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Chris Anderson

Capitolio

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The word ‘capitolio’ refers to the domed building that houses a government. Here, the city of Caracas, Venezuela, is itself a metaphorical capitolio building. The decaying Modernist architecture, with a jungle growing through the cracks, becomes the walls of this building and the violent streets become the corridors where the human drama plays itself out in what President Hugo Chavez called a ‘revolution.’

Originally published as a traditional book in 2010 by RM, “Capitolio” is an intimate journey through a time of revolution in Hugo Chavez’ Caracas, Venezuela. This series was photographed between 2004 and 2008.

“Capitolio” is the first authored monograph photography book for the iPhone and iPad.

 

DAH – Chris Anderson Interview

This is an excerpt of a recent skype conversation with Chris Anderson, talking about how the iPad application of his most recent book, Capitolio, came to be. This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

-DAH

David Alan Harvey: …tell me in your own words a little bit about where you got the idea [to make an iPad monograph out of Capitolio] and what you did.

Chris Anderson: Basically, the book was starting to sell out, and I started thinking, only a certain number of people can actually get this book, and the ultimate expression of what I did in Venezuela really comes together in a book. You know, a slideshow on the web doesn’t really capture the whole thing, seeing a print doesn’t really capture it, it’s in this book form, and the way I put the pictures together, and the way the pictures come one after another, the relationship between the other one…this final book form that we think of, that’s what this book was. Not just a collection of pictures. And, I sorta think, well, there’s only 3000 copies of this book printed, so there’s only a certain select people who are actually going to experience that book, and because it’s an expensive book, only a certain number of people with the money to buy the thing. So, I started thinking, you know, it was kind of the confluence of a lot of things. Thinking about the finite audience of a printed book at the same time that I’m sitting here holding this new technology in my hand, an iPad and an iPhone, and thinking,

“a ha!”

Maybe this is a way to have an in-finite audience. And, that really I could, even though my first love is the printed book, I could still kinda get this experience and get across what I was trying to say to a much larger audience than I ever could with the printed book. And the applications of that in terms of reaching audience and what does that mean, even in an academic setting with students, you know? Think about a university classroom that’s teaching photojournalism, or that’s teaching book making, or even in the case of this book, you know, political science or something. And being able to have that book, which you could never have in a college curriculum, you could never have everyone in the class buy the printed book, but here’s a way that in an academic setting…

DAH: Everyone could be sitting there with their iPads looking at it.

CA: Exactly.

DAH: The quality, you know, it looks amazing. The quality is kind of better there than…I mean, in terms of there’s a certain texture or quality to it that you see on the iPad that kind of beats everything, don’t you think?

CA: Yeah, oh yeah. And actually, I just saw it recently on the iPhone for the first time, and that’s actually where I really liked it.

…I think it has something to do with being able to have something to say. You know, nice pictures photographers want to look at or people who like pictures want to look at, but to reach that other audience, you have to have something to say to them…We as photographers, we’re going to have to find a way to then become a writer and also a filmmaker, and also a radio producer and everything like that…maybe that’s one path to it. But it’s also just about having something to say about the world, even purely through pictures…somehow that voice of whatever you want to call it, authorship or whatever, is really important.

You know, I think about Paul Fusco’s Chernobyl Magnum in Motion, which is something I show my students a lot, it’s really, it’s pretty simple, there’s not really any whistles and bells. It’s him talking and showing his pictures. But it’s so powerful because he really has something to say, you know what I mean? And, it’s not about having fancy music as the background track, it’s not about slick jump cuts, it’s really about having something to say. I have a feeling that in the future, you know, I imagine…this app that I did is pretty basic in the end. There’s a pdf, a digital version of the book pdf style, to look through, theres some extra pictures, there’s a video interview, pretty basic. There’s not too many bells and whistles. I can imagine though that in the future, people are going to do things that will really be amazing in terms of how to use this medium, how to use this technology to tell stories, or to offer the public things that a printed book can never do.

DAH: Oh yeah, you can imagine that if you had 10 or 15 or 30 or 50K to spend on building the app, yeah, you could imagine…you’ve got directors cut, you’ve got the video component, you’ve got the about, you’ve got those kinds of things, but you could go even further, right? You could even go back there and have a 5 minute movie on there, or on some other topic….but you can imagine having an incredible thing. Are you guys gonna have that for Postcards [From America]?

CA: Well, we don’t have an app version yet, but we want to try and incorporate as much as we can in terms of like…

DAH: You don’t have anybody shooting video or anything though?

