Colombia Bibliography

Book List Types:
Suggested readings

By Lorraine Caputo

If you cannot find these books at your local vendor, ask your public library if you can obtain them through interlibrary loan (there may be a small fee for this service). This is just a sample of books about Colombia; please write us with more of your suggestions.

Balf, Todd. The Darkest Jungle: The True Story of the Darién Expedition and America's Ill-fated Race to Connect the Seas (Crown Publishers, 2003) — About the 1850s US Darien Exploring Expedition who explored the Darien Gap looking for a suitable place to build a canal.

Betancourt, Ingrid. Until Death Do Us Part: My Struggle to Reclaim Colombia (Ecco, 2002) — The former presidential candidate's memoir about fighting against the drug cartels and corruption in her country.

Borden, Mark. Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2001) — The rise and fall of Pablo Escobar.

Braun, Herbert. The Assassination of Gaitan: Public Life and Urban Violence in Colombia (University of Wisconsin Press, 1986)—How the assassination of presidential candidate Jorge Eliecer Gaitán affected the course of Colombian history.

Broderick, Walter. Camilo Torres: A Biography of the Priest Guerrillero (Doubleday, 1975) — A biography of the priest-turned-guerrilla-fighter Camilo Torres.

Bushnell, David. The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself (University of California Press, 1993) — The first book on Colombian history published in English.

Dudley, Steven S. Walking Ghosts: Murder and Guerrilla Politics in Colombia (Routledge, 2004) — Chronicles based on Dudley’s fives years reporting from Colombia for National Public Radio.

Ereira, Alan. Heart of the World: The Elder Brothers (Knopf, 1992) — About the Kogui beliefs and way of life deep in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

Gaitán, Jorge Eliecer. 1928 La masacre en las bananeras (Editorial Cometa de Papel, 1997)—Gaitán’s presentation of eyewitness reports of the 1928 banana worker massacre in Ciénaga.

García Márquez, Gabriel—Gabo is more well-known for his novels and short stories, but he began his career as a journalist. The only book available in English is News of a Kidnapping ( ). If you read Spanish, other titles include Cuando era feliz e indocumentado and Crónicos y reportajes.

Guillermoprieto, Alma. The Heart that Bleeds: Latin America Now (Knopf, 1994) and Looking for History: Dispatches from Latin America (Vintage Books, 2002) — A collection of this Mexican journalist’s articles for the New Yorker magazine.

Isaacs, Jorge. María.—A piece of classic Colombian literature.

Lynch, John. Simón Bolívar: A Life (Yale University Press, 2006) — The first biography in English of the Great Liberator in over 50 years

MacNeil, Suzanne. “Reflections on Mining in Colombia: When ‘Development’ Creates

Deprivation,” Colombia Journal Online, August 13, 2007 (www.colombiajournal.org/colombia262.htm)

Molano, Lafredo. The Dispossessed: Chronicles of the Desterrados of Colombia (Haymarket Books, 2005) — Testimonies from internal refugees of Colombia's civil war.

Murillo, Mario. Colombia and the United States: War, Terrorism and Destabilization (Seven Stories Press, 2003) — The effects on Colombian civilians of the US War on Drugs.

Olivella, Manuel Zapata. Chambacu: Black Slum (Latin American Literary Review Press, 1989) and A Saint is Born In Chima (University of Texas Press, 1991)—Zapata Olivella was one of the most important Afro-Colombian writers and ethnographers.

Reuters Alert Net: Colombia Displacement — An excellent series of articles with about the effects of the War on Drugs, narcotrafficking and refugees (www.alertnet.org/printable.htm?URL=/db/crisisprofiles/CO_DIS.htm)

Safford, Frank and Palacios, Marco. Colombia: Fragmented Land, Divided Society (Oxford University Press, 2001) — Colombian history and culture from before Columbus to the modern day.

Vallejo, Fernando. Our Lady of the Assassins (Consortium Book Sales) — The novel upon which the movie was based.

For Children:

DuBois, Jill. Colombia (Marshall Cavendish, 2002) — A primer on Colombia.

Montgomery, Sy. Encantado: Pink Dolphin of the Amazon (Houghton Mifflin, 2002) —

An invitation to learn about the magic and diversity of Colombia's Amazon.

Rawlins, Carol. The Orinoco River (Franklin Watts, 1999) — Getting to know the second greatest river of South America, the Orinico.

Spengler, Kremena. Colombia: A question and Answer Book (Capstone Press, 2006) — An introduction to Colombia’s history, geography and culture.