{"product_id":"socialist-dreams-and-beauty-queens-jamie-maslin-9781616082215","title":"Socialist Dreams and Beauty Queens: A Couchsurfer's Memoir of Venezuela","description":"Couchsurfer, hitchhiker, and rogue wanderer Jamie Maslin embarks on a couchsurfing adventure to the homeland of \"firebrand,\" \"populist,\" \"anti-American\" president Hugo Chavez: the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. \u003cbr\u003e Alone in the crime capital of the world Maslin immediately finds himself in trouble--arrested by knife-wielding police officers and inoculated with an unwanted vaccination. After a terrifying start in Caracas, he soon leaves the teeming city and travels to the places tourists never see, staying on the couches of people he befriended online just days earlier, and meeting everyone from fervent social revolutionaries to the country's wealthy elite. He sets off in search of mile-high waterfalls, flat topped jungle plateaus, rolling deserts, and the famous lightning that appears suddenly in the sky with no rain or thunder. Visiting sprawling slums and opulent mansions, Maslin offers a fascinating and timely social, cultural, and histori- cal introduction to a country increasingly in the headlines. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Often irreverent, frequently informative, and habitually funny, this is the remarkable account of a young adventurer's journey through a breathtakingly beautiful and dynamic country where the politics of oil and social revolution are never far from the surface. 24 full-color photographs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jamie Maslin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1616082216\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781616082215\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Skyhorse Publishing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/01\/2011\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.10w x 1.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 05\/15\/2011","brand":"Jamie Maslin","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46767197552895,"sku":"9781616082215","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_825f3ed3-3765-413b-a259-38189893eb45.jpg?v=1744169118","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/socialist-dreams-and-beauty-queens-jamie-maslin-9781616082215","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}