My dear friend sent me Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano’s Faces and Masks right after I gave birth, citing it as perfect nursing reading because of it’s short chapters. The book is perfect reading in general because of it’s scope. The book is the second one in his Memory of Fire trilogy, and looks at Latin American history from 1701-1900. It blends historical fact with the novelist’s interpretation of what he thinks happened. What I found most interesting was how the chronological order of the book links different Latin American nations together by shared oppressions and external influences (often at the hands of colonial powers like the U.S. and Spain).

You can purchase Faces and Masks here.