Background
Jaula de oro (variety.com)
Country background
You may not know a lot about every part of the world you'll be studying this semester. Here are some sources to get a quick summary of a country's or region's history and culture.
- CIA World FactbookGood basic statistics about economy, demographics, and geography.
- Countries, peoples and their cultures - Central & South AmericaFor each country, there is a 20-page country profile including colorful maps, and 10 categories of information: General Information; Environment & Geography; Customs & Courtesies; Lifestyle; Cultural History; Culture; Society; Social Development; Government; and Economy. Each profile also includes full color photographs, valuable tables of information including fun “Do You Know?” facts, and a comprehensive Bibliography.
- Countries and their CulturesAn encyclopedia that examines over 200 countries. Includes information about religion, sports, food, demographics, and all aspects of culture.
- Culture and Customs SeriesThey're a little bit old, but there's a book for your country!
Ebooks with quick history summaries
Remember you don't have to read the whole book! (Though you can...) Just skip to the chapters about the time period of the novels. These are all ebooks, so you can all look at them at the same time!
History of Argentina in the Twentieth Century (Updated and Revised Edition) by ISBN: 9780271064093Publication Date: 2013
- "Genocide and Persecution" series
We have a series of ebooks that deal with the deaths and persecutions of people of various nations, including Argentina, Chile, Guatemala and El Salvador. These include testimonios.
Still not what you need? Try the library's catalog:
Background - Historical, Political, Cultural
- Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new windowHistorical Abstracts covers modern world history (excluding the United States and Canada which are covered in America: History and Life) from 1450 to the present.
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new windowAbstracts and index of international political science journals.
- Sociological Abstracts This link opens in a new windowIndex and abstracts of sociology, anthropology, criminology, demography, education law and penology, race relations, social psychology and urban studies. 1963-
- SocINDEX w/Full Text This link opens in a new windowThe most comprehensive and highest-quality sociology research database. The database features millions of records with subject headings from a sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers.
News from the Spanish-speaking world
Depending on your topic, you might need to find out what is happening right now in the country of your text. Newspapers are a great way to do this.
- Access World News This link opens in a new windowThis comprehensive news collection cover events at the local, regional, national and international level. This source includes print and online-only newspapers, blogs, newswires, journals, broadcast transcripts and videos. Also includes news articles from 1970-1991, including firsthand reports and varying regional perspectives. (Primary source)
- PressReader This link opens in a new windowInstant access to 6000+ newspapers and magazines from 120+ countries in 60+ languages. These are usually daily papers; no archives.
- Onlinenewspapers.comA great list of newspapers from around the world.
- Foreign Newspapers OnlineThis website compiles all of the newspapers in the world that have their own websites. Just find your country or region and click on a title.
- Google NoticiasGoogle news in Spanish. On the left there's a link that says "Idioma y region" and you can change your country focus.