Agricultural workers face greater threats from pesticide-related illnesses -- including acute poisonings and long-term effects such as cancer and birth defects -- than any other sector of society. Farmworkers and their children, are exposed to pesticides while working in and living near the fields. To shed light on this issue, the CA for Pesticide Reform issued a report on the problem in June 1999, presenting CA Dept. of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) data showing that from 1991 to 1996 DPR reported nearly 4,000 cases of farmworker pesticide poisoning, and concluding that the problem was even more serious. This report, in both English and Spanish, updates that 1999 report and shows that farmworkers continue to face unacceptable threats of exposure to hazardous pesticides.

Agriculture is still one of the most hazardous occupations in the U.S. Pesticide exposure incidents often go unreported because many farmworkers are afraid of incurring medical bills since few have health insurance & many do not realize they are entitled to Workers' Comp. Many workers fear retaliation from employers or are not provided sufficient pesticide hazard training to recognize symptoms of pesticide poisoning. Chapters: farmworkers on the frontline of pesticide exposure; reported pesticide exposure among CA farmworkers; most pesticide poisonings are not reported; enforcement of pesticide laws; & protecting farmworkers from pesticides.

Posthumously published to wide acclaim, The Lettered City is a vitally important work by one of Latin America's most highly respected theorists. Angel Rama's groundbreaking study--presented here in its first English translation--provides an overview of the power of written discourse in the historical formation of Latin American societies, and highlights the central role of cities in deploying and reproducing that power. To impose order on a vast New World empire, the Iberian monarchs created carefully planned cities where institutional and legal powers were administered through a specialized cadre of elite men called letrados; it is the urban nexus of lettered culture and state power that Rama calls "the lettered city." Starting with the colonial period, Rama undertakes a historical analysis of the hegemonic influences of the written word. He explores the place of writing and urbanization in the imperial designs of the Iberian colonialists and views the city both as a rational order of signs representative of Enlightenment progress and as the site where the Old World is transformed--according to detailed written instructions--in the New. His analysis continues by recounting the social and political challenges faced by the letrados as their roles in society widened to include those of journalist, fiction writer, essayist, and political leader, and how those roles changed through the independence movements of the nineteenth century. The coming of the twentieth century, and especially the gradual emergence of a mass reading public, brought further challenges. Through a discussion of the currents and countercurrents in turn-of-the-century literary life, Rama shows how the city of letters was finally "revolutionized." Already crucial in setting the terms for debate concerning the complex relationships among intellectuals, national formations, and the state, this elegantly written and translated work will be read by Latin American scholars in a wide range of disciplines, and by students and scholars in the fields of anthropology, cultural geography, and postcolonial studies.

National consolidation and romantic novels go hand in hand in Latin America. Foundational Fictions shows how 19th century patriotism and heterosexual passion historically depend on one another to engender productive citizens.

Beginning with the 1979 publication of Alejo Carpentier's El arpa y la sombra, the New Historical Novel has become the dominant genre within Latin American fiction. In this at-times tongue-in-cheek postmodern study, Seymour Menton explores why the New Historical Novel has achieved such popularity and offers discerning readings of numerous works. Menton argues persuasively that the proximity of the Columbus Quincentennial triggered the rise of the New Historical Novel. After defining the historical novel in general, he identifies the distinguishing features of the New Historical Novel. Individual chapters delve deeply into such major works as Mario Vargas Llosa's La guerra del fin del mundo, Abel Posse's Los perros del paraíso, Gabriel García Márquez's El general en su laberinto, and Carlos Fuentes' La campaña. A chapter on the Jewish Latin American novel focuses on several works that deserve greater recognition, such as Pedro Orgambide's Aventuras de Edmund Ziller en tierras del Nuevo Mundo, Moacyr Scliar's A estranha nação de Rafael Mendes, and Angelina Muñiz's Tierra adentro.