CA: I’m going to try and shoot a lot of video.

DAH: Yeah, I was gonna say, that would be, that would always be an interesting component for any app. How long is your interview in your app?

CA: It’s ten minutes.

DAH: ..You’ve already reached I don’t know how many people with it, but we’ll just, we want to just promote the app, but in the best possible way. And to get it on some Facebook pages, like people who are interested in political science in Venezuela, and see what happens, outside of your fan club. You know, your fanclub is gonna buy the app. But, you’re right, you want to see if you can sell it to other people as well.

CA: Yeah, that’s the real test, if you can find a way to break out of that.

 

Bio

Christopher Anderson was born in Canada in 1970 and grew up in west Texas. He first gained recognition for his pictures in 1999 when he boarded a handmade, wooden boat with Haitian refugees trying to sail to America. The boat, named the Believe In God, sank in the Caribbean. In 2000 the images from that journey would receive the Robert Capa Gold Medal. They would also mark the emergence of an emotionally charged style that he refers to as “experiential documentary” and has come to characterize his work since. Christopher’s photographs often explore themes of truth and subjectivity, and his subjects range from war to fashion to his own family.

Christopher is a member of Magnum Photos. He is the author of two monographs: Nonfiction, published in 2003 and CAPITOLIO, published in 2009 by RM and named one of the best photography books of 2009/10 at the Kassel Photo Book Festival in Germany.

Related links

Capitolio on iTunes

Chris Anderson

 

46 thoughts on “chris anderson – capitolio”

  2. Brian Frank

    Awesome. I’ve been playing with the idea of creating an iPad version of my book project, including video etc., I would really like to hear about the physical act of making an iPad edition. What software was used, etc.

    When this book came out, Chris’ comments about “Big Game” photography caused quite a stir over at another photography blog. I thought he was onto something, despite what others said, and I can see what I have come to term “small game” photography at it’s best here. Bravo.

  3. mw

    Wow, I think that’s a great development. And I love that work. Fine photography for the rest of us. Though I don’t suppose it comes with an IPad?

    Did you give any thought to making an app for the Mac app store as well? That’s what I’d really like to see.

  4. Frostfrog

    Thank you. Too pressed to read all this at the moment, but I will come back to it and study it intently. I am most interested in your iPad experience.

    Excellent photos too, btw.

  5. Mike R

    Chris, photograph number five, above, is one of my all-time favourites; I just love the way the raindrops reflect the light.
    I’ve seen the work on Magnum in Motion and I just love the sequencing of the photographs to the music: it just build to a climax so well. As for the work on the i-Pad, I’ve not seen it yet: haven’t bought one yet, but it is such a promising showcase isn’t it? As you say, it may well be a breakout medium in terms of reaching non-photographers. I hope that it’s hugely successful for you.

    Mike.

  7. Imants

    “Thinking about the finite audience of a printed book at the same time that I’m sitting here holding this new technology in my hand, an iPad and an iPhone, and thinking,
    “a ha!”
    Maybe this is a way to have an in-finite audience”…..unfortunately most of the population does not own one nor ever will.

    There is no use just translating to new technology without an audience in mind as high end photography places itself into completion with advertising, videos and colour bang bang luv it all stuff……..next.
    That was the beauty of art/ photography from the past, as it placed itself in a situation where it was not in competition with the mainstream. It was never subject to the rules of the commercial world so it was able to price itself as it pleases. New technology is not as kind to the art price tag and will not elevate it to its former lofty heights………just as video games such as Heavy Rain are beating Hollywood block busters at their own game. Eventually this technology will filter down to a mass audience capable of creating their own cut price versions.
    So forget about the infinite audience as it is not there……. finding a audience and retaining it is a challenge.

  8. Framers Intent

    GORDON – I own an iPhone and even I was wondering that very same question (what? I like techy stuff, don’t own an iPad and would like to view this on a bigger screen…)

    Got chucked a link to that HP Mag creation site the other day. Was curious about experimenting with making a digital magazine on it, just to see what the possibilities are. I can’t help it, context matters, even the best images are framed by it.

  10. Thomas Bregulla

    I bought capitolio on the iPhone a few weeks ago. it’s a universal app, I.e. you can see it on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. I’m not sure, if there are other versions for pc or other devices.
    the app has the essay itself, a directors cut, a video interview with Christopher Anderson and an about section with the bio and the artist’s statement plus credits incl. links
    you can see screenshots of the app on the app designer’s website

    http://justinstahl.com/capitolio.php

  11. panos skoulidas

    Gordon yes..
    Just download the free iTunes version for windows and u are all set..
    No difference between Mac or windows iTunes .. Same thing , like photoshop.. Same program , different operating systems but still same program!

