Encyclopediaku

Selected article

The Latin American Boom (Boom latinoamericano) was a literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s when the work of a group of relatively youthful Latin American novelists became widely circulated in Europe and throughout the world. The Boom is most closely associated with Julio Cortázar of Argentina, Carlos Fuentes of Mexico, Mario Vargas Llosa of Peru, and Gabriel García Márquez of Colombia; but it also brought fame to older writers like Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda and Ernesto Sábato. Influenced by European and North American Modernism, but also by the Latin American Vanguardia movement, these writers challenged the established conventions of Latin American literature. Their work is experimental and, owing to the political climate of the Latin America of the 1960s, often very political. "It is no exaggeration", critic Gerald Martin writes, "to state that if the Southern continent was known for two things above all others in the 1960s, these were, first and foremost, the Cuban Revolution and its impact both on Latin America and the Third World generally, and secondly, the Boom in Latin American fiction, whose rise and fall coincided with the rise and fall of liberal perceptions of Cuba between 1959 and 1971." The sudden success of the Boom authors was in large part because their works were among the first Latin American novels to be published in Europe, by publishing houses such as Barcelona's avant-garde Seix Barral in Spain. Indeed, Frederick M. Nunn writes that "Latin American novelists became world famous through their writing and their advocacy of political and social action, and because many of them had the good fortune to reach markets and audiences beyond Latin America through translation and travel—and sometimes through exile."

Featured picture

Credit: Photo: Mathew Brady/Levin Handy; Restoration: Michel Vuijlsteke

Andrew Gregg Curtin (1817–1894) was a U.S. lawyer and politician. He served as the 15th Governor of Pennsylvania during the American Civil War. During the Civil War, Curtin organized the Pennsylvania reserves into combat units, and oversaw the construction of the first Union military camp for training militia. After the Battle of Gettysburg, Governor Curtin was the principal force behind the establishment of the National Cemetery there. After serving two terms as governor, Curtin was appointed ambassador to Russia by Ulysses S. Grant, and he later served in the House of Representatives from 1881 until 1887.

Did you know...

...that Republican National Committee official Rob Bickhart wrote a PowerPoint presentation for a meeting of Republican fundraisers which depicted Nancy Pelosi as Cruella de Vil?

...that following its 1994 national convention, the Progress Party of Norway lost its deputy leader and the four MPs Christiansen, Hillgaar, Wetterstad and Bråthen?

...that Democrat Mayor Thomas G. Dunn, national co-chairman of Democrats for Nixon, was "read out of the party" for his support of Republican President Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election bid?

...that politicians discuss the ways in which they and their families have suffered because of Oprahization?

...that Democratic and Republican plans for the 2012 United States federal budget both focus on deficit reduction, but differ in their changes to taxation, entitlement programs, and research funding?

...that Conservative Party candidate Bernard Trottier won a seat in the 41st Canadian Parliament by defeating the incumbent Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2011 federal election?

...that the Brown Dog affair, an Edwardian era vivisection controversy, led to massive riots?

...that when the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, a "free-market think tank," criticized Al Gore's energy use, CNN mistakenly called the organization an environmental group?

...Archive/Nominations

More...

Selected biography

Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as 1976, but won both the nomination and election in 1980. As president, Reagan implemented new political initiatives as well as economic policies, advocating a laissez-faire philosophy, but the extent to which these ideas were implemented is debatable. The policies, dubbed "Reaganomics," included substantial tax cuts implemented in 1981. After surviving an assassination attempt and ordering controversial military actions in Grenada, he was re-elected in a landslide victory in 1984. Reagan's second term was marked by the ending of the Cold War, as well as a number of administration scandals, notably the Iran-Contra affair. The president ordered a massive military buildup in an arms race with the Soviet Union, foregoing the previous strategy of détente. He publicly portrayed the USSR as an "Evil Empire" and supported anti-Communist movements worldwide.

Wikinews on Politics and conflicts

News and Current Events

July 3: Wikinews interviews a Restore the Fourth organizer

July 2: Egyptian military issues ultimatum to Morsi

June 29: Quebec to appeal long-gun registry destruction to the Supreme Court

June 28: Emir of Qatar abdicates throne

June 27: US Supreme Court rules Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional

June 23: Questions raised over Mosquito device ahead of New South Wales trial

June 18: Montreal mayor Michael Applebaum arrested for corruption

June 15: Gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo comments on North Colorado proposal

June 11: Colorado counties consider forming new U.S. state

June 2: Second man charged in Lee Rigby murder case

Other current events:

Iran's nuclear program

United States debt-ceiling crisis

European sovereign-debt crisis

In this month

July 20, 1944 – an assasination attempt is made on Adolf Hitler with involvement by notable German conservatives.

July 23, 1952 – The European Coal and Steel Community is established.

July 27, 1830 – King Charles X of France is overthrown in the French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution.

July 31, 1912 – American conservative economist, statistician, and Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman is born.

More anniversaries...

Selected quote

We will stand by our friends and administer a stinging rebuke to men or parties who are either indifferent, negligent, or hostile, and, wherever opportunity affords, to secure the election of intelligent, honest, earnest trade unionists, with clear, unblemished, paid-up union cards in their possession.

— Samuel Gompers, American Federationist, May 1906