Travel to South America

Lonely Planet Argentina Uruguay and Paraguay (Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, 4th Ed)

Format: Paperback
Author: Sandra Bao
ReleaseDate: April, 2002
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

Facts Not Straight

1. I will only say that if the author of a book about a country (or countries) demonstrates in the "Facts" section not having even looked at a map of the region, showing complete lack of knowledge of the most basic geography of what s/he claims to know and write about, what reliability can you expect from such a book?

I'll give you three examples from the "Facts on Argentina" section that reveal lack of knowledge of the region's geography and geopolitics. It says: "In most of Argentina and the other Rio de la Plata countries (Uruguay and Paraguay). . . ". This is the grosser mistake because Paraguay is nowhere near! the Rio de la Plata river. And that is easy to see in a map of the area this book writes about. Also from a cultural perspective, this is a gross mistake. Only Uruguay and Argentina are (and always have been) known as "the Rio de la Plata river countries". There is even a culture common to both margins of the Rio de la Plata (River Plate in English). This "rioplatense" culture (from "Rio" and "Plata") is not even shared by all of huge Argentina that is a lot more than just the region around this river that divides it from smaller Uruguay.

2. It says that Spaniard "Solýs probed the area now known as Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay". But the region occupied by what today are those three countries is VERY big--and one could not say more than Solýs probed the region around the Rio de la Plata river, which covers only a small section of today's Uruguay and Argentina (and not Paraguay).

3. It says that "Solýs died at the hands of Uruguayan tribes". This sounds almost as a joke if not an insult. Uruguayans did not exist in Solýs's times. The author might mean "the tribes *then* inhabiting *today's* Uruguay". Those tribes were not Uruguayan, just as the Apaches were not American (nationals of the U. S. ).

I leave the conclusions up to you. I'm sure *some* facts must be right in this book, but such a lack of professionalism revealed in the absense of the most basic review of the facts of a book edited by a large, well knwon publisher does not inspire the least trust in me. I rather not waste my money: I am willing to pay for information--not for mis*information.

A step up, rather
The review sounds like it was written by the previous author. The first 'reviewer' has it wrong--this edition of Lonely Planet's Argentina book is a remarkable improvement over the 3rd edition, which at times is convolutedly wordy beyond belief. Be aware that some competetive guidebooks, such as those put out by Avalon (or Moon) pay their authors based on the royalty system. In other words, on how many books they sell. Avalon may be putting out their own Argentina guide soon. Your best advice: run through the books at a bookstore and decide for yourself which fits your needs best.

A step backward
The coverage of northwestern Argentina is superficial and even naive, and the coverage of Iguazu falls missed the enormous changes that resulted from privatization of national park services over the past few years. Except for most of the Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego chapters, which show evidence of capable research and writing, this is a step backward from the previous edition. It looks as if only one, perhaps two, of the five authors was really up to the job.

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