  13. m.avina

    Love this essay — I dig the version with the music on Magnum in Motion, but glad to see it also penetrating other markets.

  16. eva

    Am I right that the iPad app is basically an extended version (including things written above in the interview) of the In Motion podcast?

    I have the book, would of course love to see an exhibit, but there’s less need (to me) for one compared to other bodies of work because of the size of the book, the photographs are big enough there already..

    There are many photographs that burn themselves into the brain in this work, no matter if printed or screened..

  17. Paul

    Wonderful images! Never seen this work before, this will be a book I’ll surely buy sometime in the near future. Loved to have seen a longer version :)!

  19. eva

    Paul…

    If you have not already, take also a look at the link to Paul Fusco’s ‘Chernobyl’, well worth it! (and better be prepared.. Paris’ at the door!)

  21. Paul

    I’m getting soooo obsessed with this essay and the extended version on Magnum. It’s really funny, I remember being overwhelmed last year with Chris Anderson’s work on his son. So awe struck by it I forgot to look at ALL his other work and only discovered this essay thanks to Burn!

  22. bob black

    CHRIS! :)))))))

    great to see this piece here…LOVE LOVE THE BOOK, as u know…

    Promise to write a thoughtful comment/post about Capitolio in a few days…have wanted to for a while…so, just give me a day or 2 to get caught up with my own work….on submission deadline…will write something strong though, promise :))

    about your work and Bolano (the writer) and cinema :))

    welcome to Burn ;)

    cheers
    running
    bob

  23. kbtownsend

    I am ashamed to call Chris Anderson a fellow Canadian.

    He has chosen to reproduce hegemonic, Western-centric understandings of Venezuela’s revolution. The American-spun discourse of Chavez’s government is rooted in a paradigm of “communism” and “socialism” as associated with atrocities of the former USSR rather than an economic system. Anderson fails to see that while the rich in Venezuela, including American-owned oil companies such as Chevron and Exon-Mobil may have been left with a bad taste in their mouth from nationalization, the poor are prospering.

    The traditionally economically marginalized in Venezuela are supportive of the revolution, to the point where Chavez’s revised constitution is sold in street markets and carried by many on-person. Venezuela has created ALBA in conjunction with Cuba, Bolivia and Caribbean countries. ALBA serves as an international trade organization based on people-centered development rather than the neo-colonialist and predatory lending of the IMF / World Bank. One of the direct effects has been an explosion in doctors, set up in community-accessible clinics thanks to an oil-for-doctors agreement with Cuba.

    Anderson presents the violence of political conflict between the privileged and working class as decontextualized. In doing so, he fails to see the reduction in economic violence of poverty following the Bolivarian revolution.

    I both participate in and adore the art of documentary photography. Although, through the lens of an anthropologist conducting long-term fieldwork in Latin America, it is at times difficult not to lament the powers of production the camera possesses and in turn the dangers in its user’s ignorance.

  24. kbtownsend

    Photographs are symbols that can endow the power of representation upon their creator. Regardless of the quality of image and narrative the photographer can produce, ignorance of that power and of the marginalization of subjects will ultimately result in harm.

  25. eva

    kbtownsend.. reading what you write makes me once again wonder why the NATO decided to intervene in Libya but not in Yemen, Sirya, Bahrein, Ivory Coast and and and.. knowning about Gheddafi’s relationships with Chavez, and so being closer to ALBA than IMF.. who’s the player and who’s the pawn..

  26. Christopher Anderson

    Hey kbtownsend,
    You are probably right about most of this, I don’t really know. But let me clarify one thing: I didn’t choose to repeat gringo centric understandings, because I don’t actually understand anything about the place. Nor do I claim to. The point of the book is kind of about my LACK of understanding.
    I have repeated this many times: Capitolio is emphatically NOT a political work. It is not pro Chavez or anti Chavez or pro revolution or anti revolution. Chavez is just another character in the book like the many other characters that appear in the book. The revolution is also just a character, but the book is not ABOUT it. I don’t pretend to tell the story of Venezuela nor do I make any claims about right or wrong.
    Capitolio is a work that tries to reflect an experience that I had over the coarse of 4 years in Venezuela. It is not an endorsement or criticism of anything. But obviously, that experience is seen through the filter and informed by who I am and where I come from. I am not sure why the fact that I happen to come from North America means that I should not be allowed to make an observation of another place.
    In the end, your comments actually confirm one of the observations in this book: the discourse in Venezuela has become so polarized that nuance does not exist. Reasonable discussion no longer plays any role. One is either pro Chavez or anti. He is either the great savior or the devil. Well, nothing in life is all good or all evil. And frankly, I am very suspicious of anyone who tries to sell me that something is either all good or all bad. The messy-er truth is that it is much more complicated.
    I hope the fact that I have not chosen to be an activist or propogandist still allows me to be welcomed by a few Canadians out there.
    But since we are in fact BOTH gringos and therefore clouded by our western-centric experience, perhaps it would be great to hear from the Venezolanos out there to see if any of them recognize their city in my pictures.

