European colonial expansion in shaping the emergence of ideas of race during the Age of Discovery. Rebecca Earle shows that anxieties about food were fundamental to Spanish understandings of the new environment they inhabited and their interactions with the native populations of the New World. Settlers wondered whether Europeans could eat New World food, whether Indians could eat European food and what would happen to each if they did. By taking seriously their ideas about food we gain a richer understanding of how settlers understood the physical experience of colonialism and of how they thought about one of the central features of the colonial project. The result is simultaneously a history of food, colonialism and race"--

Intro -- THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC-CENTRAL AMERICA-U.S. FREE TRADE AGREEMENT -- THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC-CENTRAL AMERICA-U.S. FREE TRADE AGREEMENT -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Chapter 1 THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC-CENTRAL AMERICA-UNITED STATES FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (CAFTA DR): DEVELOPMENTS IN TRADEAND INVESTMENT -- SUMMARY -- INTRODUCTION -- BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE FOR CAFTA-DR -- CAFTA-DR TRADE RULES -- Apparel Rules -- Agriculture Rules -- TRENDS IN CAFTA-DR MERCHANDISE TRADE -- CAFTA-DR Direction of Trade -- US-CAFTA-DR Bilateral Trade -- US Exports by Country -- US Imports by Country -- US Imports by Country -- Composition of US-CAFTA-DR Trade -- Textiles and Apparel -- Machinery and Other Manufacturing -- Agriculture -- FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTIN CAFTA-DR COUNTRIES -- AN ANALYSIS OF TRADE AND INVESTMENT TRENDS -- Macroeconomic Factors -- Microeconomic Factors -- Doing Business Indicators -- Logistics Performance Index -- Security, Governance, Corruption, and Economic Freedom -- OUTLOOK AND ISSUES FOR CONGRESS -- APPENDIX. CAFTA-DR COUNTRY ECONOMIC DATA -- End Notes -- Chapter 2 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC COUNTRY PROFILE -- PROFILE -- GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS -- FOREIGN RELATIONS -- US-DOMINICAN REPUBLIC RELATIONS -- Chapter 3 GUATEMALA COUNTRY PROFILE -- PROFILE -- PEOPLE -- HISTORY -- 1944 to 1986 -- 1986 to 2011 -- GOVERNMENT -- Principal Government Officials -- POLITICAL CONDITIONS -- ECONOMY -- NATIONAL SECURITY -- FOREIGN RELATIONS -- US-GUATEMALAN RELATIONS -- Chapter 4 EL SALVADOR COUNTRY PROFILE -- PROFILE -- PEOPLE -- HISTORY -- GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS -- Political Landscape -- Human Rights and Post-War Reforms -- National Civilian Police -- Judiciary -- Principal Government Officials -- ECONOMY -- Natural Disasters -- FOREIGN RELATIONS -- US-SALVADORAN RELATIONS -- Chapter 5 HONDURAS COUNTRY PROFILE -- PROFILE -- PEOPLE

"Examines the movement for labor reform among domestic workers in Latin America. Explores how domestic workers' mobilization, strategic alliances, and political windows of opportunity can lead to improved rights"--Provided by publisher

1. Extractive industries, socio-environmental conflicts and political economic transformations in Andean America / Anthony Bebbington -- 2. The political economy of managing extractives in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru / Jose Carlos Orihuela and Rosemary Thorp -- 3. The politics of extractive industries in the Central Andes / John Crabtree and Isabel Crabtree-Condor -- 4. Social conflict and emergent institutions : hypotheses from Piura, Peru / Anthony Bebbington -- 5. Mining and conflict in Peru : sowing the minerals, reaping a hail of stones / Javier Arellano-Yanguas -- 6. Sovereignty negotiated : anti-mining movements, the state and multinational mining companies under Correa's '21st century socialism' / Jennifer Moore and Teresa Velasquez -- 7. State-indigenous tensions over hydrocarbon expansion in the Bolivian Chaco / Denise Humphreys Bebbington -- 8. Planning development futures in the Ecuadorian Amazon : the expanding oil frontier and the Yasuni-ITT initiative / Laura Rival -- 9. The Camisea gas project : indigenous social movements and international NGOs in the Peruvian Amazon / Brian Pratt -- 10. Household and community responses to mining-related river contamination in the upper Pilcomayo Basin, Bolivia / David Preston -- 11. Afterword : extractive conflicts compared / Stuart Kirsch -- 12. Conclusions / Anthony Bebbington.

1. Revenues, states, and Central America -- 2. State-building in a globalized political economy -- 3. Historical junctures in Central American state-building and tax -- 4. 1990s transnational integration: quantitative evaluation of socioeconomic actors, democratic institutions, and tax regimes -- 5. Inside-out state-building in El Salvador: dominant and cohesive transnational elites -- 6. Outside-in state-building in Honduras: dominant but divided transnational elites -- 7. Crisis in Guatemalan state-building: divided, subordinate transnational elites -- 8. Conclusion: globalization and state-building and tax in developing countries

"This book analyzes the origins and consequences of civil war in Central America. Fabrice Lehoucq explains why the inability of autocracies to reform led to the civil wars of the 1980s and why violent conflict led to the unexpected transition to non-military governments in the 1990s. He examines why economic stagnation throughout much of the region, along with unevenness of political reform, has limited democratization. This book also uses these developments to shed light on core debates in comparative politics, suggesting that more progress has been made in understanding the persistence of inequality than in identifying the causes of civil war"--

Cover; The British Textile Trade in South America in the Nineteenth Century; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Figures; Tables; Acknowledgments; Abbreviations; Places and Spellings; PART I: The Trade Data; 1: Introduction; The Organization of the Book; Sources and Databases; 2: Britain's Textile Exports to the Southern Cone: The Data; The Treatment of the Development of British Trade to the Southern Cone in the Literature: Pre-independence; The Treatment of the Development of British Trade to the Southern Cone in the Literature: Post-independence.

This analysis of one of the central issues of the our times focuses on Latin America, providing an in-depth and empirically driven analysis of the models of regional governance in Latin America that have now emerged out of the 'crisis of liberalism'

This report contributes to the debate about the quality of education and returns to education investment in Latin America and the Caribbean (LCR). It aims to improve our understanding of the links from investment in education and training to labor market outcomes and to provide a basis for policy choices that will strengthen future outcomes. The report is organized in four main chapters. Chapter 2 documents the recent downturn in education earnings premia using standard 'mincerian' regressions based on household survey data. Chapter 3 explores the underlying supply-side and demand-side drivers of the trends in premia. It documents the recent expansion of education coverage in LCR, benchmarks it against other regions, and presents an in-depth analysis of the relative importance of shifts in the supply and demand for skills in generating declining earnings premia. Using a methodological approach first developed by Katz and Murphy, it concludes that demand-side changes appear to be the critical factor. It also analyzes the role of institutional factors, finding that minimum wages also have likely played an important role in the compression of labor earnings. Chapter 4 focuses on trends in student achievement and the cost-effectiveness of secondary education. It analyzes trends data from the OECDs PISA survey of 15-year-old children in secondary education which covered nine LCR countries in 2009. It shows that achievement is improving slowly, but remains well behind the OECD. It presents benchmarking evidence suggesting that LCR may be both under-resourcing secondary education and also getting poor returns per dollar invested -- a classic low-quality equilibrium. Chapter 5 presents evidence on the fit between the skill set of LCR workers and the needs of the economy, applying an approach first developed by Levy and Murnane in the U.S.A. Analysis of