Background
My picture of the Che Mausoleum, Santa Clara, Cuba, Spring 2017
Ebooks
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!
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.
- 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.
Data
OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) -- The OECD collects and analyses data and makes recommendations to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. Use the "Countries" drop down menu. Many articles about Spanish speaking countries come in a Spanish version.
United Nations Statistics Division -- The UN collects statistics for every nation, with particular focus on health, gender, and economic development indicators. Put the name of a country in the data search box at the top right and click "go".
UNESCO -- UNESCO is the United Nation's Education, Scientific, and Cultural group. The webpage is also available in Spanish if you click at the top left. Search your country under the "Countries" dropdown menu. Check out the section on Communication and Information.
ITU -- The Telecommunication Development Sector is a specialized branch of the UN working on communication and internet. They collect statistics on key connectivity indicators for 200 countries.
NCES -- The National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. also publishes comparative reports with other nations. Includes access to the PISA data (Programme for International Student Assessment, conducted by the OECD.)
Pew Research Center Global Attitudes & Trends -- Pew not only does excellent reporting on statistics and public opinion in the US (check out their great research on Hispanics) but they also survey people from all over the world about global issues. Search your country in the box.
Latinobarometro -- Based in Chile, this company does annual public opinion polls of 18 Latin American countries. In Spanish!
CEPR -- Center for Economic and Policy Research has op-eds as well as reports and data about economic and social issues.