  28. bob black

    Kbtownsend!

    I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry at not only the superficial and ill-formed twink of your demagoguery or the pompous holier-than-thou smack down of your excommunication of Chris. As American/Canadian, I gotta tell you that your comment is not only terribly unsportsman-like but more transgressive (as a Canadian) so anemic in its humorlessness, I gotta wonder: are you sure you are Canadian? ;)

    To begin with, a question: Do you know any Venezuelans? Have you been to Venezuela? How engaged is your relationship with the current plights of Venezuelans now? I asked this simple question because your diatribe reveals a profound misunderstanding of both the truth of current Venezuelan life but also, and more importantly, an woefully sorried misunderstanding of what Venezuelans (across social strata) feel about the current conditions of both their governing body and their nation’s circumstance. For the record, I am not a historian but I do have a close and intimate daily tie with friends and students from Venezuela. I have students (across the socio-economic class divide) from Venezuela. These students come from the affluent ruling class (children of government employee’s, supporters of Chivaz), from the wealthy business class, from the academic class, from the middle-class businessmen/businesswoman/engineers/designers/writers/mangers and students from the poorer class (Chavistas, who sent to Canada to learn English by the government and often, on day one, come wearing red t-shirts). In fact, just last year I had a student, who later became a friend and drinking buddy, who was a young and ‘up and coming’ member of Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela. To an individual, each of my students, regardless of political history or family, struggles now to see the benefit of the revolution, at least in terms of its primary leadership.

    When asked, what is the main problem facing Venezuela today, invariably they all answer, quickly: 1) crime and 2) Chaviz. Your misguided notion that “the poor are prospering” is not only not true but is shameful in its factual inaccuracy. Much good has been done post the revolution, besides the nationalization of the Petroleum/Mining industry and infrastructure. But the education of the poor is still one of the grave failed promises of the regime. So too the daily life of the poor in Venezuela. It has not improve, but for those who have been fortunate enough to tie their hope to politics. Most poor Venezuelans are underfed and malnourished and struggle with basic sustenance, basic literacy and an unending cycle of violence, crime and death. Moreover, even Chavistas are growing disillusioned. I’ll give you some simple examples:

    1) Any Venezuelan who wishes to travel abroad (even for educational reasons) but receive governmental approval. Moreover, they are not issued foreign currency except through the central bank, and often than is never done (forcing many, including many of my students) to return to Venezuela for lack of funds. Many of my students have worked for years saving to travel to Canada to study English in the hope to attend university or get their Master’s degree. Knowing the difficulty of getting ‘official’ foreign currency, they buy foreign currency on the black market (double the price), some of which is run via officials. It is not just the upperclass and wealthy Venezuelans who are trying to leave or at least study abroad, but the students studying in english schools and universities reflect all social strata.

    2) I have 2 close friends (former students) living in Bogata. She was a member of Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela and is the daughter of a famous Venezuelan writer. She herself is also a journalist. Her husband was a chemist/manager working in one of the largest Pharmaceutical companies in the country. Both she and her husband came to Canada to study English and had both hoped to obtain their masters degree. At the time, she was pregnant. She had to return to Venezuela. After the birth of her child, she was denied permission to receive a passport for her daughter. At the moment, one of the pressures that many young working couples feel is they are unable to leave the country for education or to have children, as the government has put pressured on young, educated families not to leave the nation: by restricting the dispensation of passports to children.

