Héctor Lindo-Fuentes provides the first in-depth economic history of El Salvador during the crucial decades of the nineteenth century. Before independence in 1821, the isolated territory that we now call El Salvador was a subdivision of the Captaincy General of Guatemala and had only 250,000 inhabitants. Both indigo production, the source of wealth for the country's tiny elite and its main link to the outside world, and subsistence agriculture, which engaged the majority of the population, involved the use of agricultural techniques that had not changed for two hundred years. By 1900, however, El Salvador's primary export was coffee, a crop that demanded relatively sophisticated agricultural techniques and the support of an elaborate internal finance and marketing network. The coffee planters came to control the state apparatus, writing laws that secured their access to land, imposing taxes that paid for a transportation network designed to service their plantations, building ports to expedite coffee exports, and establishing a banking system to finance the new crop. Weak Foundations shows how the parallel process of state-building and expansion of the coffee industry resulted in the formation of an oligarchy that was to rule El Salvador during the twentieth century. Historians and economists interested in the "routes to underdevelopment" followed by Latin American and other "Third World" countries will find this analysis thorough and provocative.

A sense of fatigue dogs the fitness world. Many of the new programs that are tagged as groundbreaking are actually recycled ideas. Foundation offers something completely different for novices and athletes alike: a simple program with powerful and proven results that will remedy bad posture, alleviate back pain, and help readers break through fitness challenges and plateaus. Dr. Eric Goodman, a brilliant and dynamic young chiropractor, teams up with Peter Park, one of the top trainers in the United States, to radically redefine the core--shifting the focus from the front of the body to the back. Their groundbreaking approach works to strengthen the lower back and the full posterior chain and correct poor movement patterns by addressing mechanical imbalances and weaknesses. Foundation training involves simple movement patterns and is equipment free, creating maximum power, flexibility, and endurance. Word-of-mouth enthusiasm has inspired both Hollywood luminaries and world-class athletes to make Foundation training the core of their fitness programs. Eric and Peter's client list has grown exponentially to include Lance Armstrong, NBA star Derek Fisher, world-champion surfer Kelly Slater, and actor Matthew McConaughey.

In this innovative and challenging book, Julie Fisher has brought together some of the country's leading early years specialists to explore how educators can establish firm foundations for young children's learning. The themes in the book are stimulated by the metaphor of 'foundations', with an introduction by an architect who explains the principles of establishing firm foundations for buildings.

A history of our time.