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Patria: Lost Countries of South America by Laurence Blair Bodley Head, [pounds sterling]25, pp. 448 On 18 May 1781, Tupac Amaru II's rebellion came to an abrupt and grisly end. [...]

Masters of the Lost Land: The Untold Story of the Fight to Own the Amazon by Heriberto Araujo Atlantic Books, [pounds sterling]20, pp. 432 Around dinner time on 21 November [...]

How Things Fall Apart: What Happened to the Cuban Revolution? by Elizabeth Dore Head of Zeus, [pounds sterling]27.99, pp. 304 In 1968, the US anthropologist Oscar Lewis arrived in Cuba [...]

The Naked Don't Fear the Water: An Underground Journey with Afghan Refugees by Matthieu Aikins Fitzcarraldo Editions, [pounds sterling]12.99, pp. 384 No one boards an overladen dinghy and sets out [...]

The Good, the Bad and the Greedy: Why We've Lost Faith in Capitalism by Martin Vander Weyer Biteback, [pounds sterling]20, pp. 368 For all its faults and foibles, its busts [...]

Kidnapped by the Junta: Inside Argentina's Wars with Britain and Itself by Julian Manyon Icon Books, [pounds sterling]20, pp. 336 A bully-boy leader. A corrupt, out-of-touch regime. A twisted reading [...]

India's digital revolution is being driven almost exclusively by the smartphone. But what are the effects of this love affair? In late 2016, India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, did something [...]

Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia by Christina Thompson Harper Collins, 20 [pounds sterling], pp. 384 Later this month, a boat builder from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia will fly to [...]

A Silent Fury: The El Bordo Mine Fire by Yuri Herrera, translated from the Spanish by Lisa Dillman And Other Stories, [pounds sterling]8.99, pp. 120, On the morning of 10 [...]

Wild Child: Coming Home to Nature by Patrick Barkham Granta, [pounds sterling]16.99, pp. 256 We live in an urban world. It's a statistical fact. The great outdoors for most of [...]

The Long Spring: Tracking the Arrival of Spring Through Europe by Laurence Rose Bloomsbury, 14.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 272 Sweet lovers, Shakespeare reminds us, love the spring. How can they [...]

Franco: Anatomy of a Dictator by Enrique Moradiellos I.B. Tauris, 20 [pound sterling], pp. 264 Spanish restaurants in Germany are relatively rare, but not nearly as rare as biographies of [...]

Dopeworld: Adventures in Drug Lands by Niko Vorobyov Hodder, 18.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 414 In the early 2000s, Yekaterinburg was in the grip of a major heroin problem. For Yevgeny [...]

The Village News: The Truth Behind England's Rural Idyll by Tom Fort Simon & Schuster, 14.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 400 The old coaching inn on the green. The Sunday morning [...]

Between Stone and Sky: Memoirs of a Waller by Whitney Brown Constable, 20 [pounds sterling], pp. 328 We all tell stories about ourselves, every one of us. 'I'm a useless [...]

How to Travel Without Seeing: Dispatches from the New Latin America by Andrés Neuman, translated by Jeffrey Lawrence Restless Books, 12.99 [pounds sterling], pp. 224 Bogotá airport, immigration form in [...]

The markets are in disarray, mortgage holders are defaulting and banks are in crisis - that would be your understanding if you only relied on the newspapers and television as [...]

The project finance industry is facing pressure to strengthen its management of ethical risks as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) prepares to publish stricter social and environmental standards. The new-look [...]

The author focuses on profile of botanist Alfred Russel Wallace who had his formal education and explored the banks of Amazon and finding from the rainforests. Topics discussed include palm drawings of Wallace held by the Linnean Society in London, England, palm sketches pasted by Wallace into notebook with description of separate species, and botanists dismissive of work on palms by Wallace.

The article focuses on the important role of the collaboration of Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and Cotton made in Africa (CmiA). It states that BCI and CmiA have been working together to boost greater sustainability for African smallholder farmers through benchmarking their standards. It cites that their agreement entails that CmiA-verified sources are discerned as Better Cotton on the market. Moreover, their partnership is an efficient mode to mainstream sustainability in cotton production.

In this article, the author discusses the development of the business city Mahindra World City in Chennai, India by Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd. The 1,550-acre development includes commercial shops and industrial units along with residential housing. Also discussed is the first off-grid solar power plant with 75 kilowatt installation capacity in Tamil Nadu, India.

The article discusses water technologies used by the food and drink industry to ensure efficient use of water resources. British brewer Adnams has installed rainwater harvesting and grey water recycling systems in its site to improve water efficiencies while lettuce producer JE Piccaver has invested in targeted irrigation techniques and rainwater storage. Meanwhile, food and beverage company Pepsico is said to be experimenting on drought-resilient potatoes for use in crisp manufacture. INSET: Going local: SABMiller.

This article focuses on the concerns of tourism business in Gualeguaychú, Argentina, over the construction of two paper mills across the Uruguay River in Uruguay. Fernando Benedetti, owner of the Amalfi Hotel in Gualeguaychú, along with 80,000 other residents, are concerned that the water and air will be polluted by the toxic effluent and noxious gases produced by the chlorine technology used in the mill's bleaching process. Spanish timer giant Ence and Finland's Botnia, the two companies behind the mills, insist such fears are groundless.

The article discusses Body Shop's move to switch to sustainable palm oil source for soap production. It mentions that Body Shop, now under L'Oreal, has signed up with an organic plantation of palm oil in Colombia. From biodiesel, palm oil has made its move to penetrate the cosmetic industry. Body Shop is known to produce soap using palm oil, which CEO Peter Saunders states that people who use soap everyday are unaware of their contribution to avert major environmental catastrophe. Mathias Demier, a palm oil expert with World Wildlife Fund, commended the company's move and hopes that other companies from the cosmetic sector would follow Body Shop's lead.

The article reports on the rating and ranking of universities in Great Britain based on environmental performance. The Green League for Environmental Performance ranks over 100 institutions on issues such as renewable energy use, carbon emissions, recycling, green travel plans and Fairtrade status. Compilation was done by the student group People & Planet. The top six places are occupied by former polytechnics. Robbie Blake, co-ordinator of the Go Green Campaign at People & Planet, comments that if universities want to attract the best students, they should be looking to their environmental credentials.

The article reports that AngelBourse of Great Britain is helping finance young environmental firms with potential for high growth by providing them access at the initial stage of the project to a network of investors consisting of venture capitalists, clean-technology funds, and mainstream banks. Industry observers say that AngelBourse will be of particular help to environmental projects such as land remediation, sustainable waste management, climate change solutions, air and water pollution control, and eco-construction.

The article discusses the commitment of the Texas-based computer giant Dell, to eliminate all brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from its products by the year 2009. Zeina al-Hajj, an E-waste campaigner, says that the industry has not yet really considered the environmental impact of BFRs and PVC, but having companies committed to eliminate these chemicals is a big development in making the industry cleaner. A Greenpeace survey shows that consumers are willing to pay higher amounts for safer computers.