    3) There is not a single student of mine over the last 8 years who has not struggled with coming to terms with what the current Venezuela is challenged by. I have another student, a Petroleum engineer, who lost his job 2 years because of not voting ‘correctly.’ Venezuela, in many ways, seems more like a nation out of early Marquez or Roberto Arlt than the ‘dream’ socialized nation once promised and suggested by your comment. In fact, Venezuela, and Venezuelans in general, is a much much more complex and struggling nation that you report. For someone who works in Latin America, surely you should have a much more deep and nuanced understanding of both Latin American history and what is currently going on in Venezuela. May i suggest you read Vargas LLosa’s “The Feast of the Goat”. though the book is about The Dominican Republic and Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina’s final days (and the history of his 30 years), it might offer some insight into the world that current defines Venezuela. I suggest that from one grinto to another.

    Lastly, a world about Capitolio: a book I know, love and have showed to every Venezuelan student i’ve had since it’s been published.

    To begin with Capitolio is NOT a book about the politics or history of Venezuela (it would fail woefully on that level! ;) ). What capitolio is is much more akin to a film, cinema, or a literary relationship to place. Some part of it reminds me of the film ‘brazil’ and much of it reminds me of all those great latin american novelists and poets that have really brought the rich and ambiguous complexity to the life in Latin American: Borges, Cortazar, Marquez, Vargas Llosa, Fernandez, Galeano, Donoso, Aira, Castellanos Moya, Lihn, Arlt, Carpentier, Asturias, Infante, Monterrosso, Roa Bassos, Vallejo and my beloved Belano. In fact, to me, the Capitolio is just like Bolano’s ‘By Night in Chile’, a surreal, night-inflected dream horror that accumulates it’s poetry and nightmare over time until, if you are not quick, may just miss the bite of the book: the horror in the basement during the party. But also, this book as connection to other work that Chris has done. The opening photograph is a near twin of chris’ shot in Isreal:…children, virtually the same iconography, same lyricism, same emotional truth

    http://christopherandersonphoto.com/#/EDITORIAL/NATIONAL%20GEOGRAPHIC%20II/1

    2 walls…one is in Latin American, one in the Middle east…

    for Capitolio is really about the dislocation of place, the frightening and reforming fear that comes from both the night and the dislocation of identity…i read Capitolio about Chris’ dislocation…but for those more astute, might i suggest it is also about the spiritual and national dislocation that many Venezuelans feel at the moment, that transcends the specific of politics (left vs right) but deals with how history and it’s torrential tidal upheavl leaves all people left lost and wading for dryer and higher grounds…not a book about politics, but a book about the land, the earth, the city, the madness that history, sometimes individually, sometimes collectively, drenches lives with….

    a poetic and lonely book….like the best of latin american books…steeped in both a love of the life lived and the sadness that accompanies all that heated, loss…..

    by night in bogata….

    and yes, i proudly consider Chris a friend…i don’t give a fuck what country he is from…

    bob

  29. bob black

    p.s. i will say that this short ‘tease’ in no way gets at the heart of the book….it’s too complex and too personal for that…but if it gets readers to see the work, buy the book, great…

  30. bob black

    and one last Irony for kbtownsend…when Chris first showed this work (prior to publication) in Toronto 3 years ago, he was berated by an audience member for being Pro-Chavez….i find it ironic now that he’s being accused of being colonist/anti-chavez…..

    people see only what they want to see or want to believe….

  32. mw

    Hey Bob, ya know,I’ve read most of Vargas Llosa’s novels, several even in Spanish, and he is one of my favorite writers, but I’ve never gotten what’s so great about “Feast of the Goat.” Twice now I’ve started it and have yet to finish it. I know it was prominently mentioned when he won the Nobel but unless it goes off into another universe in the final third (possible, I know), I don’t see how it could be considered in the same class as his best work. If I were going to cite him as a primer on Latin American politics, I’d say “War at the End of the World” pretty much explains everything about politics and how human nature relates to politics on a universal level. And “Mayta” (his masterpiece imo) is the prereq for Latin American revolution.

    It’s kinda quaint though, that you Canadians still care. Ever since the Nicaraguan menace has been neutralized and we no longer have to worry about their army overrunning Texas, Latin America is pretty much off the radar here in the U.S.

  33. bob black

    mw: :))

    i agree…just finished Feast of the Goat and i much more prefer End of the World or Conversations in the Cathedral…i think people like Goat ’cause it is a kind of a return to form for LLosa..after being ‘lost’ after his political run….Goat just happened to be on my tonuge since i just finished it literally yesterday….but yes, there are better…..

    and i still care….i cared as an American (which i still am) and as a Canadian (which i’ve become)….but it’s funny, latin students and asian students are the biggest part of my life now, much more than the photoworld, an irony considering that asia defined me as a kid and latin american defined me as young adult…..

    enjoy husker du :))

    bb

  34. mw

    If you haven’t read “The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta,” you should put that way up on your list. One of the better works of fiction ever, as far as I can tell.

