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9780822341994

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Miniature Messages is a trailblazing study that demonstrates how an unfamiliar approach can throw light on different aspects of Latin American history, politics, and culture. David Bushnell, author of Simon Bolivar: Liberation and Disappointment The thoroughness and in-depth coverage of Miniature Messages are remarkable. Jack Child is probably the only person to possess the requisite knowledge and background to combine political science, history, and philately so well. Frank Nuessel, author of Linguistic Approaches to Hispanic Literature

To the non-stamp collector the world of philately can be a somewhat desiccated subject. However, here in a well-illustrated, thorough and entertaining book, Jack Child, having examined some 40,000 Latin American postage stamps certainly manages to engage the interest of the wider reader... [Cild] has managed to marshal numerous miniature messages into a fascinating and valuable text. - Igor Cusack, Bulletin of Latin American Research Child's book is a careful analysis of the body of existing Latin American stamps. Making use of a wide array of cultural studies knowledge about Latin America, he examines the stamps as minitexts, not quite as one might a poem, but as bounded complexes of semiotic meaning. The result is fascinating and the first such analysis of the Latin American corpus. It is important to note that this study has been published by Duke University Press, the premier forum for Latin American cultural studies and that the book comes accompanied with a CD of the actual stamps themselves, organized in an accessible registry. - David William Foster, Chasqui The passion and expertise with which this book is written confirm, in the author's own words, that it has been a 'labour of love.' Beautifully written and illustrated, Miniature Messages also offers a colourful and engaging tool for teaching Latin American studies, an approach taken by the author throughout a teaching career dedicated to improving understanding of the region whose students, we can speculate, must clearly have been among the luckiest on campus. - Gavin O'Tolle, Latin American Review of Books Child's book is a significant contribution to the argument that academia should expand subject legitimacy to a broader range of materials. It has also got great stories about the complex world of Latin American politics and the role of government propaganda. - Lincoln Cushing, A Contracorriente Professor Child... is that rare combination of social scientist and philatelist and bravely attempts to use the principles and methods of social science to analyse the politics of Latin-America postage stamps... The study... is fascinating because of its breadth, his commitment to philately and the attempt to find explanations for differences in the choice, style, composition and production of postage stamps. - The London Philatelist Miniature Messages is a trailblazing study that demonstrates how an unfamiliar approach can throw light on different aspects of Latin American history, politics, and culture. -David Bushnell, author of Simon Bolivar: Liberation and Disappointment The thoroughness and in-depth coverage of Miniature Messages are remarkable. Jack Child is probably the only person to possess the requisite knowledge and background to combine political science, history, and philately so well. -Frank Nuessel, author of Linguistic Approaches to Hispanic Literature Child's book is a careful analysis of the body of existing Latin American stamps. Making use of a wide array of cultural studies knowledge about Latin America, he examines the stamps as minitexts, not quite as one might a poem, but as bounded complexes of semiotic meaning. The result is fascinating and the first such analysis of the Latin American corpus. It is important to note that this study has been published by Duke University Press, the premier forum for Latin American cultural studies and that the book comes accompanied with a CD of the actual stamps themselves, organized in an accessible registry. -- David William Foster Chasqui Child's book is a significant contribution to the argument that academia should expand subject legitimacy to a broader range of materials. It has also got great stories about the complex world of Latin American politics and the role of government propaganda. -- Lincoln Cushing A Contracorriente Professor Child... is that rare combination of social scientist and philatelist and bravely attempts to use the principles and methods of social science to analyse the politics of Latin-America postage stamps... The study... is fascinating because of its breadth, his commitment to philately and the attempt to find explanations for differences in the choice, style, composition and production of postage stamps. -- The London Philatelist The passion and expertise with which this book is written confirm, in the author's own words, that it has been a 'labour of love.' Beautifully written and illustrated, Miniature Messages also offers a colourful and engaging tool for teaching Latin American studies, an approach taken by the author throughout a teaching career dedicated to improving understanding of the region whose students, we can speculate, must clearly have been among the luckiest on campus. -- Gavin O'Tolle Latin American Review of Books To the non-stamp collector the world of philately can be a somewhat desiccated subject. However, here in a well-illustrated, thorough and entertaining book, Jack Child, having examined some 40,000 Latin American postage stamps certainly manages to engage the interest of the wider reader... [Child] has managed to marshal numerous miniature messages into a fascinating and valuable text. -- Igor Cusack Bulletin of Latin American Research

Author Information

Jack Child is a professor in the Department of Language and Foreign Studies at American University in Washington. He is the author of many books and articles on Latin American culture, translation, and geopolitics.

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