  35. Ryan Gauvin

    Bob, Christopher,

    Funny you mention that talk in Toronto three years ago. I was there also, and very much enjoyed the talk. That (you MUST have a politic!) man in the audience was the first thing that popped into my mind as I read the comment by kbtownsend above. In every interview with Chris I’ve read (or seen) on this work since that evening in Toronto, he’s addressed these critics – and yet like the man in Toronto who simply could not accept that the world cannot be divvied up good and bad, black and white from the comfort our armchair and our own political bias, these arguments keep popping up – not just here, but everywhere. Telex Iran really drove this home for me when I first saw it.

    I have to run out the door, but could go on and on on…

    “perplexity is the beginning of knowledge”

  36. bob black

    mw :))

    thanks man, ok, off to get it now at the bookstore…thanks for the recommendation :)))…will file a field report when i finish reading it :)))…cheers

    Ryan :))))…yea, that guys was something else ;)))…..and chris, as always, handled him self with aplomb and great humor…

    and keep going when you return :)))))))))))…would love to hear moe…yea, i remember alot of the same criticism from Telex Iran….although i was still young then ;)))

    cheers b0b

  37. bob black

    mw: just called the store…alas, the don;’t have it…have to order it….when i get it, i’ll let you know :)))….thanks.bb

  38. mw

    Bob, hey, I didn’t mean to give you a reading assignment. But feel free to hit me with one as retribution. I’ve got a stack of books I’m reading but could always use something totally out of the blue…

    Regarding Mayta, just note that it starts out kind of slowly and a lot of people give up on it too soon. Also, personally, I never read reviews of works I know I’m going to experience, be they books, movies, whatever. So I recommend that you don’t read the review I’m going to link to until after you’ve read the book, but I’m going to link to it anyway because others who aren’t planning to read the book may enjoy it. Although I don’t think the author quite recognizes all the levels in the novel (nor, I’m sure, do I), he most definitely gets the fact that very deep and complicated things are going on. It’s also a pretty good primer on Vargas Llosa in general.

    Sorry to step on the thread so badly. There was a time when I would have ran with the questions raised by ktownsend and addressed by Chris and Bob. But I’ll one up it and give you this link to my new little slideshow. It came about randomly. I had a random slideshow going on the computer and random music going on ITunes and certain photos came together with a particular song. Somehow I suspect this link will be broken before long, so don’t be bothered if it doesn’t work.

  39. bob black

    MW: i love reading assignments…:)))….i’m still one of those sad cats who actually sits downs and reads a couple of hours every day….and not on line…so, i don’t mind slow slow beginnings…when Mayta comes, i’ll give a report…and though i can’t speak for chris, i doubt he would mind the discussion of literature…Capitolio is very much a literary or cinematic book….as for recommendations…of course, anything by bolano (just finished, before Goat, between the parenthesis, book collects his essays/columns)….since u tackled 2666, have a go at By Night in chile (short, brilliant) or distant start (short, brilliant, staggering) or another opus: Savage Detectives (long, brilliant, staggering)….if you haven’t read anything by Javier Marias, please do (heart so white and tomorrow in the battle think on me, are my favorites, but face of tomorrow is up next this summer)..Beauty Salon by Mario Bellatin is wicked fun….and for mexico: News from the Empire by Fernando Del Paso …huge….but for you and mexico, a must :)))…enjoy…

    cheers
    bb.

  40. david alan harvey

    KBTOWNSEND…

    i know even less about Venezuela than Chris claims he does..i have zero on the ground experience….i only know what i read….however, without even going to Venezuela, i do know with relative certainty that your phrase “and the poor are prospering” under Chavez must surely be an oxymoron of astounding proportion..

  41. Carsten

    Chris,

    I just ordered your book on Amazon, can’t wait to see it. Sadly it says it will ship in 2-3 months…. I guess they don’t have it available immediately. Anyways, I’m sure it’s worth the wait and it gives me something to look forward to :)

  42. Paul

    Carsten…
    I saw yesterday morning Amazon uk still had a copy of Capitolio. Actually there were 2 I bought the other one last week and recieved it this Monday… 35Euros, I’ve seen it at other online bookshops for round 45Euros.
    Don’t hesitate, it seems to be running out…If you enjoyed the Burn edition like I did, you’ll be blown away, it’s brilliant!

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